The road back - after dino's kicked me down

[littlebeard]

It was late August when my microscope arrived to confirm my worst fear. Dinos.

Having tried some solutions, I ran out of resources (time, money) to combat this issue and dino's did what they like to do, smother the corals into oblivion. Fast forward to now, the dino's have died off and algae once again grows in my tank. I feel that I am on the other side of this epic battle. Bruised and beaten I still have the itch... that desire to grow some nice corals.

However, I really don't like killing coral. I need to reflect on what went wrong, and fix it, and I need some help.

What went wrong:
My refugium - that's what went wrong. It was too good at pulling out nutrients and I simply couldn't keep up with it's demands. I wanted a place to grow pods(I like mandarins). I also noticed that I got a higher ph with the refugium light on for extended periods of time. Having my tank in the basement I'm constantly struggling with low ph. Finally, I didn't get clean algae, I got it from a now closed lfs and apparently it had a tiny piece of caulerpa growing in it and it soon overtook everything in the refugium.

How I "beat" dinos:
Not sure attrition counts as beating dino's but they are gone. I turned my refugium light off, stopped the water changes and let the nutrients rise. Like I said before I ran out of resources (time/money) to deal with the dino's before they beat my corals.

What I need to fix:
Tank: 125 G mixed sps/lps.... well, sadly, just a few sick lps for now.
Refugium - Was it just the caulerpa that did me in? The fuge lighting schedule? I am reluctant to pull the fuge, as I do want a safe place to grow pods. Chaeto might actually grow too fast for me, what are some other macro algae options?
PH - I still need a fix for this. I live in an area with 4 seasons, so the air from outside will definitely need to be warmed. Anyone have a good solution for this? I've also looked into C02 scrubbers, but those seems very expensive constantly replacing media.
Nutrient control - I'm actually at higher than I'd like nutrients now, I'm hoping I can fix that with just water changes. This is tied fairly directly to my refugium

Any advice is appreciated. Thanks!

 

[blaxsun]

Almost every single thread I read about dinos can trace the root cause back to the refugium. Coincidence? I'd almost rather have more nutrients and have to bring them down that the reverse.

With respect to pH, I also have 4 seasons (5 if you count "mud") - and I've stopped chasing numbers. My pH is somewhere between 8-8.1, and this will be my first winter with the new tank (but I'm not expecting any wild swings). I have an HVAC/air exchange and this is good enough for me. A CO2 scrubber just seems like an extra cost for little perceived benefit.

 

[littlebeard]

My ph is quite a problem. It's actually fall and spring that are more of a problem than winter/summer. With the fall and spring when the heat isn't on or on significantly less, there is no air being exchanged which means that C02 levels climb and ph falls. (unless of course it's a nice day where we leave the windows and doors open, then ph will jump way up) I'm seeing numbers as low as 7.7 and as high as 8.25. On an average day it's usually 7.9 to 8.2. I don't like the daily swings driven by my lighting schedule. I've played with temporarily connecting an air tube and sticking it outside my office window and I do notice a significant stabilizing effect on the ph, however, I can't keep it open all the time. Not to mention if I do leave my window open a cold night will cool down my tank to a point that I am concerned about the corals. (I do have an alarm to wake me up when this happens, but who likes being woke up at 3 am because they forgot a window open!)

My failed attempt at using the refugium as a ph stabilizer has failed, which is why I think I'm going to go for a more mechanical solution such as running an outside air tube somewhere... just need to figure out how and where and a way to warm the fresh air.

I'm sure I'm not the only person that has run into this issue.