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that was a pH recovery. My in tank refugium with extra lighting took 3 weeks for nitrates to drop down and a few months for phosphates. In this particular thread the subject was fish dying. the macros or other algae breaking up the cycle by consuming ammonia directly while reducing carbon...

the important thing is that macros are being mentioned to new people. When I setup my old 55g back in 2003 I went to several lfs's and web sites and no one mentioned macros until one person "slipped up". It was all skimmers, filters, water changes, and deep sea beds back then. FWIW I only took...

Gee I don't have to say it. :D Have you gotten serious about a larger tank? I just bought 2 55g tanks for ***** in the infrequent $1 per gallon sale. So I got 110g of aquariums for $110. One will be a planted display refugium and the other a coral reef display. And I plan to circulate the...

+1 And IME the total nitrates vrs nitrate-nitrogen is kinda moot. The only kit I've had emphasizing nitrate-nitrogen was a fast test kit which may not be available anymore.

Good advice all. FWIW I would start the tank with a refugium (even just a simple partition) with macro algae then do the rest. The macros can and will do everything cycle wise live rock does so you can save on live rock as well. So you can buy a larger tank to begin with. Right now ***** is...

FWIW all a refugium is a place to separate the macros from the fish so the macros are protected (and have refuge LOL). the simplist form is just an in tank partition (1/4" plastic grig egg crate for instance) with the macro in a small area and the fish in most of the tank. my .02

saltwaterfish does sell macro algae here. Otherwise what I did was search for macro algae back when I started. I have found shaving brushes, halimedia and other calcius algaes are a bit difficult for the beginner but chaertomorphia and caulerpa prolifera are ver easy.

One thing I noticed and perhaps has already been identified is the use of PH up. That tells my your pH was low. First, always measure pH just before lights out. It is normal for pH do drop a night because pH is a function of carbon dioxide among other things. So with lights out pH will...

Flower does have a point on the api nitrate kit. there are two measures of nitrates. one is called total nitrates and reflects the total nitrate ion. The other is nitrate-nitrogen which is only the nitrogen part. So when measuring nitrates it is best to check how the kit is calibrated. And...

First I would test ammonia with the seachem multitest kit to determine what the free and total ammonia levels are. then I would only add Prime for the free ammonia. (danger is prime also reduces the oxygen in the water and fish can suffocate with the same symptoms as ammonia) Your nitrates...

I make my "glass top" replacements from 1/4" square plastic grid (egg crate) sold as lighting diffusers for dropped ceilings. 2'x4' section is like $13 or so.

+1. More people need to take that approach

In the display. To favor the algae in the refugium

yep try forgoing the gfo, killing the lights (or reducing duration) in the display and see if the chaeto in the refugium takes off.

nitrates (along with ammonia, nitrItes, carbon dioxide, phosphates, probably more) come overwhelming from the bioload. 1) some nitrates in algae rich system can be a sign the algae is consuming ammonia and forgoing nitrates for nitrogen. 2) the best thing to do is increase nitrate consumers...

you need (more) macro algae in your refugium. I think that thingie is some kind of sponge. but you better get others to verify that.

I would plan for a refugium with macro algae and use that from the get go. I'm Kinda, sorta doing something slightly similar as I got 2 55g in a ***** $1/gallon sale. Thinking about doing a balsa mockup of the room in miniature with models of tanks, furniture and stuff. Then moving things...

1.) always test ph and alk just before lights out. 2). Google the dr. Randy Holmes-Farley imporved diy two part. read and study. You could implement also. my .02

+1 I remember having our then 17 years old grand daughter's boyfriend help move our old 55g to the porch. drained the water fish move tank and stand the asked the boyfriend how we're gonna get all that water back in the tank. He looked really really frustrated at the work that he though still...

All that is the reason to setup a test system in the garage. Actually, even the more expensive refug/sumps have the same exact problems and IMHO require the same exact testing. And fail in the same exact way. What I do on hob overflows is put an air line to the tube/pvc on the hob part and...