I have a 90gal tank that is just under a year old and I feel like I have an issue with nutrients but my test results say otherwise so I'm not sure what the next steps should be. Almost all of my rock is covered in a haze of algae, it never really gets out of control but definitely isn't decreasing and hair algae growing in the overflow. I also think there might be cyano growing on the sand bed, it's a drak redish brown that shows up near the base of my rocks a couple hours after the lights come on but seems to disappear by lights out. Most of my corals are doing OK but none are really thriving - 3 acans that are holding, one zoa frag that has grown a bunch of new polyps then lost a bunch but seems to be on the rebound, 3 euphyllia frags with 2-3 heads each I had two others that died when the power cord for my light conked out and it took over a week to get a replacement- That's when the zoas lost steam as well, and 2 sps frags one of which I think is either dead or near death but may have been dying before I put it in my tank, a mushroom that started as a single and is now 3, and a favia that has been receding.
In my sump I have 2 4" filter socks that I have a bag of carbon in one and phosgaurd in the other, a bubblemagus curve 7 skimmer (a bit oversized for my system I know but I have plans of a larger tank down the road and I don't subscribe to the theory that a larger skimmer is less effective on a smaller tank) return pump is a varios4 and I have a koralia 1500 and and 850 running in the display. I've started changing out the carbon every time I change out the filter socks every 3-4 days and doing a 10% water change at the same time. I used to only do weekly water changes but upped the frequency to try to nip the algae in the bud, though over the last couple weeks there hasn't been any improvement.
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrates undetectable- I've ordered a more sensitive test kit though since I've just been using API
Phosphates undetectable- again API test kit and just order the red sea, I did remove the phosguard for a couple of days a while back and it went up to 0.25ppm
Calcium 380-400 (I'm trying to keep it stable above 400)
DkH 8.4-9.1dKH (trying to keep it between 8 and 9)
Obviously if I have algae growing I don't actually have low nutrients, so I'm not really sure what my next steps should be. I'm thinking of maybe trying chemipure or purigen to try to trap organics before they become nitrate/phosphate, or maybe even zeovit. I feel like if my test kits are showing zero then water changes aren't going to be very effective, and I've thought about some form of carbon dosing but again most instructions are based on lowering measured values of nitrate and phosphate. Manual removal doesn't really work since the algae on the rocks doesn't really suction out and I really don't want to take out and scrub all of my rocks. Also I'm not really looking for an overnight cure just some improvement.I'm waiting to see if the new test kits give any readable results.
In my sump I have 2 4" filter socks that I have a bag of carbon in one and phosgaurd in the other, a bubblemagus curve 7 skimmer (a bit oversized for my system I know but I have plans of a larger tank down the road and I don't subscribe to the theory that a larger skimmer is less effective on a smaller tank) return pump is a varios4 and I have a koralia 1500 and and 850 running in the display. I've started changing out the carbon every time I change out the filter socks every 3-4 days and doing a 10% water change at the same time. I used to only do weekly water changes but upped the frequency to try to nip the algae in the bud, though over the last couple weeks there hasn't been any improvement.
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrates undetectable- I've ordered a more sensitive test kit though since I've just been using API
Phosphates undetectable- again API test kit and just order the red sea, I did remove the phosguard for a couple of days a while back and it went up to 0.25ppm
Calcium 380-400 (I'm trying to keep it stable above 400)
DkH 8.4-9.1dKH (trying to keep it between 8 and 9)
Obviously if I have algae growing I don't actually have low nutrients, so I'm not really sure what my next steps should be. I'm thinking of maybe trying chemipure or purigen to try to trap organics before they become nitrate/phosphate, or maybe even zeovit. I feel like if my test kits are showing zero then water changes aren't going to be very effective, and I've thought about some form of carbon dosing but again most instructions are based on lowering measured values of nitrate and phosphate. Manual removal doesn't really work since the algae on the rocks doesn't really suction out and I really don't want to take out and scrub all of my rocks. Also I'm not really looking for an overnight cure just some improvement.I'm waiting to see if the new test kits give any readable results.
