Sorry for the length of this, but I felt like sharing.
My setup was going well.
And in the minimalist practices of dosing any traces, low food input and lower bioload (I don't push the bioload on my systems to the end for nutrient headroom) than most. I was having hair algae showing up. The test kits said no but the eyes showed ULNS with hair algae still gaining ground.
I finally broke down and began vodka. The system, not me, although it was almost driving me to drink.
The Hair algae was slowing and in a couple areas thinning. I had an alk jump that stunted things and my stylophoras and some pocci's took a hit. So I bumped the alk down. Colors on my corals looked sick and pale but they were growing.
Forward 2 more months and the colors are tad better and test kits still say ULNS yet the Hair algae was still there.
I was dosing 25ml per day of the 40 proof stuff. I tried lowering the amount and boom the hair algae would start to take off.
Throughout this I had increased the flow both via powerheads and returns almost double in each part of the system except the refugium.
So I lower the vodka and the hair algae tries to grow, I raise it back up and I had red, black and blue green cyano.
I'm dosing bacteria with this and yet still I have this issue.
I stumbled on a revisit of the VSV within another thread and read a link I hadn't read before. The writer puts it that the combo brings about (he's guessing and states this) the idea that the Vodka, Sugar, Vinegar mix allows 3 possibly different strains of bacteria or that the 3 carbon sources offset one another within the bacteria in the system. Thereby better substitution bacterias in place of any extra carbon source that cyano may uptake.
After just 3 weeks I got to a state of hair algae removal from my main 90 sps growout, and my sps frag tank and the colors are approaching better than I've ever had. I'm at a 5ml VSV dosage on 330 gallons and things are just getting better. The colors, the growth, the PE is just insane. And that's under those nasty metal halides that the T5 folks say are so bad and a 6 inch sandbed in the main growout that the sandbed doom and gloom voodoo'ers are always ranting about. Heh heh heh heh,
The punchline? You may want to adjust the dosing. You may want to look at a MicroBactor 7 or probidio dosing with the vodka or try the VSV with the MB7 or probidio ( As SunnyX has pointed out in more than one thread/posting the probidio dosages are set and probably not smaller system friendly so the MB7 might be a better choice). No matter what you do I'd really take your total actual system volume into account and start at the bottom numbers on everything. Small systems are not forgiving when it comes to double dosing or too much feeding and changes happen really fast so move slow.
--->That goes for water changes too. I'd do some 10% water changes daily and home in on key nutreint areas like sand and sumps to remove detritus and see how things are going.
Some reading on the VSV.
http://glassbox-design.com/2008/ach...xperimentation/
The last things I will leave you with are my mottos in most things that when I was only 2 years into legit reefkeeping by 1991 I probably didn't completely even consider yet.
1 It's always easier to add than it is to subtract. As in once it's in there it's hard to get it back out.
2 Baby steps. Slow and go and you'll have an easier time backing away from a problem.
3 DO NOT WING IT. Measure, chart, record and analysis is the best way to bring about slow positive change in a system.
--->There's heaps more of interdependent chemistry going on which differs from most of the freshwater and lengthy knowledge of that area you appear to possess.
4 Grab some info from 5 or 6 totm winners and or folks with systems that you wish to emulate and read both directly and between the lines and set this up to become your individual blueprint to success and you'll be more than halfway there. It's like cheating in class except it's allowed.
5 Just because a 55 will support 17 linear inches of fish does not mean nor have I found it a good overall system failsafe (the headroom for error I allow) to make that bioload your goal.
Not always depending upon other allowances in a system, but some fish can be polluters that just feeding them puts a heavier load on a system in the 1st place and in some case are not long-term compatible with $40 to $80 ora sps or plating LE montys. (think predators like tusks, eels, lionfish, groupers, triggers) Add some heavy feeding on top of that and well it's just not a long-term recipe for success.
Good Luck and Have fun. You'll get it dialed in.
