AlohaReef
Active Member
I've had a 13.5 fluval for 4.5 months and I feel like I've been making every single recommendation possible to get over the "ugly stage" but I'm not sure it's the ugly stage at this point, rather than just a nuisance algae and diatom or dino problem. So my sand gets real brown during the day particularly, but overall the sand looks rough unless it's the day of or after a water change. I have recently gotten a handle on it enough to where I don't have to necessarily do water changes as often but still do them 1x per week. I'm also dealing with the darkest green short algae on my rocks that looks like carpet. When blue lights are on it looks black, but in white light it's clearly dark green.
I've been dosing several probiotics (PNS, MB7, MBClean, phytos, yello sno) and All for reef. Being Euphyllia dominant I find I have to add mg often.
I've been dialing in my lighting and flow. I only have 10% white light on for about 2 hour per day the rest is all blue light. I tried to get all powerheads circulating towards the overflow.
I've got a bulky cleanup crew. 3 turbo snails (huge in that tank) a bunch of blue leg hermits, halloween hermit, emerald crab, porcelain crab, cleaner shrimp, pistol shrimp, peppermint shrimp, red marble starfish, and even had a sea hare at one point. I have only 2 clowns (so far 2 gobies jumped out on me) and a RFA. I have mostly Euphyllia, zoas, and some other soft / lps and a few sps.
For filtration, in chamber 1 I have media chamber with floss, sponge, chemipure elite, then purigen with matrix sitting at bottom. Chamber 2 I made into a refugium in a media basket to keep it elevated with clean chaeto and 2 xport blocks & matrix at the bottom. Chamber 3 has heater, ATO, etc. My only concern here would be the levels in the chambers. I would like to maximize the flow i get in the rear chambers, but, I need chamber 3 to be a certain height to stay above heater and chamber 2 has to be high enough to keep the algae submerged. I am not sure nutrient export is my issue here or not.
My phosphates are trending lower, but generally .1 or lower
Nitrates also trending lower, lately have been under 20
Ca & mg are relatively stable but on the high end (around 500 & 1500)
pH has been good since the refugium around 8.3
Salinity & temp have remained constant
Should I remain patient? I just feel like there is no end in sight and I just want that nice clean looking (comparatively) sand and rock like I see in everyone else's tank!
Any advice for a first timer?
Last pic was after a solid cleaning a while ago, but first pic is more recent and not "prettied up". It does look worse in person though.
I've been dosing several probiotics (PNS, MB7, MBClean, phytos, yello sno) and All for reef. Being Euphyllia dominant I find I have to add mg often.
I've been dialing in my lighting and flow. I only have 10% white light on for about 2 hour per day the rest is all blue light. I tried to get all powerheads circulating towards the overflow.
I've got a bulky cleanup crew. 3 turbo snails (huge in that tank) a bunch of blue leg hermits, halloween hermit, emerald crab, porcelain crab, cleaner shrimp, pistol shrimp, peppermint shrimp, red marble starfish, and even had a sea hare at one point. I have only 2 clowns (so far 2 gobies jumped out on me) and a RFA. I have mostly Euphyllia, zoas, and some other soft / lps and a few sps.
For filtration, in chamber 1 I have media chamber with floss, sponge, chemipure elite, then purigen with matrix sitting at bottom. Chamber 2 I made into a refugium in a media basket to keep it elevated with clean chaeto and 2 xport blocks & matrix at the bottom. Chamber 3 has heater, ATO, etc. My only concern here would be the levels in the chambers. I would like to maximize the flow i get in the rear chambers, but, I need chamber 3 to be a certain height to stay above heater and chamber 2 has to be high enough to keep the algae submerged. I am not sure nutrient export is my issue here or not.
My phosphates are trending lower, but generally .1 or lower
Nitrates also trending lower, lately have been under 20
Ca & mg are relatively stable but on the high end (around 500 & 1500)
pH has been good since the refugium around 8.3
Salinity & temp have remained constant
Should I remain patient? I just feel like there is no end in sight and I just want that nice clean looking (comparatively) sand and rock like I see in everyone else's tank!
Any advice for a first timer?
Last pic was after a solid cleaning a while ago, but first pic is more recent and not "prettied up". It does look worse in person though.
