Four monte on, no algae etc

[Ballyhoo]

seems like the ugly stage came and went fast and now my aquarium has zero algae and I can't find any film or growth which is very odd. Am I overly cleaning my tank with protein skimmer and reef mat etc.? softies hanging on OK not a lot of growth. All LPS died long ago.

 

[Doctorgori]

Looks good, so just roll with it…
P.S. I’d take my resume offline

 

[Ballyhoo]

Looks good, so just roll with it…
P.S. I’d take my resume offline

i have a resume? oh darn i don't see the edit feature in that post

 

[Ballyhoo]

i have a resume? oh darn i don't see the edit feature in that post

why would they be no hair or algae growth? odd..

 

[Sdoutreefer]

why would they be no hair or algae growth? odd..

Because either something is eating it, or the algae doesn't have enough nitrates to grow.

 

[twentyleagues]

Whats your parameters? particularly pho4 and nitrates.

 

[Waters]

New tanks don't necessarily mean you will 100% have algae growth. A lot goes into whether or not algae (or some other life form) grows and takes up the real estate on the aquarium surfaces. My last two tanks had 0 algae from the beginning to the point where I took them down. LPS probably died from lack of nutrients...which could also explain your lack of algae. Have you done any water tests?

 

[NanoNana]

Haven’t you been running your lights very low for a very long time? Did you ever rent a par meter? Your zoas are still stretching for light. Low light will kill off algae as you well know. It will also kill off many corals as you well know.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Parameters of your tank?

 

[Ballyhoo]

there are a lot of questions here which are all excellent. With respect to parameters, I mean, I don't know how to answer that there's so many parameters to provide but nothing that I've measured is out of value, except my phosphate was really high before until purchased a reactorev and used Rowe and since has come down now to about .10 but before that, it was as high as 1.1. KH :Alk like 9.5 or 10. salinity: 1.25. Temperature between 79 to 80°. I'm not sure what other parameters I would want to provide or need to be provide. Calcium and magnesium I sent to ICP showing but with were shown within normal range per ICP. However, stronium was 7.25 and fe @ 0 both of which ICP taged as out of range. It did tag phosphate way out of range, but again the reactor has brought it down quite a bit. probably 75% of my car died since I got my tank four months ago, but most of all the coral death was acro and SPS which I had no business buying and mostly died at the beginning. But within the last couple weeks since the phosphates have come down, my softies seem to be much more stable, I would like to see more growth but I need to be more patient i know. I'm just wondering why there's no algae . Maybe because my cleanup crew including juvenile keeping everything clean.
I want to get everything in line and get great parameters and the right biology so I can buy a larger tank that I can put the Juvy tang into but I imagine it'll take me a year or so to get the parameters good enough that I could use the current rock and brick plus water for a new tank, but this is kind of what it looks like right now. as far as the par, I am trying to buy a meter but until then I juice up my LED to about 50% of what it's capable of. It's the stock LED from Red Sea G 200 max.
I'm thinking my next tank will be a Red sea 250 max since it will be 36 inches long, but definitely don't wanna buy a new tank until I master this one.
right now I keep most of my coral on racks just so I can monitor more easily and when I feel like they are very stable I'm gonna enter them into the aquarium people. But I don't wanna glue a coral frag to a rock and then see it die.

 

[NanoNana]

I am going to tell you this one more time, your zoas are stretching either because they aren’t getting enough light or because they aren’t getting enough flow. I believe it’s probably light. Did you ever get a RODI or are you still buying your LFS’s water or using brita water? Did you ever rent a par meter? Your tank is very deep. Cubes are hard to light and harder to get flow right in. Until you check your lights, there will always be that variable that is unknown.

 

[exnisstech]

What's up with that starfish on the frag rack?

 

[JTP424]

What type of light do you have running? And what are it's settings.
Additionally, in conjunction with the question above, you've confirmed the statues and starfish are reef safe? Just because they're in the aquarium section of a pet store doesn't mean they can handle a saltwater tank, just want to give you the best results!
I'm impressed you were able to get that much bioload in a tank in four months!

 

[Dan_P]

seems like the ugly stage came and went fast and now my aquarium has zero algae and I can't find any film or growth which is very odd. Am I overly cleaning my tank with protein skimmer and reef mat etc.? softies hanging on OK not a lot of growth. All LPS died long ago.

Maybe your system is nitrogen and phosphate depleted, which would explain poor coral performance and lack of algae.

 

[Ballyhoo]

I am going to tell you this one more time, your zoas are stretching either because they aren’t getting enough light or because they aren’t getting enough flow. I believe it’s probably light. Did you ever get a RODI or are you still buying your LFS’s water or using brita water? Did you ever rent a par meter? Your tank is very deep. Cubes are hard to light and harder to get flow right in. Until you check your lights, there will always be that variable that is unknown.

I do not yet have a ro di system so I buy my ro di water from LFS. I will get an ROI system soon enough especially if I get a bigger tank or when I get the bigger tank, I will not be able to sustain having a larger tank by getting my water from the LFS.

Britta?
Believe it or not I do have IQ above 90. lol

so phosphates levels were just asked about, this I mentioned another post above, they measured .11And nitrates were measured a little bit high last time i checked. I don't know if something else I should look for. I'm in the process of transacting for a par meter so I'll have more information on the lights but every time I go to my LFS store they tell me I don't need a par meter and to keep the white lights low.

The recommendations on the Zoa and flow and light are taking very seriously and I suppose I will move them now to a place with higher flow maybe more light. so this was an AIO. It only came with one reef wave. And the only place to put it is in a corner, which I think is very inefficient because the reef wave is flanked by the overflow tank. I'm thinking about buying a second reef wave so that I can circulate flow more evenly through this cubed tank. But I'm really looking forward to getting a bigger tank, much longer. If I were to do this over again, I would not have bought this tank. I would've bought something longer, like 36 inches long at least so as I'm really seriously looking at is getting a different tank a much longer one but before I do that, I feel like to justify getting a different tank. I should everything in order in this one first. I have been eyeing the G250 Max very seriously, but that might be for a different thread.

Regarding the starfish decor I hope my LFS store wouldn't sell me something unsafe for my aquarium. It's a pretty reputable store. But I keep there to catch floating detritus . Think of the big balloons they tethered over London during World War II. You get floating detritus and my little starfish pick up that stuff. It's why I still keep the dead SPS . I actually think my softy growth is starting to pick up a little bit. Most stuff was dying six weeks ago. Now I wouldn't say this softies are thriving yet but they are appearing much healthier than they were a month ago.

 

[JTP424]

Sounds like you have a solid plan.
I am just curious about what brand/type of light you have, maybe we can be of some assistance in level beyond "keep the whites low" etc.

Not saying the LFS would sell you something unsafe on purpose, but we have seen some on this forum attempt to sell Hippos to people who are rocking 15 gallons, so we like to check all the boxes
Just trying to give you the best possible chance at an awesome tank, you're heading in a good direction.

 

[exnisstech]

Hmm never would think of a plastic star fish to catch floating detritus All of my detritus goes to the bottom in corners and under rocks.

 

[Ballyhoo]

I know it's strange about the starfish, but it was more like before when I used to have a cyano problem and I used to have Cyano floating through the aquarium The starfish decor would act to catch them whete floating. Now it's just there because it's just there I don't know.

 

[Ballyhoo]

here is the type of LEDs I have

ReefLED 90 LED Light Fixture

Reef-Spec Light Output For Optimal Coral Growth & Coloration Over the past few years, Red Sea has dedicated a lot of time to testing and researching LED lighting, and the culmination of those efforts resulted in the ReefLED 90. Designed for optimal growth, while producing great coloration with a...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

 

[Ballyhoo]

there are different LED settings they have for the reef app. Right now I have it on one that slowly gets brighter and brighter as the day goes on and peaks and then decreases. I kind of hoped I was simulating like the sun rising over the course of the day, but I probably should switch over to something in the Program library . The one on the right is my current program setting.
if you put your finger on the photo with the programre library setting, it shows you the different Kelvin energy that I guess it emits. For some reason red Sea displays output in terms of Kelvin and not par.