Funny you mention the power head. I did move the one higher and pointed to the surface to break it but more in an attempt to get the stuff into the overflow box better not thinking about the O2 content. Makes sense about the Po4 increase shouldn't happen if there is more algae growth. Could be bacterial, the microscope isn't all that powerful, it goes up to 1200x so probably not good enough to see bacteria but then again, I don't know. It's just a cheap thing I got five years at a hobby shop.
I am going to put floss in the socks like you suggested. I would think though that that is an awful lot for the stuff to get through from the socks, protein skimmer and the bubble trap, which is why I put it under the bubble trap. But it couldn't hurt.
Can't get pics with this scope. I'm not too worried about ID. I know there are a lot of organisms living in a reef tank and until I see fish or corals struggling, I won't worry too much about that. Like this issue, everything seems to be behaving normally. My corals are colorful and growing and my fish are bright, active and eating. I don't want to make too many changes just because I freak out unnecessarily, you know?
I detest chemical solutions to problems in a tank. In my experience with freshwater they have always created more issues than they solve.
Well this sump has been running on the tank for 7 months and before that it was a canister filter for two months. There are the socks and at the bottom of that compartment are some ceramic washers from the old filter I put in to keep the bacteria on them. Then there is the protein skimmer by itself in the next compartment. Then the bubble trap sponge that leads into the return. My refugium is fed with a pump that sits in the skimmer compartment and drains through a pvc pipe that empties onto the bubble trap. I did it this way because when it emptied directly into the return chamber it created a ton of tiny bubbles. The fuge has live rock rubble and chaeto that grows well and a lot of hair algae. The intake compartment of the fuge is where I keep the carbon bag. !0 gallon Fuge has only been setup for a little over a month. And of course today I added the floss under the bubble trap. I didn't worry about the hair algae in the fuge cause it hasn't been growing in the tank at all and there is a good amount of pods growing in the fuge so I am hesitant about cleaning that too much. I have never cleaned that bubble trap. The only thing I ever clean in the sump are the socks.
