I have a water quality issue I am trying to resolve and am looking for a little advice.
First set-up specs;
Up and running 1/5/04
225 glass tank
40 gallon refuge (30 gallons of water when operational)
Several different types of caluerpa and some cheato.
50 gallon sump (20 gallons of water when operational)
Euro-reef CS12-2 skimmer (5 gallons of water)
250 lbs live rock, (displaced 12 gallons)
1 1/2" Aragamax Oolitic in tank
4" Aragamax Oolitic in Refuge
MRC CR-6 dual chamber calcium reactor.
2- Tunze stream 6000 pumps on multi controller
Mak 4 return pump 1190 gph
3 250 watt DE Ushio 10k's (new with set-up of tank 10 months)
2 250 watt SE Ushio 10k's (Probably 12 months old, since replaced with hamilton 14k's.) all 5 on Ice Cap ballasts.
Parameters
S. G. 1.026
Alk 11.0 dKH (fluctuating pretty dramatically, more in a minute)
Ca 450 ppm
Po4 undetectable
Nitrate undetectable
Mag 1300
ph 7.9-8.2
Now the issue
I like the days between glass cleaning as an indicator, I had to clean every other day. In the last month or so, I have had a mild outbreak of Hair algae and cyano in the tank. Coloration of corals IMO is poor. Admittidly I had neglected the maintenance, other than cleaning protein skimmer and cleaning the glass. My lawn mower blenny quit eating aggressively after the move from the 75 after a month or two in the 225, and died about 2 months ago. (corpse was removed). Recently (3 weeks), I have stepped up the water changes, about 10 gallons every other day while siphoning the sludge from the sump and as much of the HA and Cyano from the tank as possible. I added 1 bag of Chemi-pure and 1 bag of phos-gaurd. Left them in for 2 weeks and removed them. I, 3 days ago began using Po4 minus at 40ml per day (below recommended dose). Does the fact that the water clouds up indicate a high level of Po4? If Po4 is undectable, when do I stop using as the instructions indicate? I also added 2 cups of SeaChem Matrix carbon. Protein skimmer is being cleaned every 3rd day, but not pulling alot of gunk out. Maybe 1/2" in the bottom of the 12" collection cup. I am thinking of getting an Ozone generator but haven't decided yet. I see lots of posts with the pros and cons. If long term it will be beneficial, then I will. I see the success that JB and others have had with one but I'm trying to keep in mind that what works for one doesn't work for all. The reasons for the Alk fluctuations is that I am still trying to dial in the calc reactor and having a VERY difficult time. It either way overdoses (raises alk by >1 full dKH per day) or not even close to keeping up (drops >2 dKH per day). currently running at 100 ml minute at a bubble rate of probably 120 per min (too fast to count.) 10 lb Co2 bottle is already down to 800 lbs (from 1000) after 1 month. Effluent ph 6.88
Any suggestions as to what else I can do to improve water quaility? Things have gotten better and hopefully will continue to improve. I know that I need to increase the flow in the tank and am working towards resolution with the addition of a closed loop.
Here is a pic as of 9/27 you can see the HA on the right side. Also hamilton 14k on the left side DE and SE.
Thanks for any help
CAReefer
