Bioload with Triton

[rockerboi09]

I currently have a 150 gallon 6 foot aquarium that has been up and running for 2 years this month. Since set up, I have been dealing with algae issues in the display. I have never been able to get a reading on no3 or po4. I have tried everything under the sun to combat them without success. 5 months ago I started running the triton method as a last attempt. I redid my sump so that my refugium was 20% of the display, got a new skimmer rated 2x my tank size, and put new lights on my fuge. The algae started clearing up and the fuge started growing. About 1 month ago, the fuge stopped growing and shrunk down. I assume that this is due to a lack of nutrients in the free water column so I began feeding more. My Macro is starting to grow back, but I think I need to get more fish to not only eat the extra food I'm giving my tank, but I also do not have any grazers at the moment. In my reef there is 2 clowns, 2 cardinals, a royal gramma, a dragonet, and a niger trigger. All of the fish are pretty small and very peaceful.
Now for my question. I know after reading up on triton and reading the UK Facebook page to see their experiences that triton requires a larger bioload. Do you think that it would be too much for me to add the following to my tank. A lavender tang (rated to be in at least a 125 gallon at full length), a kole tang (rated to be in at least a 70 gallon at full length), a foxface, and a few Carberryi anthias? I would be adding them as juveniles more than likely.

 

[twilliard]

What was your last ICP results?

 

[rockerboi09]

I'm due to send off another, but my last ones showed 0 po4, high Sn (13.88), slightly high Br (73.17), high Li (342.6). I did water changes as recommended with Instant Ocean and have been running Rowaphos and Phosguard. I heard that one of those can help lower BR I believe. Everything else was pretty much normal. A couple micros were a bit low.

 

[rockerboi09]

Other than a single tang that I tried to add a few weeks ago that died of flukes, I haven't tried to add any fish in about a year.

 

[twilliard]

Your po4 is 0?
You can add more fish but I feel the issue is a lack of no3 and po4.
Adding more fish will bring up your po4 quicker than no3.
My po4 is .014 per ICP every 20 days
My no3 is maintained at 2 ppm this will help your corals a ton

 

[rockerboi09]

What I've been told is that it is likely that my no3 and po4 are tied up in the algae in my display. Like I stated before, with salifert and hanna tests I have never been able to get a reading on either. Before I was trying to fix it with water changes and decreased feedings. I was feeding only every three days at one point. Now I am feeding 3x a day and running triton. I still can't get a reading on no3 or po4, but the algae in the display is better than ever. There is hardly any hair algae left, just a little bit of cyano on the sand and some brown film covering some of the rocks. My hopes are that less food will be wasted with my 3x per day feeding and that the herbivores will help keep the algae in the tank cleared up so that it stays in the water column. I'm hoping that since I'm still running GFO that they no3 and po4 will raise pretty evenly. My corals have good color and the sps have ok growth, but nothing like what I see with other people. My LPS are not growing at all. I also just started Acropower last night to try and get nutrients in the water and help with coral growth since my refugium isn't at full blast yet.

 

[twilliard]

Are you diverse with your macros?
How many species do you have?
Watch the acro power as over dose will lead to cyano.

 

[rockerboi09]

I'm dosing acropower daily, but at lower than suggested. I currently have cheato, some cotton candy algae, caulerpa taxifolia, caulerpa racemosa, and caulerpa prolifera in my fuge. I had a couple more types but they are gone since everything shrunk. I am probably going to be adding some more before to much longer. A month or 2 ago my cheato took up 80% of the fuge and nothing else was really growing. Since it shrunk, the caulerpa strains are starting to grow faster than the cheato.

 

[twilliard]

Keep your cheato in check and trim as needed.
Sounds like you are doing everything correctly.
For your coral growth though no3 and po4 is key.
Keep peeling out any DT algae.
There is a huge double edge sword with tanks. Po4 will fuel algae (along with doc's) but coral also need it for zooxanthellae photosynthesis.

 

[rockerboi09]

Thanks for all the advice. I think as far as my bioload goes, I am probably going to add the fish 1 or 2 at a time and see how things are going at that point. I'm going to probably start with the kole and lavender tang, evaluate, then add the foxface, evaluate, and finally if I still need bioload or feel that I can add more, add the anthias. I don't know how many anthias to bring and they are more for looks. The tangs have an important job to do (hopefully they do it!).

 

[dgrigor02]

Alternatively, you could cut back on your Rowaphos and Phosguard rather than add fish.

Could be absorbing leaving little to none for the algae. Ideally, if your algae is growing well and large enough volume you shouldn't need Rowaphos and Phosguard.

 

[rockerboi09]

I've tried not using both as well. I started again when I started feeding 3x per day