PotatoPig
Valuable Member
My tank has been running about 10 months, but mostly FOWLR under room lighting, so no algae as no PAR, also minimal water testing.
Added lights so I could add corals and have the fish look nicer. Soon after algae rolled up - expected. Not a big deal. Mostly a green powder/film on the glass and Calothrix on all rocks.
Tested water. Two weekends ago Nitrates were about 40-80, Phosphates about 0.5-1. Both high.
Been manually removing, toothbrush on rocks, magnet cleaner on glass, changing filter sock every day (getting clogged from algae coming down from DT cleaning), skimmer has been skimming a lot.
Hadn’t had time for a water change since so did a big water change last night (~30%), taking a sample before the water change and another sample after. Change was so large as I assumed I was still at similar parameters.
Nutrients are waaay down. Nitrates are trending to zero, phosphates seem <0.25. Test results from before and after (tests run simultaneously this evening) below, along with Phosphate test from two weekends ago for comparison.
The only explanation seems to be that all the algae in the DT removed by skimmer and filters has sucked out all the nutrients?
I’m assuming this is part of what’s meant by instability in early stages of a tank - there’s a ton of biome instability as various photosynthetic species find their niches and outcompete in turn as parameters change.
Added lights so I could add corals and have the fish look nicer. Soon after algae rolled up - expected. Not a big deal. Mostly a green powder/film on the glass and Calothrix on all rocks.
Tested water. Two weekends ago Nitrates were about 40-80, Phosphates about 0.5-1. Both high.
Been manually removing, toothbrush on rocks, magnet cleaner on glass, changing filter sock every day (getting clogged from algae coming down from DT cleaning), skimmer has been skimming a lot.
Hadn’t had time for a water change since so did a big water change last night (~30%), taking a sample before the water change and another sample after. Change was so large as I assumed I was still at similar parameters.
Nutrients are waaay down. Nitrates are trending to zero, phosphates seem <0.25. Test results from before and after (tests run simultaneously this evening) below, along with Phosphate test from two weekends ago for comparison.
The only explanation seems to be that all the algae in the DT removed by skimmer and filters has sucked out all the nutrients?
I’m assuming this is part of what’s meant by instability in early stages of a tank - there’s a ton of biome instability as various photosynthetic species find their niches and outcompete in turn as parameters change.
