For the past few weeks, a light layer of algae has been building up on the aquarium walls just 12-24 hours after I clean it. This is much faster than normal so I picked up the Red Sea Phosphate test kit a few days ago and ran the full-gamut of tests yesterday. Phosphates read 0.08, but I've read a lot of testers get 0.08 regardless of whether they're testing freshly made saltwater or tank water, so I need to re-look at the workaround to get a more accurate result. Nitrates tested at 0, but that was with an API test kit so I took it with a grain of salt. Magnesium was at 1450. Calcium was nearly 500 again, which is frustrating because I added 600mL over 2-days to bring the tank from 400 to 475, then did the routine 100mL/day and apparently that was too much. I'm fine with it around 500 right before I leave. But then I measured Alk at 7.5 dkh, which was lower than I expected -- it should have been around 8.5. I've been dosing 100mL of Alk based off the daily measurements and calculator. Frustrating that I can't get a routine going with dosing -- I'm always having to check my levels. Keeps me honest though.
Just 3-days ago, after cleaning the glass, I did a smaller 10-gallon water change -- siphoning out the sump chambers -- and swapped out the filter sock on the skimmer exhaust. After running all of those tests, I cleaned the glass again and decided another water change wouldn't hurt so I changed out about 17-gallons of water while doing a more aggressive gravel vac. I started doing the gravel vac through the sand bed about one a month to cut down on risk of a nutrient build up. It will be interesting to see if the extra water changes helps cut down on the film-algae growth. Might just be a phase since my feeding really hasn't changed in the last 4-months or so. Either way, I'm really trying to stay away from bringing GFO back online. I
might try carbon only when I have enough time to track it more carefully. Since I'm going to be out of town for a few days, I don't want to make any of those changes yet.
Oh, I don't have any fish in QT right now, but I've been cycling it so that it's ready to go for the next round of additions. I just need to catch that darn flame angel before I make any decisions on livestock. If anyone has some suggestions, let me know!
Anyway, I know that's a boring update but it's the day-to-day life.
