So I have a nuvo 25 black (drilled with a sump vs AOI). The tank is doing great but I’m starting to get ulva growing and getting a little out of hand. If I had a larger tank a couple fangs and the issue would be taken care of but with this smaller tank my herbivore options are limited. I believe the issue started when I increased my lighting to get the par for my acro’s up from 300 to 300 (I did the slowly over a month or so and now that it’s at 300 the ulva is definitely growing faster)
Some tank parameters (as you can see everything is in check)
Alk - 8.5 to 8.7
Cal - 480
Mag - 1350+
Temp - 78
Ph- 8.25 to 8.4
Par - 150 on the bottom 300 at the top
No3 - Po4 -
Acro’s have great polyp extension, monti’s are growing like weeds, zoas add a couple polyps a week.
Everything is doing great except I have to harvest ulva and clean it off frag plugs every couple days.
I do run a fuge for about 8 hrs at night and lighting is 12 hrs with ramp up to a 5 hr full intensity period. I also have snails (verity, nassarius and trocus) plus 2 emerald crabs for bubble algae control.
My options
1. Reduce lighting (don’t really want to do it as I have acro’s at the top of the tank)
2. Get a tuxedo urchin or two and deal with frags taking trips around the tank (they seem like the only herbivore option I have in this size tank)
3. Peroxide treatment of the ulva (I hate the thought of adding chemicals to the tank since it is doing so well
4. wait it out - as the acro grow and shade the lower part of the tank and outcompete the ulva for light and nutrients it should recede.
Some pics
What are everyone’s thoughts.
Some tank parameters (as you can see everything is in check)
Alk - 8.5 to 8.7
Cal - 480
Mag - 1350+
Temp - 78
Ph- 8.25 to 8.4
Par - 150 on the bottom 300 at the top
No3 - Po4 -
Acro’s have great polyp extension, monti’s are growing like weeds, zoas add a couple polyps a week.
Everything is doing great except I have to harvest ulva and clean it off frag plugs every couple days.
I do run a fuge for about 8 hrs at night and lighting is 12 hrs with ramp up to a 5 hr full intensity period. I also have snails (verity, nassarius and trocus) plus 2 emerald crabs for bubble algae control.
My options
1. Reduce lighting (don’t really want to do it as I have acro’s at the top of the tank)
2. Get a tuxedo urchin or two and deal with frags taking trips around the tank (they seem like the only herbivore option I have in this size tank)
3. Peroxide treatment of the ulva (I hate the thought of adding chemicals to the tank since it is doing so well
4. wait it out - as the acro grow and shade the lower part of the tank and outcompete the ulva for light and nutrients it should recede.
Some pics
What are everyone’s thoughts.