Bars
Well-Known Member
I've always had high to very high nutrients (salifert nitrate test colors dark pink, seachem phosphate dark blue), so this isn't really something new. A month or so ago I downsized my skimmer because the previous one wasn't working well for me. The newer, smaller one pulls a lot of dark gunk out within days. Few weeks before that I installed an algae reactor with chaeto, which is doing great. Have to empty it every week, because it simply doesn't fit any more chaeto at that point. However, it hasn't grown at all last week, still the exact same amount in there. Decided to check phosphate and nitrate levels, but they're still as high as usual.
So, the tank's a little over a year old and is a 50 gallon system. 3 Small fish and 3 slightly bigger, couple of hermits and cleaner shrimp which are fed 2 or 3 small portions a day. Doesn't seem very shocking to me, is it?
Doing monthly 20% water changes and I stir the top layer of the sandbed every week. Been doing that for a while, so I assume it's not a completely toxic swamp down there yet. Even before I started stirring the sandbed I had high nutrients. My corals are looking great though, both LPS and SPS. For some reason I see quite some growth in the SPS, just not the LPS though. The only algae I have is a thin green/brown film on the glass which I remove every week. I did get loads of red cyano in my sump when I still had a refugium. Replaced the refugium with a reactor and the cyano has since disappeared. I also run activated carbon 24/7.
Any ideas what's causing this? I switched from colombo to salifert/seachem test kits a few months back because I didn't trust the colombo ones. Same results though.
So, the tank's a little over a year old and is a 50 gallon system. 3 Small fish and 3 slightly bigger, couple of hermits and cleaner shrimp which are fed 2 or 3 small portions a day. Doesn't seem very shocking to me, is it?
Doing monthly 20% water changes and I stir the top layer of the sandbed every week. Been doing that for a while, so I assume it's not a completely toxic swamp down there yet. Even before I started stirring the sandbed I had high nutrients. My corals are looking great though, both LPS and SPS. For some reason I see quite some growth in the SPS, just not the LPS though. The only algae I have is a thin green/brown film on the glass which I remove every week. I did get loads of red cyano in my sump when I still had a refugium. Replaced the refugium with a reactor and the cyano has since disappeared. I also run activated carbon 24/7.
Any ideas what's causing this? I switched from colombo to salifert/seachem test kits a few months back because I didn't trust the colombo ones. Same results though.
