Salty_Box_Reef
Active Member
So let me give you the stats on the tank and then you tell me what steps I should take next...
120g sps dominated running just over a year with 90% of the rocks coming from a 12 year old tank.
lifereef calcium reactor with carbon doser and masterflex, running reborn media
shallow sandbed
photon v2 10hr total with 2hr ramp, 6hr peak, 2hr ramp down.
wav pumps
skimz skimmer(slightly under sized)
12 fish.
Never had a phosphate checker till today but always check alk/cal/mag/nitrate.
typically the tank is at:
Alk 8.5-8.7
cal 450-480
mag 1400-1450
nitrates 5
Normally I feed HEAVY otherwise my nitrates drop to nothing and my sps get pale. So where I'm at now is that I have pretty bad gha, nitrates at 2 cause I slowed feedings down and phosphates at .25
I would assume the phosphate levels are helping contribute to the algae, but not sure how to lower them without running gfo which I refuse to do. Never had any luck with it even running a VERY small amounts. Today I drilled a old sump and attached it to mine, threw a light on it and started running chaeto. Not sure how much that will help though. Next I am considering dosing nitrates to see if higher nitrate levels without the organics of heavy feedings will help push the phosphates down some. Other than that I am kind of stumped.
120g sps dominated running just over a year with 90% of the rocks coming from a 12 year old tank.
lifereef calcium reactor with carbon doser and masterflex, running reborn media
shallow sandbed
photon v2 10hr total with 2hr ramp, 6hr peak, 2hr ramp down.
wav pumps
skimz skimmer(slightly under sized)
12 fish.
Never had a phosphate checker till today but always check alk/cal/mag/nitrate.
typically the tank is at:
Alk 8.5-8.7
cal 450-480
mag 1400-1450
nitrates 5
Normally I feed HEAVY otherwise my nitrates drop to nothing and my sps get pale. So where I'm at now is that I have pretty bad gha, nitrates at 2 cause I slowed feedings down and phosphates at .25
I would assume the phosphate levels are helping contribute to the algae, but not sure how to lower them without running gfo which I refuse to do. Never had any luck with it even running a VERY small amounts. Today I drilled a old sump and attached it to mine, threw a light on it and started running chaeto. Not sure how much that will help though. Next I am considering dosing nitrates to see if higher nitrate levels without the organics of heavy feedings will help push the phosphates down some. Other than that I am kind of stumped.
