Hi Guys,
After about 5 months of struggling with GHA I decided to make a post and get some pro assistance as i am currently fed up.
I had a 3 ft tank when the GHA started, (early Dec '14), that thank was a year old, I then decided to upgrade the tank to a 4ft. Ever since algae is just growing...
Tank parameters:
NO3 :0 or undetectable.
PO4 : 0.08
SG : 1.025
Mg : 1320
Ca : 430
KH : ~9-10
PH : 8.2
Temp : ~25°C
Setup :
4Ft tank
2x 55W T5 (one reef blue one cool white)~4 Months old.
3Ft sump (old tank converted to sump)
Jebao rw-8 flow pump and some Chinese 700L/h cheepie
2x 2000L/h return pumps
Bubble Magnus Curve 5
Two little fishies phosban reactor 150
2x 300W heaters
15W UV-always on
Total volume about 350L
LS:
2x Chromis
2x Clowns
1x Bicolour Blennie
1x 6line wrase
1x Manderin
2x Anthias
2x Demsels
1x Tiger Goby
2x Fire Shrimp
2x Cleaner shrimp
3x Urchins
6x Hermits
3x Snails
lots of brittle stars and those white little ones
Zenia
lots of pollops
4x Tubeworms
3x Pin cushion mushroom
Few mushrooms
Few Manjano (I like them tho )
Some Candy Coral
Small Kenya Tree
History to try to beat algae.
1)Purchased Redsea Algea Pro Test kit (NO3 & PO4), used salifert before.
2)Added RW-8 and second return pump as I read I "might" not have enough flow.
3)Dosed NOPOX (1L) - ReadSea algae management program
4)Added refugium containing cheato, center compartment in sump (about 500mmx 370mm by 200mm), to compete against GHA for nutrients, - 20W Red Grow LEDS
5)Added second Heater - apparently temp swings could assist algae growth too.
6)Added Phosban reactor, running ~200ml RowPhos - apparently best to remove PO4 and don't need any NO3 (unlike NOPOX)
7)Removed Activated carbon, it leeched PO4, threw some in 500ml RO and tested positive.
8)Reduced lighting period from 11hrs to 4 hrs, (after a week back to 11)
9)Tried Black out for 3 days about 4 times.
10)Removed auto feeder
11)Feed once at night frozen brine(blue packet, one with omega) (poor fish starving)
12)Added 6x Hermits, smallish
13)Added 3x Urchins, golf ball sized
14)Added Giant Lawnmower Blennie ( GF called it Whale), unfortunately he passed on. (post here on masa).
15)Added BioCubes (in the beginning before algae to help nitrate removal)
My Cheato is growing like hell.
Plopys thats no coverd with GHA looks very good.
Zenia grows quite quick. Went from 1 branch to about 6 in 3 months.
Algae is growing about 10 - 15 mm a week,
Every Sunday I clean of the algae pulling off the most,while siphoning them out through a filter sock, and the brushing the rocks.
Skimmer is set up to wet skimming, (greenish muck)
I stopped dosing NOPOX as I dont have any NO3 so its apparently pointless.
I am dosing KH (Reef Foundation B) to keep at 10dKH
Salt is Red Sea Coral Pro, doing 10% water change monthly.
RO water TDS is 7 - Own System. and connected to ATU
Dosing Vitamins (Vita chem I think) 5ml once a week.
I have 2 "base rocks" brought over from 3ft tank which is completely covered in GHA all other rocks have patches of GHA so i assume PO4 leaching from the base, would have thought it would stop by now, I cant remove any rocks as they all have pollops growing on them.
Temp drops to 24 with Loadshedding, Inverter not strong enough to run heaters.
Running Genny over weekends with Loadshedding and heaters is on then.
I have removed my filter sock as it kills to many pods, - should I rather keep it in?
I listed everything as I don't know if I do something wrong or not doing anything i should.
That is it I think, so what is next? what do I do next?
After about 5 months of struggling with GHA I decided to make a post and get some pro assistance as i am currently fed up.
I had a 3 ft tank when the GHA started, (early Dec '14), that thank was a year old, I then decided to upgrade the tank to a 4ft. Ever since algae is just growing...
Tank parameters:
NO3 :0 or undetectable.
PO4 : 0.08
SG : 1.025
Mg : 1320
Ca : 430
KH : ~9-10
PH : 8.2
Temp : ~25°C
Setup :
4Ft tank
2x 55W T5 (one reef blue one cool white)~4 Months old.
3Ft sump (old tank converted to sump)
Jebao rw-8 flow pump and some Chinese 700L/h cheepie
2x 2000L/h return pumps
Bubble Magnus Curve 5
Two little fishies phosban reactor 150
2x 300W heaters
15W UV-always on
Total volume about 350L
LS:
2x Chromis
2x Clowns
1x Bicolour Blennie
1x 6line wrase
1x Manderin
2x Anthias
2x Demsels
1x Tiger Goby
2x Fire Shrimp
2x Cleaner shrimp
3x Urchins
6x Hermits
3x Snails
lots of brittle stars and those white little ones
Zenia
lots of pollops
4x Tubeworms
3x Pin cushion mushroom
Few mushrooms
Few Manjano (I like them tho )
Some Candy Coral
Small Kenya Tree
History to try to beat algae.
1)Purchased Redsea Algea Pro Test kit (NO3 & PO4), used salifert before.
2)Added RW-8 and second return pump as I read I "might" not have enough flow.
3)Dosed NOPOX (1L) - ReadSea algae management program
4)Added refugium containing cheato, center compartment in sump (about 500mmx 370mm by 200mm), to compete against GHA for nutrients, - 20W Red Grow LEDS
5)Added second Heater - apparently temp swings could assist algae growth too.
6)Added Phosban reactor, running ~200ml RowPhos - apparently best to remove PO4 and don't need any NO3 (unlike NOPOX)
7)Removed Activated carbon, it leeched PO4, threw some in 500ml RO and tested positive.
8)Reduced lighting period from 11hrs to 4 hrs, (after a week back to 11)
9)Tried Black out for 3 days about 4 times.
10)Removed auto feeder
11)Feed once at night frozen brine(blue packet, one with omega) (poor fish starving)
12)Added 6x Hermits, smallish
13)Added 3x Urchins, golf ball sized
14)Added Giant Lawnmower Blennie ( GF called it Whale), unfortunately he passed on. (post here on masa).
15)Added BioCubes (in the beginning before algae to help nitrate removal)
My Cheato is growing like hell.
Plopys thats no coverd with GHA looks very good.
Zenia grows quite quick. Went from 1 branch to about 6 in 3 months.
Algae is growing about 10 - 15 mm a week,
Every Sunday I clean of the algae pulling off the most,while siphoning them out through a filter sock, and the brushing the rocks.
Skimmer is set up to wet skimming, (greenish muck)
I stopped dosing NOPOX as I dont have any NO3 so its apparently pointless.
I am dosing KH (Reef Foundation B) to keep at 10dKH
Salt is Red Sea Coral Pro, doing 10% water change monthly.
RO water TDS is 7 - Own System. and connected to ATU
Dosing Vitamins (Vita chem I think) 5ml once a week.
I have 2 "base rocks" brought over from 3ft tank which is completely covered in GHA all other rocks have patches of GHA so i assume PO4 leaching from the base, would have thought it would stop by now, I cant remove any rocks as they all have pollops growing on them.
Temp drops to 24 with Loadshedding, Inverter not strong enough to run heaters.
Running Genny over weekends with Loadshedding and heaters is on then.
I have removed my filter sock as it kills to many pods, - should I rather keep it in?
I listed everything as I don't know if I do something wrong or not doing anything i should.
That is it I think, so what is next? what do I do next?