too much rock?? problems.

[Waxxiemann]

This picture is about 5 months old (sorry I don't have a newer one) but do you guys think I have too much rock in my tank? I'm fighting all sorts of macro (and micro) algae. My refugium looks like a toxic waste dump, full of red hair algae. It's got a dsb and grape calurpa for macro.

Truthfully I haven't run P04 removal media in quite some time because I was having trouble with my reactor but I got a new one now and will get back on the saddle again tomorrow.

Do you guys think my problems could be from having too much rock to tightly packed together or could it be p04 issues? I'm not testing for p04 at the moment.

temp 80
ca 460
alk 11
nitrates (haven't tested in a while) could be high
po4 (?)

For flow I'm running 2 Tunze 6100's on a 7095 controller and 1 sure flow maxijet mod.

Lighting is 2 250 watt Ushio 10ks (about 12 months old) and 2 54 watt t5's.

 

[demonsp]

First bare bottom reef ive seen. I dont like those two powerheads you have. I would increase flow.
Whats the water source and how often and how much do you change water?

 

[Waxxiemann]

You've never seen a barebottom reef!? Well I don't think flow is the problem, I'm running about 93x turnover. I'd still like to add a few more of the sure flow maxi mods though.

I use a RO/DI I got from the Filter guys and I change about 5 gallons of water once a week. I'm using TMP and I keep it at 1.026.

 

[demonsp]

The rock in your main tank shouldnt affect the refugium. Is this a new fuge ? Main tank looks nice BTW.

 

[Waxxiemann]

Thanks man, I just though I could be having algae peoblems because there may not be enough flow getting into the rockwork maybe causing me the greif.

I've torn down and completly restarted my refugium 3 times already. I think maybe I need to get the DSB out of it because I tihnk it may be shot.

 

[demonsp]

Let the refugium run. They go through cycles and will clear up if done right. Flow , Substrate , macro , lighting all play a part.

 

[Waxxiemann]

Yeah, restarting it all the time isn't really going to get me anywhere. I'll see what happens in a few weeks after running GFO for a while and evaluate where I stand after that me thinks.

Thanks for the input demon.

Cheers.

 

[demonsp]

NP. The fuge is well worth its extra expens. Mine went all red slime and i freaked but added a small HOB filter to increase flow and day by day it got smaller. Whene it was gone i turned filter off and it never returned. I used 3 inch mineral mud with 2 inch gravle some cheato and good to go.