Jeremy Luke
Well-Known Member
My current tank has been up and running for about 1.5 years. I have struggled with coloration with some of my SPS. In May, while I was on a business trip, my ATO failed and I came back to several pieces seemingly dead.
About a month ago I left for a week with no one to feed the fish. I set up my auto feeder and had it feed pellets and flakes 3 times a day while I was gone (I typically only feed frozen food). Upon my return, my tank was filled with a good bit of algae (glass covered thickly, sand greenish brown, big cyano spot) but the coral looked fantastic. The best it's been. A small colony that I was sure had died in the May debacle was colored up and happy. Polyp extension extreme. Alk uptake has doubled.
I have continued to feed the flake/pellet combo (along with frozen food) but have been slowly cutting back on the pellets/flake as my cyano problem is finally starting to recede. The sticks still have good color and I'm scared to lose it.
Before the trip last month I meticulously maintained my PO4 in a range of .05-.06ppm (Hanna ULR). I hadn't even measured it again since the trip last month until recently. It is currently at .13ppm.
I have only been using a skimmer. I previously tried running GFO in a reactor and found that no matter how little I ran it would strip out all PO4.
Should I try to continue to lower the PO4 slowly by less nutrient import with the system as is or would you recommend that I continue to feed heavy and export more? I was thinking about trying an algae reactor as a more docile way of exporting nutrients over the GFO. I have always thought that PO4 level is PO4 level.. but perhaps the magic is in mass import / export? Any suggestions are appreciated.
About a month ago I left for a week with no one to feed the fish. I set up my auto feeder and had it feed pellets and flakes 3 times a day while I was gone (I typically only feed frozen food). Upon my return, my tank was filled with a good bit of algae (glass covered thickly, sand greenish brown, big cyano spot) but the coral looked fantastic. The best it's been. A small colony that I was sure had died in the May debacle was colored up and happy. Polyp extension extreme. Alk uptake has doubled.
I have continued to feed the flake/pellet combo (along with frozen food) but have been slowly cutting back on the pellets/flake as my cyano problem is finally starting to recede. The sticks still have good color and I'm scared to lose it.
Before the trip last month I meticulously maintained my PO4 in a range of .05-.06ppm (Hanna ULR). I hadn't even measured it again since the trip last month until recently. It is currently at .13ppm.
I have only been using a skimmer. I previously tried running GFO in a reactor and found that no matter how little I ran it would strip out all PO4.
Should I try to continue to lower the PO4 slowly by less nutrient import with the system as is or would you recommend that I continue to feed heavy and export more? I was thinking about trying an algae reactor as a more docile way of exporting nutrients over the GFO. I have always thought that PO4 level is PO4 level.. but perhaps the magic is in mass import / export? Any suggestions are appreciated.
