Need some help w/ flow, Im losing stuff

I'd try Probidio products biodigest and bioptim. Where do you get your water, and how old are the fiters where the water is coming from. With that much algae, I agree that sps will not do well. Also, almost every phos kit out there is junk, except for D-D test kits. I've ran them next to everything else on the market and when others showed no phos, these did. It's crazy how even the smallest measurement can throw off an algea bloom. Also, does your tank get any ambiant sunlight? That could also be a factor. I'm not sold on dkh. I keep mine between 2.5 - 3.0 on a 180 w/over 100 colonies of sps, so as big as a basketball, and that's close to natrual seawater. It has to be phosphates, or some type of temperature swing, that's another thing to look at. SPS must be kept pretty stable to be happy. Good luck!
 
I'd try Probidio products biodigest and bioptim. Where do you get your water, and how old are the fiters where the water is coming from. With that much algae, I agree that sps will not do well. Also, almost every phos kit out there is junk, except for D-D test kits. I've ran them next to everything else on the market and when others showed no phos, these did. It's crazy how even the smallest measurement can throw off an algea bloom. Also, does your tank get any ambiant sunlight? That could also be a factor. I'm not sold on dkh. I keep mine between 2.5 - 3.0 on a 180 w/over 100 colonies of sps, so as big as a basketball, and that's close to natrual seawater. It has to be phosphates, or some type of temperature swing, that's another thing to look at. SPS must be kept pretty stable to be happy. Good luck!
 
I'm not sold on dkh. I keep mine between 2.5 - 3.0
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Let's stay apples to apples on the values here. When you say this, you're measuring meq/L and not dKH, right? And if so, then that's a fairly large area you're working with because the range of 2.5 - 4.0 meq/L is 7 - 11 dKH, which he falls in. I think what might be more important in his case is, what have his dKH values been before? Were they at 9 before and now they're down at 7. I've experienced that kind of drop before and it did cause some serious unhappiness with my SPS.

It might very well be that it is a collection of issues working together. Possibly elevated phosphates, low side of average dKH, possibly not enough flow or flow not directed where it makes the corals happy, maybe not enough or too much light (did you light acclimate these guys?), and possibly some unknowns. I think that since you have other corals in there that seem to be doing pretty well, it's probably just some fine tuning of all of the above factors that will get you in the right groove. I've had to do a lot of moving around of my corals and pumps and fiddling with tank chemistry to get mostly all of my SPS happy.
 
thanks guys

its RO water from my own filter and TDS meter shows 0ppm (just replaced resin a month ago, so I expected 0)

no natural sunlight

Im looking forward to getting the magnets in so I can add the additional flow to the tank

I have some turbos acclimating right now, but IM really not optimistic about them as I am pretty sure the trigger is going to hammer them as soon as he notices them

I have water mixing right now for a WC, and I'll post my calc and alk values for the new saltwater before and after I add it to the tank

this should give us a value of what my calc/alk levels are "normally"

if I recall last time I checked my alk was up around 9, so this does seem low for my tank
 
Any temp swing or spike? 2.5-3.0 are acceptable meg/l IF it doesn't swing, or has had a drastic sudden change, but if it's been gradual, it still shouldn't cause all that algae. I would def. test the water before you add it. I ran into a problem w/Kent salt that had a .2 meg/l which almost crashed my tank before I figured out what it was.

Also, you didn't mention how old your bulbs are. That could be a factor as well. You might check your food source too. Normally frozen food isn't recommended after 6mts, and if it's been froze and thawed before you received it or after, that can cause some issues as well. I hope you get it figured out and understand your fustration.

Something else you might try is to black out the tank for 2 or 3 days. Turn off the lights, cover it in a blanket, and let it set for 2 or 3 days so that no light gets in. This will help put a funk in the photo period. When we had the ice storm I did an unvoluntary 11 day black out and had no issues, nor algae. I kept my skimmer cranked, but to be honest, my tank did well. It's not always sunny on the reef and a couple of days w/o light isn't going to hurt.
 
no temp swings that Im aware of...everytime I check it its around 78-81 (now that its cooler)

my bulb is only about 3 months old and I only have the one bulb...no actinics in there or anything like that

so far so good, the turbos are in and the trigger hasnt noticed them...so we'll see if they make it a day

at this point I am thinking that the trigger and his messy eating coupled with adding a bunch of base rock is what's causing the algae
 
How long has this tank been running? My tank has been up 2 years now and I still have various small algae issues. Although by the looks this is not a small issue, you definitely have some nutrient problems.

Inorganic PO4 is taken up so quickly in our systems it rarely tests positive on our basic kits. We really need to test for organic and particulate PO4 but this is really difficult without a lab. I have a Merck Kit if you want to try, it still a inorganic PO4 test but it has a very low resolution. I also have a very good Lamotte Nitrate kit.

I agree your Alk is a little on the low side, raising it and more importantly keeping it stable will help your SPS. However excess nutrients are the issue with your algae problems.

I don't think more circulation is the answer just yet but I would consider gradually moving that DSB out of you main tank and into a fuge if not removing it entirely, but that's a whole other monster.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11330619#post11330619 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by latazyo
its only about 3" deep??
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's kinda the problem. It's deep enough to trap plenty of detritus but barely deep enough to do any denitrification. You basically have all the downsides of a DSB with very little of the benefits.

I went with a shallow sand bed just for aesthetic reasons, about a 1/2 inch, and I try and stir it up really good with each water change. When I started the tank I had two 6" deep DSB compartments in my fuge which I planned on rotating out as they "filled up." However I have since removed them entirely to make room for a better skimmer and have seen nothing but improvement.

Don't get me wrong, I am not against DSBs at all. I think they can be a very useful tool to reduce nitrates if setup and maintained correctly. However the biology involved is quite complex, its difficult to truly mimic nature.

If I ever utilize a DSB in a future tank it will be a remote system that can be easily removed or changed out when it "fills up" or causes issues.

In the end you have to do your own research and come up with your own conclusions on the subject, there is plenty of debate.

Good luck,

How long did you say the tank has been running?
 
My tank was headed in this direction a few weeks ago, this happened because I didn't pay it any attention.


Want the steps I took?

Get everything in line parameter-wise.
-my salinity was 1.021
-calcium was 350
-Kh was 5.6
-Magnesium was 1100

I dosed everything until I got my levels correct imo(1.025, 450, 8.2, 1400)

Cut the lights back from 10 hours to 9 hours

Did 4 water changes consisting of 5 gallons each, 4 days in a row.

Feed every other day for 3 weeks straight.

Bought 6 snails, (which upped my total to 8) :lol:

I still have algae, but it's a ton less than I had. Got rid of all the slime and fuzzy brown stuff.
 
the trigger didnt even notice them

one of them fell behind the rocks completely out of reach, so I havent seen that one since

but the other one just sat there looking dead for almost a full day, then I saw him on the glass yesterday and this morning he was gone again, so who knows where he's at now

but so far I havent witnessed the trigger beefing them at all
 
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