I'll put it out there that I have a 300 DD with 550 gallons of system water. High load of tangs. no algae to be seen in display on anywhere else except frag tank "75 gallon" area. I have the ability to test par and multi versions of test kits to be sure of test values. reef crystals and Red sea salts for wc's.
in the connected frag system 8" deep on egg crate packed with corals, i get stringy cyano and a bit of diatoms here n there, lots of oxygen bubble during day light cycle on non live tissue areas of anything including egg crate.. i run alot of light a medium high amount of flow.. bare bottom system no gunky live rock was used no leaching nutrients, all dry MARCO rock in a light rock work aqua scape. And I just don't care about the crap on the frags. its not stopping growth and its not hurting anything. I believe its my 4-6 PPM of NO3 that is the issue from tang poop.. i change 50 gallons a month. run 9.0 DKH 450 ca, 1300 mg, ph of 8-8.2 daily cycle. p04 is undetectable. I do not dose vodka i use a light load of bio pellets to try n save a bit of WC. some of it may be bio pellets related. I have a huge 5 foot tall venturi driven LIFE REEF skimmer master piece cranking out half a gallon of nasty every day, And a huge ca reactor. no socks i use foam pads. staggered light cycle. mixed t5 led and Metal halide lights. Kalk in the ATO. Tons of CUC i mens 300+ blue legs 50-60 snails, hand full of emerald crabs. clean the glass once a week. Pretty typical stuff for a big reef tank.
The point is, I see some crap in places i don't want it, I'm not sure what its comes from.. but its there and out competing something else for nutrients. ill try n keep it in check. i would suspect your N03 test kit. if it says 0. and your p04 test kit if it says 0. it is tricky to get a small amount of nutrients for coral growth and not starve the corals. thats a thin line down near "0" i prefer o p04 and barely detectable N03. Then i know I'm "using" as fast as i making vs "starving" or "over cleaning". I also test for K and I and some other stuff. But i find the higher nutrients generally mean more algae growth and brownish colors on corals like everyone says. I'm not saying poo brown acro's I'm saying less than stellar colors on show pieces that can be crazy amazing colors if things are just right. But then they tend to grow real slow i think. its a game, growth or color too far of a shift either way is dead coral.
My goals lately is to get closer to 1-2 n03 with vodka, bio pellets, or some other method to consume nitrate as fast as I'm making it and at the level of Wc I'm doing. more water change is an option when thing get to high "as they have the last to cycles of Wc i have done based on there still climbing not dropping in 30- 60 days periods". less fish is an option or more naturally bacteria driven consumption action is third more "mystery" area I'm exploring using A water change as my back up plan. Maybe thats some helpful info for folks. maybe its not. I'm interested what you conclude.
