Marie - you just did a major re-aquascape that increased flow throughout your tank and should help with dead spots where algae gets a start and can thrive. Why not wait 6 weeks and see where you are with nuicance algae.
Change one thing at a time.
TW

Dave was just over to test the water.

The nitrate tested at .3 ppm
Unfortunately he had ran out of the phosphate reagent so I will have to wait for that

Your right, but it will be at least another 4 weeks before I'll have time to even think of additives. Who knows what I'll decide to do if my phosphates test as low as the nitrates

I just heat tested my phosphates with an elos test kit that i've had for over a year (expiry date??) and it appears to be somewhere between .01 and .05...a hint of blue but not quite dark enough to be .05...I hate these stupid test kits :lol:

I orederd new test refills today supposed to have them Thusday.

Okay, My nitrates are 0.3ppm and my phosphates are 0.022 (heated) as per Dave's colorimeter....that seems awful low considering I haven't done a water change in at least 3 weeks

But Remember Marie PO4 is PO4 if you have some type of sort of Algae then you have PO4. however some PO4 is great for tanks and some isnt

I realize Mike but I don't have "out of control" algae and considering I haven't ran any phosphate removers in the tank for the last 2 years I thought it would be higher than that.
I suppose it is a good thing that I have so many different types of algae that non can gain supremacy and take over the tank :lol:

Not bad for a low maintenance tank and will explain your great coral collection.

But if you want to be rid of algal issues and see even better colouration results then you would need to get both these levels down.

Hi Marie,

The old saying if it "aint broke dont fix it" strongly comes in to play here.

If you are happy with the tank as it is then do not change anything, but if you want to start some interesting food regimes for better colouration or other advances then these level would need to come down.

But the important thing is for you to do what you feel is right for your tank, we as outsiders can only advise, and still flick back to the first photos and admire at your great achievements ;)

Marie, could you post pictures of the algae that you are wanting to get rid of? Just wondering if the amount is minor or more significant...

What would be your suggestion to get the levels down? Assuming I start regular water changes...phosphate removers? Is water changes enough to get nitrates to stay down?
If I had gone by my eyes alone I would of said nitrates undetectable, I couldn't see any pink/red in the test tube at all

Myka, I have to say I might be a bit nitpicky and the amount isn't that significant.
I have some cyano type (I say type because this stuff doesn't seem to mind higher flow areas) that coats the underside of the rocks and the back wall of the tank. I have brown wafer algae coating the overflows, 3 different types of caulerpa trying to squeeze in where the fish can't reach, my absolute worse nemesis Dictyota is trying to rear its ugly head and of couse "out of control" coralline algae

Marie, if I were you, I'd just try increasing the frequency of waterchanges for awhile and see if that helps without doing anything else. That may be the easiest way to fix the problem and if it doesn't well you can try something else :biggrin: