For those of you looking to answer a question, warning: I don't know if I really have a question. This is more of a cathartic rant.
I have a 73g DT with 18g sump - total 91g. The tank is about 4 months old now and is stocked with 2 clowns, a royal gramma and a one-spot foxface. I have a couple corals, too. The tank was started with dry rock and about 1.5" sand bed. I run a skimmer, filter socks, and I have a really terrible refugium with a little pompom, but more bubble algae and GHA and a Tunze Eco Chic (I melted a bunch of chaeto and Ulva).
In December at my tank's two month mark I started getting some Dinos and GHA and diatoms. I was freaked out about the dinos and we were going out of town for a couple days, so I took the opportunity to do a blackout with a Dr.Tim's dino treatment. After a 5 day blackout and the treatment, the dinos started to disappear. But GHA and diatoms started to explode.
The dinos were a little confusing, because my nutrients were not very low at the time - nitrate was hovering around 8 and phosphate was about 0.1. Nevertheless after the blackout, the dinos disappeared and GHA ran rampant. Until I got a the foxface at the end of January. It mowed down all of the GHA in about 3 days, and I was happy. I have been feeding heavier than I did previous to getting the FF. Since he's in the tank, I've been feeding about a cube a day for the 4 fish, plus some baby brine shrimp and some pellets here and there.
I thought that with the extra feeding and FF eating all the algae, there would be less algae to consume the NO3 and I'd see a rise, but that didn't happen. Instead, over the last week my Nitrates bottomed out. I think I see some dinos returning.
Is this just new tank issues? I definitely want to raise my NO3, but I'm unsure how to go about it. Dosing? Skim less? Feed more? Clean my refugium of all the GHA and bubble? I'll probably end up doing all of them.
It's not all frustration. I'm having some successes. My blasto, torch and green birds nest seem to be doing well, with the birds nest and blasto putting on some noticeable growth. The birds nest color has been shifting from brownish to green, too. The fish seem healthy and well acclimated to the tank, and the tank is supplying a lot of enjoyment for the family.
Here are my phosphate and nitrate values for the last 3 months. Nitrate has be steadily dropping, while phosphate has been bouncing around, commonly being around 0.1. Like I said - I don't really know if I have questions. The options seem clear, and I knew this hobby would be a journey full of challenges. If you got this far, thanks for reading.
I have a 73g DT with 18g sump - total 91g. The tank is about 4 months old now and is stocked with 2 clowns, a royal gramma and a one-spot foxface. I have a couple corals, too. The tank was started with dry rock and about 1.5" sand bed. I run a skimmer, filter socks, and I have a really terrible refugium with a little pompom, but more bubble algae and GHA and a Tunze Eco Chic (I melted a bunch of chaeto and Ulva).
In December at my tank's two month mark I started getting some Dinos and GHA and diatoms. I was freaked out about the dinos and we were going out of town for a couple days, so I took the opportunity to do a blackout with a Dr.Tim's dino treatment. After a 5 day blackout and the treatment, the dinos started to disappear. But GHA and diatoms started to explode.
The dinos were a little confusing, because my nutrients were not very low at the time - nitrate was hovering around 8 and phosphate was about 0.1. Nevertheless after the blackout, the dinos disappeared and GHA ran rampant. Until I got a the foxface at the end of January. It mowed down all of the GHA in about 3 days, and I was happy. I have been feeding heavier than I did previous to getting the FF. Since he's in the tank, I've been feeding about a cube a day for the 4 fish, plus some baby brine shrimp and some pellets here and there.
I thought that with the extra feeding and FF eating all the algae, there would be less algae to consume the NO3 and I'd see a rise, but that didn't happen. Instead, over the last week my Nitrates bottomed out. I think I see some dinos returning.
Is this just new tank issues? I definitely want to raise my NO3, but I'm unsure how to go about it. Dosing? Skim less? Feed more? Clean my refugium of all the GHA and bubble? I'll probably end up doing all of them.
It's not all frustration. I'm having some successes. My blasto, torch and green birds nest seem to be doing well, with the birds nest and blasto putting on some noticeable growth. The birds nest color has been shifting from brownish to green, too. The fish seem healthy and well acclimated to the tank, and the tank is supplying a lot of enjoyment for the family.
Here are my phosphate and nitrate values for the last 3 months. Nitrate has be steadily dropping, while phosphate has been bouncing around, commonly being around 0.1. Like I said - I don't really know if I have questions. The options seem clear, and I knew this hobby would be a journey full of challenges. If you got this far, thanks for reading.