Am I doing this okay? (W/pics)

[Woodyman]

I could definitely start reducing it and phase it out, the hair algae is definitely my biggest concern.
It will overtake a coral if I am not careful in maintaining it.

Have you ever checked par?

If you didn't want to reduce intensity you could instead cut back on white and time. Without going into lighting details the whites will feed GHA more then blue.

 

[Idech]

I think I see bubble algae on the rocks. Do you take care of that as well ?

 

[MaxTremors]

One thing that stands out is that it looks like you have an inadequate CuC. Your rock looks like it’s not being cleaned adequately (flow could also be a part of this, as well as blowing it off with a turkey baster every so often). I would recommend 0.75 to 1 snails per gallon (so as an example for a 20g 15 to 20 snails) depending on rockwork and 0.50 to 0.75 hermits per gallon. You want a variety of species of snails (turbos, astreas, cerith, etc). I would also recommend a fighting conch or two and a handful of nassarius snails (not counted as part of the equation above). You don’t want to add all of your CuC at once, add 10 snails or so a month until you get to the appropriate number.

I can’t really see what’s going on with your corals, but what kind of lighting and flow do you have?

What are your actual parameters and are they stable? If you are keeping stony corals, is your Alk stable and are dosing anything to keep it stable? What is your water change/maintenance schedule?

 

[BreadReef]

Have you ever checked par?

If you didn't want to reduce intensity you could instead cut back on white and time. Without going into lighting details the whites will feed GHA more then blue.

I haven't, I was planning for renting a par meter after seeing coralline, knowing that would be the point I would start to fill in the rocks with corals.

I liked the idea of reducing supplemental lights, for the sake of not doing too much at once I am going to slowly draw back the hours it runs over the next month. If I don't see a reduction after that I can start to transition to a bluer spectrum.

I'll also consider a seneye in the mean time, as I realize it's inevitable, the need to take par readings.

 

[BreadReef]

I think I see bubble algae on the rocks. Do you take care of that as well ?

I think it's a type of dino you are referencing, photosynthetic. It has come and gone over the last few months. I'll see if I can get more pictures of it, I vacuumed after these photos so it's not there right now.
I'm not an algae expert though, it could be bubble algae and I'm just under educated.

 

[Woodyman]

I haven't, I was planning for renting a par meter after seeing coralline, knowing that would be the point I would start to fill in the rocks with corals.

I liked the idea of reducing supplemental lights, for the sake of not doing too much at once I am going to slowly draw back the hours it runs over the next month. If I don't see a reduction after that I can start to transition to a bluer spectrum.

I'll also consider a seneye in the mean time, as I realize it's inevitable, the need to take par readings.

Unless you want the seneye for NH4/pH I'd skip it and save that money to put towards a dedicated par meter like apogee.

 

[BreadReef]

One thing that stands out is that it looks like you have an inadequate CuC. Your rock looks like it’s not being cleaned adequately (flow could also be a part of this, as well as blowing it off with a turkey baster every so often). I would recommend 0.75 to 1 snails per gallon (so as an example for a 20g 15 to 20 snails) depending on rockwork and 0.50 to 0.75 hermits per gallon. You want a variety of species of snails (turbos, astreas, cerith, etc). I would also recommend a fighting conch or two and a handful of nassarius snails (not counted as part of the equation above). You don’t want to add all of your CuC at once, add 10 snails or so a month until you get to the appropriate number.

I can’t really see what’s going on with your corals, but what kind of lighting and flow do you have?

What are your actual parameters and are they stable? If you are keeping stony corals, is your Alk stable and are dosing anything to keep it stable? What is your water change/maintenance schedule?

Thank you for this feedback, most of your questions were answered earlier and I did my best to list out my CUC members, some I have more than are feasible to count.
I can absolutely pick up some more snails, I shy away from astrea as they always seem to tip and then my cleaner wrasse or neon dottyback get a quick 5$ snack.
I do keep a load of trochus, and I'm now realizing they were forgotten in my earlier listing (probably 15)
There isn't much coral in there, I have some softies, a goni, a pair of heads of maybe acan, a bird's nest and some fruity pebbles encrusting something, and 3 types of zoa's.

I have 4 pumps, they are off brand, 2 on each end top and bottom and one small sicce in the middle blowing back to front, then my return hose which is running at about 800/gph does some water moving also.

My intention isn't to get corals in as fast as I can, I truthfully avoid buying corals because I don't want anything to die while my tank is maturing. I just want to get my tank to a place of calcified algae growing regularly for now, then I'll start to move towards corals more.

I'm rather content right now with the mushroom, devil's hand, GSP, Xenia and zoa's, mushroom's. It's a splash of color in all that green.

 

[Woodyman]

Thank you for this feedback, most of your questions were answered earlier and I did my best to list out my CUC members, some I have more than are feasible to count.
I can absolutely pick up some more snails, I shy away from astrea as they always seem to tip and then my cleaner wrasse or neon dottyback get a quick 5$ snack.
I do keep a load of trochus, and I'm now realizing they were forgotten in my earlier listing (probably 15)
There isn't much coral in there, I have some softies, a goni, a pair of heads of maybe acan, a bird's nest and some fruity pebbles encrusting something, and 3 types of zoa's.

I have 4 pumps, they are off brand, 2 on each end top and bottom and one small sicce in the middle blowing back to front, then my return hose which is running at about 800/gph does some water moving also.

My intention isn't to get corals in as fast as I can, I truthfully avoid buying corals because I don't want anything to die while my tank is maturing. I just want to get my tank to a place of calcified algae growing regularly for now, then I'll start to move towards corals more.

I'm rather content right now with the mushroom, devil's hand, GSP, Xenia and zoa's, mushroom's. It's a splash of color in all that green.

Have you added any coralline starters or seeded media? Snails bring in any?

 

[BreadReef]

Pumps in front and on back

 

[BreadReef]

Have you added any coralline starters or seeded media? Snails bring in any?

I have not seeded or used any bottles of anything.
I have seen it come in on snail shells and on plugs, I have a specific plug that is almost fully encrusted and I have observed my urchin eat the coralline off it and it grow back.

It just doesn't seem to transfer to my rocks at all, am I missing an important step? The "seeding" comment makes me think I'm silly to assume it will just transfer to the rocks magically.

 

[BreadReef]

Unless you want the seneye for NH4/pH I'd skip it and save that money to put towards a dedicated par meter like apogee.

Noted!

I believe I could use a similar amount of money to rent one from BRS if that makes more sense. I had read online the seneye made a decent, cost effective par meter.

 

[IslandLifeReef]

I have not seeded or used any bottles of anything.
I have seen it come in on snail shells and on plugs, I have a specific plug that is almost fully encrusted and I have observed my urchin eat the coralline off it and it grow back.

It just doesn't seem to transfer to my rocks at all, am I missing an important step? The "seeding" comment makes me think I'm silly to assume it will just transfer to the rocks magically.

First, you don't need to seed for coraline algae. It will come in with frag plugs from coral you buy.

Second, 18 fish, two of them being Tangs, in a 75 gallon tank is pushing it IMO. You need heavy export of nutrients and other garbage for that many fish. Your NO3 and PO4 tests don't tell the whole story and all of that algae could be feeding off of ammonia before it makes it to NO3.

 

[Woodyman]

I have not seeded or used any bottles of anything.
I have seen it come in on snail shells and on plugs, I have a specific plug that is almost fully encrusted and I have observed my urchin eat the coralline off it and it grow back.

It just doesn't seem to transfer to my rocks at all, am I missing an important step? The "seeding" comment makes me think I'm silly to assume it will just transfer to the rocks magically.

Yes and no. Eventually given proper conditions one speck of coralline on a plug or snail could seed and populate an entire tank.

Obviously the more you bring in the faster it will spread.

If you have some you already on a plug you can try the following to get it to hopefully propagate in another area of the tank.

On your next maintenance day while pumps are off scrap some of the coralline and let it drift around the tank and land somewhere then go about your normal maintenance. This should help you start growing some in another area of the tank.

Stable parameters and time will lead to more growth, it really is just a long waiting game for coverage. There is more you can do to encourage growth but either way one day it'll get there.

 

[Woodyman]

Noted!

I believe I could use a similar amount of money to rent one from BRS if that makes more sense. I had read online the seneye made a decent, cost effective par meter.

I'd skip that too! Unless you can't locate an LFS that rents them. Call around and check.

I have 2 semi local places, one is outrageously priced and the other very reasonable (The first charges 80 for the first day, and 10 each additional day. The second is 80 for 1 week).

 

[BreadReef]

First, you don't need to seed for coraline algae. It will come in with frag plugs from coral you buy.

Second, 18 fish, two of them being Tangs, in a 75 gallon tank is pushing it IMO. You need heavy export of nutrients and other garbage for that many fish. Your NO3 and PO4 tests don't tell the whole story and all of that algae could be feeding off of ammonia before it makes it to NO3.

I appreciate that, I was open about buying too many fish early on it's a consequence I'm living with.
I've thought about trading in a tang but I'm a little attached to them now and when I asked around my LFS would only take them as charity and provide nothing in return.

For export, I understand protein skimmers being best practice, I was expecting to allow my sump/fuge which is the same footprint as the display, filling with macros and then my filter socks catching the majority or waste and me removing it before it breaks down.

I agree there are luming nutrients, as the algae implies, do you have a methodology to driving it down more naturally?

Would you say more frequent vacuuming?

 

[BreadReef]

I'd skip that too! Unless you can't locate an LFS that rents them. Call around and check.

I have 2 semi local places, one is outrageously priced and the other very reasonable (The first charges 80 for the first day, and 10 each additional day. The second is 80 for 1 week).

I don't have the option to rent from a local shop unfortunately.

 

[BreadReef]

Yes and no. Eventually given proper conditions one speck of coralline on a plug or snail could seed and populate an entire tank.

Obviously the more you bring in the faster it will spread.

If you have some you already on a plug you can try the following to get it to hopefully propagate in another area of the tank.

On your next maintenance day while pumps are off scrap some of the coralline and let it drift around the tank and land somewhere then go about your normal maintenance. This should help you start growing some in another area of the tank.

Stable parameters and time will lead to more growth, it really is just a long waiting game for coverage. There is more you can do to encourage growth but either way one day it'll get there.

I'm going to give this the old college try, I appreciate the advice.

 

[Woodyman]

I'm going to give this the old college try, I appreciate the advice.

Like I said there is more you can do to promote growth.

You could even try the helix bottles if you want (Full disclosure I have not used them). I have seen positive and negative reviews on those so if you go that route I'm not sure I would expect 100% success, but I also can't really see the harm in it either, one day I should give them a try on a new setup.

 

[BreadReef]

Like I said there is more you can do to promote growth.

You could even try the helix bottles if you want (Full disclosure I have not used them). I have seen positive and negative reviews on those so if you go that route I'm not sure I would expect 100% success, but I also can't really seem the harm in it either, one day I should give them a try on a new setup.

I appreciate this and the transparency of experience with the products, I'll have to look into them some. I do like the idea of taking what is growing now and try spreading it around some to see if it will take. It's not serving any great purpose growing on my plug anyways.

 

[IslandLifeReef]

I appreciate that, I was open about buying too many fish early on it's a consequence I'm living with.
I've thought about trading in a tang but I'm a little attached to them now and when I asked around my LFS would only take them as charity and provide nothing in return.

For export, I understand protein skimmers being best practice, I was expecting to allow my sump/fuge which is the same footprint as the display, filling with macros and then my filter socks catching the majority or waste and me removing it before it breaks down.

I agree there are luming nutrients, as the algae implies, do you have a methodology to driving it down more naturally?

Would you say more frequent vacuuming?

Yes, frequent vacuuming and water changes will help. So will a healthy refugium along with filter socks that are cleaned frequently.