Thank you Larry for the Reply! I will submit a long reply because I know information is key to getting some answers I really need.
I will start by saying I have been asuming the prblem is Cyano, but it could be Dino? I think you had a recent post on that. I have a light brown/tan mat of slime, with tons of tiny air bubles, covering substrate and glass It does form long goopy strands. It blows off the rock easily, but doesn't siphon off the substrate real easy.
The bloom has been going on for three to four weeks and I admit patience is running thin. Ph has been rising high in the evening (8.6) for about two months, so I mistakenly stopped dosing kalk, buffer, etc. and I now have low alkalinity, but still high ph in the day. High ph is probably caused by the daytime photosynthesis of the bloom (ie, lower Co2, higher Oxygen). About the time the bloom was becoming a problem I lost a new Xenia and a new leather (maybe due to low alkalinity) and unfortunately delayed a bit in removing them from the tank - hence I think I have alot of dissolved organic compounds in the tank. The Skimmer is pulling out a lot of watery junk, but I am upgrading (see below) because I don't think its enough. Nitrate has consistently tested 0 on Salifert, but I have my doubts.
Tank is six months old, 75g, open tank, 175w mh (5.5k) with actinics, no sump, 80 lbs live rock, and 4" aragonite "sand" bed, no plenum. Very little life in the "sand" as I seeded it with on 3-4 lbs live sand because I though live rock would seed it over time. I thought a CPR bakpak would be enough given light bioload and 80 lbs live rock. I have ordered a Turboflotor 1000 hang-on from Aqua Medic. Is that enough? My current guess is that inefficent skimming has been my problem, but like I said in the first post, I am now questioning everthing as I lose patience.
(RO unit, lights, etc.)
Tank has two fish, a large old maroon clown and a yellow tang. Also has a shrimp and two brittle stars. I feed Spirulina flake food and freeze dried plankton - although they eat it all, I do probably overfeed. Twice a day, with 15-20 flakes or plankton pieces). I sometimes use frozen Formula One (red cubes).
Current corals are a cup coral, another turbinaria, a colt coral, a mushroom coral, a lobophylia, and three clams - All corals were doing okay, but as the bloom and ph problems continue are starting to struggle. Of these, surprisingly the clams have looked the best lately. I lost the leather, Xenia, and one Porites (but I goofed - the Porites wasn't dead, just not opening and being covered in cyano. I think I panicked and gave up on it prematurely.)
I knew the Red Sea kit was unreliable but was hoping that some test kit could tell me if the bloom was caused by phosphate in my RO/DI make up water. We apparently have hard, mineral laden water and I am wondering if my RO membrane is trashed even though its six months old. We also had a major drought this summer which I suspect led to very poor water quality and could have damaged the membrane.
Cloth sediment filter and carbon were recently (6 weeks ago) replaced and are first in line. Then comes the 60pd, Hi-S Kent membrane, which is six months old and the unit only services the one tank. Finally, I added a DI unit to the end of the line (6 weeks ago) and it shows no color change.
My dosing regimen has been kalk, buffer, or Aragamight, never together, but all rotated and alternated. Probably a bad idea I am now starting a disciplined kalk dosing regimen.
As you can see, I have made some mistakes, and am still learing. The cyano problem and ph rising problem are frustrating, but the knowledge will be helpful. Except for my dosing habits and poor skimmer, things really were done by the book. My guess is that inefficient skimming is main cause, and I am waiting for the new skimmer to arrive this week. I am also waiting for the new 10k bulbs, just in case, and because the 5.5k are too yellow for my taste. Finally, I was testing for phosphate simply to know if the RO/DI was doing its job. The test kits don't help.
Thanks for any added thoughts or assistance!
I agree exactly.
