I've had this tank for over a year with a few successful months (in terms of no algae outbreaks), otherwise I've always had an issue with algae. Long hair algae and diatoms, some cyanobacteria outbreaks as well. I'm related to someone who works at a major fish supplier so I was able to get some mushrooms, zoanthids and gsp from the 'graveyard' and I was able to bring them back to life rather well, considering they were unrecognizable when I received them. I also purchased a green bubble tip anemone from this location. At some point the bubble tip was stressed out and split into two, they both recovered rather well at the time, however lately, they are really small and squished and appear to be shrinking.
Whenever I do any parameter tests, everything reads well except nitrates that seem to stay around 20 pph or higher no matter what I do. The only test kits I have are the API master reef and saltwater reef kits.
The pictures are slightly misleading as I'm in the middle of breaking the tank down to clean the equipment. I recently had a huge hair algae outbreak over the last week and really had to get in there to clean it out. I have a protein skimmer, fluval c filter (not shown) and 3 current eflux powerheads.
I have 2 AI Prime as shown in the images. I'm a little skeptical that I'm using them correctly and would love some suggestions. I've attached my AI prime schedule. I don't have access to a PAR reader so I can't tell how intense they are or not. Over the last week, the zoanthids have not opened fully, and the green hairy mushroom corals (id?), there are about 5 of them, they are losing color.
I feed pellets and frozen brine shrimp to the fish every couple of days, as well as the bta. I feed the zoanthis, gsp and mushrooms reef roids once a week. Weekly water changes of about 30%. There are a handful of hermit crabs, nassarius snails, florida cerith snails, and dwarf cerith.
Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. It's become a struggle to keep this tank clean and I feel bad for the inhabitants and the time I have to put into it every Sunday. I'm definitely new to the hobby and have only learned things through my own research. Thanks for reading.
Whenever I do any parameter tests, everything reads well except nitrates that seem to stay around 20 pph or higher no matter what I do. The only test kits I have are the API master reef and saltwater reef kits.
The pictures are slightly misleading as I'm in the middle of breaking the tank down to clean the equipment. I recently had a huge hair algae outbreak over the last week and really had to get in there to clean it out. I have a protein skimmer, fluval c filter (not shown) and 3 current eflux powerheads.
I have 2 AI Prime as shown in the images. I'm a little skeptical that I'm using them correctly and would love some suggestions. I've attached my AI prime schedule. I don't have access to a PAR reader so I can't tell how intense they are or not. Over the last week, the zoanthids have not opened fully, and the green hairy mushroom corals (id?), there are about 5 of them, they are losing color.
I feed pellets and frozen brine shrimp to the fish every couple of days, as well as the bta. I feed the zoanthis, gsp and mushrooms reef roids once a week. Weekly water changes of about 30%. There are a handful of hermit crabs, nassarius snails, florida cerith snails, and dwarf cerith.
Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. It's become a struggle to keep this tank clean and I feel bad for the inhabitants and the time I have to put into it every Sunday. I'm definitely new to the hobby and have only learned things through my own research. Thanks for reading.