In an attempt to build a strong food chain in my reef (10G Nuvo), I've been dosing phytoplankton and copepods for the last month (2mL every other day). About a week ago, the tank started getting some algae and diatoms (the tank is just under 2 months old), so I upped the dose of phyto (2mL daily) hoping that they would consume nutrients faster than the hair algae. Around the same time, I noticed the pH was higher than normal, up to 8.4-8.5 during the day. I was slightly concerned, but I chalked this up to not having any fish in the tank and Kalkwasser on the ATO. About a day or two later, I started seeing brown slime with bubbles attached to it popping up on the rocks. It looked a lot like Dinos, so I upped the phyto dose even more (3-4mL daily) and fed some Reef Chilli and Red Sea AB+. Now the pH is around 8.7 and there are lots of little bubbles on the rocks and some brownish green slime connected to them along with diatoms and some algae. I cleaned off the rocks with a toothbrush and did a 1 gallon water change yesterday and didn't dose phyto, and it seems to be better today, but still bubbles on the rocks. The corals have great polyp extension and noticeable growth from last week, so I'm not planning on taking any corrective measures other than giving the phyto doses a rest for a week.
My question for Randy: Did the excessive phytoplankton dosing raising my pH by consuming all of the CO2 in the water and releasing a lot of O2 in the process?
My question for Randy: Did the excessive phytoplankton dosing raising my pH by consuming all of the CO2 in the water and releasing a lot of O2 in the process?
