Hi. I have an established reef tank that I have recently upgraded with a sump and in sump reef octopus skimmer. This tank in various incarnations has been set up for 8 years. The rock has been in there for at least 5 years. I'm wondering why some of my rocks seems to have some either hair algae or turf algae on it and there are some rocks that never get it no matter what.
I killed my two clown fish and most of my corals with some caulk with toxic antifungal from my new sump ( oops) a few months ago so I'm starting over with corals. My issue is I'm having trouble getting my corals to grow well without getting a bunch of algae on some but not all of the rocks. Currently I just get a little bit of algae on the glass weekly but I have my LED light turned way down and my green star polyp and zoanthids are very slowly growing. They were growing more quickly when I had the lights up to about 60% for about 8 hours.
I'm wondering if I just need some cleaner rock so I can turn my lights up and get coral growth, or am I oversimplifying it? The one rock I pictured has never had any algae on it no matter what and others will routinely get it. It's never bad enough that I have to do much about it.
I just tested my nitrate with a salifert kit and it was five maybe slightly higher. My phosphate is 0.03 with a Hanna checker.
If I just need some cleaner rock where do people suggest I get it? I've looked at the synthetic stuff online. I actually ordered one but it showed up shattered. When I put a new bleached rock in my tank from the local fish store it immediately grows hair algae.
So is my problem the rock or something else? I feel like my nitrate and phosphate are about where they should be. I only have one clown fish one shrimp and one snail and one hermit crab in a 40 breeder with a 20 gallon sump, so definitely not overstocked or overfeeding.
Thanks
I killed my two clown fish and most of my corals with some caulk with toxic antifungal from my new sump ( oops) a few months ago so I'm starting over with corals. My issue is I'm having trouble getting my corals to grow well without getting a bunch of algae on some but not all of the rocks. Currently I just get a little bit of algae on the glass weekly but I have my LED light turned way down and my green star polyp and zoanthids are very slowly growing. They were growing more quickly when I had the lights up to about 60% for about 8 hours.
I'm wondering if I just need some cleaner rock so I can turn my lights up and get coral growth, or am I oversimplifying it? The one rock I pictured has never had any algae on it no matter what and others will routinely get it. It's never bad enough that I have to do much about it.
I just tested my nitrate with a salifert kit and it was five maybe slightly higher. My phosphate is 0.03 with a Hanna checker.
If I just need some cleaner rock where do people suggest I get it? I've looked at the synthetic stuff online. I actually ordered one but it showed up shattered. When I put a new bleached rock in my tank from the local fish store it immediately grows hair algae.
So is my problem the rock or something else? I feel like my nitrate and phosphate are about where they should be. I only have one clown fish one shrimp and one snail and one hermit crab in a 40 breeder with a 20 gallon sump, so definitely not overstocked or overfeeding.
Thanks
