Feels like I am shooting myself in the foot right now. Wasting $$
So I got some starter coral and they were doing great. Still are but steadily losing color. I am trying to increase no3po4 but "I can't get it up" without possibly overdosing. I am doing 20mL of NO3 every other day, feeding like 2 times a day flake and every other day LRS Reef Frenzy and I still see undetectable no3 and very low po4.
I run GFO only 4 hours out of the day. I was previously running it for 24 hours than once PO4 dropped to near .02-.04 i switched it to the now 4 hours daily which has kept it steady at 14ppb or 0.042ppm.
I run filter floss and have issues with detrius "dust" all over my tank. It just doesn't capture it well enough and it's annoying. I like having a "clean" tank and it's been everything but that ever since a "clean" startup of about 2-3 months.
I shut off my skimmer for the week to see if I can increase NO3 and PO4. It doesn't take out what's already in the water but it takes out what eventually adds to their numbers.
So I am steadily going crazy thinking wth to do to get my SPS color to stay.
Parameters
S/G 1.025
refractometer
CA 400 salifert
ALK 8.3dkh salifert
no3 clear undetectable on salifert test kit
po4 .04ppm or 14ppb hanna ULR
pH is still steady from 7.9-8.1 on average. There may be a dip or rise on random days. I recently calibrated again. Intend to calibrate every month.
I haven't checked MG in awhile since I do constant water changes (weekly but I have skipped once or twice)
Running biospheres in a reactor running lights for 18hrs to combat algae in the DT.
Running BRS rox .8 in reactor
Running GFO rowaphos in reactor for 4 hours a day
I was getting too much algae in DT so I reduced my lighting from supplement T5s to see if they are causing my algae to explode. So far my film algae has reduced dramatically but still showing up daily.
TDS is displaying 0. I changed out my filters recently as well as my ro membrane. Probably has 40-60gallons of 0tds made.
I dose
1mL of alk daily, 2 mL of CA - 2part ESV
2-3mL of Acropower
5 drops of Potassium Iodide - every other day
3 drops of Strontium Chloride - every other dose of potassium iodide
5 drops of Trace elements - every other dose along with strontium chloride
Very conservative drops for SR and Trace elements.
I know I have to do an ICP test sooner than later to figure out my numbers better. But anyone have some ideas what I can do?
Tank is 3~ months old.
