Reread this thread and I can self diagnose as an experienced reef keeper that keeps beating their head against the wall with a newer tank. Successful tanks for me in the past had big sandbeds and live rocks that served as nutrient, microbial, and microfauna sinks. My current tank is barebottom with minimal rock and an aim for a high flow dynamic environment. I would love to increase my fish load but with the recent state of things as well as an upcoming move to Nebraska fish purchases will have to wait a few months. Once I'm settled in Nebraska I'm going to go full @Chaswood79 and load my tank up with fish. I will also try to rework my sump to get more rock in. I've previously used Siporax but that has worked too well at lowering nutrients (without carbon dosing) for me so I want to stay away from media.
In the meantime I'm going to continue to increase my autofeeder and may try to make my own frozen food (or at least feed LRS more often).
I figure I will throw my hat into the ring of a struggling SPS tank. @LARedstickreefer how are you still liking the ZeoBak? I figure giving it a try at the worst may be just another experiment. I would rather raise nutrients slightly so a carbon source such as Zeostart would not be helpful unless I overfeed the crap out of my tank and start to redline things. @ycnibrc do you feel that ZeoBak alone is helpful?
In the meantime I'm going to continue to increase my autofeeder and may try to make my own frozen food (or at least feed LRS more often).
I figure I will throw my hat into the ring of a struggling SPS tank. @LARedstickreefer how are you still liking the ZeoBak? I figure giving it a try at the worst may be just another experiment. I would rather raise nutrients slightly so a carbon source such as Zeostart would not be helpful unless I overfeed the crap out of my tank and start to redline things. @ycnibrc do you feel that ZeoBak alone is helpful?