Hi Fellow Reefers,
First official post here. I need some advice.
Background: purchased this 32 gallon bio-cube approx 3 months ago. It was established. Seller said it was "a couple of years old". No sand bed at time of purchase. I worked hard to keep rock alive during transport etc. I did add sand to the bottom for personal preference reasons. Started getting a (suspected) Cyano and red hair algae outbreak within 2 weeks.
What am I doing:
Lights - the seller was using 2 ai prime lights, which I found to be excessive, so I only set one back up. For this reason, I did turn the UV up from what he had them set at (by 15%). Coral seems to be adjusting just fine. I've turned it back down, but am nervous to cut back on lighting too much for this reason.
Dosing MB7, daily phyto, and added 4 rounds of pods. Running Cheato in the middle chamber. Initially dosed AB+ but read that was likely contributing to my phosphate issues, so I stopped that a few weeks ago. 10-20% water changes with physical removal of hair and algae every 7-10 days.
PH - 8.2
NH3 - trace
N02 - 0
N03 - 2 ppm
P04 - .35 ppm
dKH - 8.5
Ca - 420
Mg - 1410
PH - 8.1
78 Degrees
1.026 Salinity
The hair and slime seem to be getting better but it varies. Is this just the "ugly phase?" Am I doing something wrong? Or is it time to use a product? I'm getting frusterated.
First official post here. I need some advice.
Background: purchased this 32 gallon bio-cube approx 3 months ago. It was established. Seller said it was "a couple of years old". No sand bed at time of purchase. I worked hard to keep rock alive during transport etc. I did add sand to the bottom for personal preference reasons. Started getting a (suspected) Cyano and red hair algae outbreak within 2 weeks.
What am I doing:
Lights - the seller was using 2 ai prime lights, which I found to be excessive, so I only set one back up. For this reason, I did turn the UV up from what he had them set at (by 15%). Coral seems to be adjusting just fine. I've turned it back down, but am nervous to cut back on lighting too much for this reason.
Dosing MB7, daily phyto, and added 4 rounds of pods. Running Cheato in the middle chamber. Initially dosed AB+ but read that was likely contributing to my phosphate issues, so I stopped that a few weeks ago. 10-20% water changes with physical removal of hair and algae every 7-10 days.
PH - 8.2
NH3 - trace
N02 - 0
N03 - 2 ppm
P04 - .35 ppm
dKH - 8.5
Ca - 420
Mg - 1410
PH - 8.1
78 Degrees
1.026 Salinity
The hair and slime seem to be getting better but it varies. Is this just the "ugly phase?" Am I doing something wrong? Or is it time to use a product? I'm getting frusterated.