stanleo
Valuable Member
My 120 gallon with a 55 gallon sump has been up and running for almost 2 years. Up until the last two months everything has been great. No algae issues. But the last couple months I have been having issues. I have diatoms on the sand, green algae and bubble algae. It doesn't look THAT awful yet but I fear if I don't do something, it will get worse. The glass is ok, still only have to run the mag-float every three days or so.
I can think of 2 possible causes. 1. I neglected to check the TDS of my RO water and I checked it about a month ago and it read 54 and I have no idea how long it had been that bad. I changed the filters then and there and have been performing my regular maintenance. 2. About two months ago I started feeding Reef Frenzy every other day. I believe I might have been feeding it too much and that has caused an increase in nutrients. Those are the only changes I can think of. I change 20 gallons of water every two weeks like clockwork. Another indicator of this is that the growth of chaeto has also exploded. In 2 months time it went from filling 1/2 of the 20 gallon volume of my fuge to filling all but a small portion of it. I just gave half of it away.
I just ran tests and these are the results.
Temp 78F
Salinity 35 ppt
pH 8 API
Alkalinity 9.8 dKH Red Sea
Calcium 500 ppm Red Sea
Magnesium 1480 ppm Red Sea
Phosphate .03 ppm Salifert
Nitrate 2 ppm Salifert
These results are consistent with the exception of calcium. That is usually 450 ppm.
I have a clean up crew. Long spine black urchin, sand sifting star, 12 astrea snails, 12 hermits, at least one emerald crab (I had 3 but here lately I only ever see one), 2 conchs, a yellow tang, not to mention the vast number of colinista snails and a few bristle worms and a stomatella snail.
I changed the filters in RO unit and I am only going to do reef frenzy once a week from now on. Do you think this is enough or is there more I can do? I am going to the LFS later today to get some things. Any advise is appreciated.
I can think of 2 possible causes. 1. I neglected to check the TDS of my RO water and I checked it about a month ago and it read 54 and I have no idea how long it had been that bad. I changed the filters then and there and have been performing my regular maintenance. 2. About two months ago I started feeding Reef Frenzy every other day. I believe I might have been feeding it too much and that has caused an increase in nutrients. Those are the only changes I can think of. I change 20 gallons of water every two weeks like clockwork. Another indicator of this is that the growth of chaeto has also exploded. In 2 months time it went from filling 1/2 of the 20 gallon volume of my fuge to filling all but a small portion of it. I just gave half of it away.
I just ran tests and these are the results.
Temp 78F
Salinity 35 ppt
pH 8 API
Alkalinity 9.8 dKH Red Sea
Calcium 500 ppm Red Sea
Magnesium 1480 ppm Red Sea
Phosphate .03 ppm Salifert
Nitrate 2 ppm Salifert
These results are consistent with the exception of calcium. That is usually 450 ppm.
I have a clean up crew. Long spine black urchin, sand sifting star, 12 astrea snails, 12 hermits, at least one emerald crab (I had 3 but here lately I only ever see one), 2 conchs, a yellow tang, not to mention the vast number of colinista snails and a few bristle worms and a stomatella snail.
I changed the filters in RO unit and I am only going to do reef frenzy once a week from now on. Do you think this is enough or is there more I can do? I am going to the LFS later today to get some things. Any advise is appreciated.
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