[Myka]

Originally Posted by jvision

The tank itself is fairly new - running for a month or so. However, everything in it is from a tank that was over 1yr.

Did the tank have HA when you bought it, or is this new?

I do about 1/3 WC every 3 weeks or so. Thinking about upping the frequency and lowering the amount - maybe 1/4 every 2 weeks? And, I use tap water.

This may be the biggest issue for you right here. Untreated tapwater likely has at least a small amoutn of nitrates and phosphates. Every time you do a waterchange you're adding more undesirable nutrients. Look into purchasing 5 gallon jugs from your grocery store at the very least, so preferably your own RO/DI unit which you can pick up for about $150-200. The best money you'll ever spend on your tank!! Once you get your hands on some RO water, I would do a 30% waterchange with it. Make sure you're 'aging' your waterchange water by putting a powerhead in the bucket to mix the salt up well for you and stabilize the pH.

When you're having nutrient issues, you should be doing waterchanges more often. Try upping that to 10-15% once a week (with RO water!) until the algaes get into control. Then you can slowly back off your waterchanges to find the perfect balance that suits your equipment and your tank's inhabitants. You should try not to do more than 20% waterchanges on a regular basis, it is too much change for the tank in one go. Stability is KEY on a reef.

The tank is kept right around 80F, and is filtered via sump. THe sump has a DSB and LRR. Thinking of lighting it for frags, and am adding an AC2000/500 for macro.

You don't have a skimmer?

Lighting is 2x 96W PC - 1actinic + 1 10K, on for 12hrs/day. The bulbs are just over 3 months old. I am probably switching to T5/MH in the near future.

I would suggest a split lighting scheme. Instead of 12 hours, try 10, and split it up. Turn on for 5 hours, off for 1-2 hours, on for 5 hours again. Some people are having a lot of success with this method, others aren't. It's worth trying.

Only fish in the tank are a pair of tomato clowns and a lawnmowre blenny. Probably going to pick up a pair of signal gobies, or something simlar/small to sift sand a bit more.

Try out something like an Orange Lip Conch or a Fighting Conch. They are AWESOME sand sifters that can live well in a slightly smaller tank. I wouldn't put them in anything smaller than your tank though.

I feed about 10-15 pellets most days, and about 2x/wk I feed about 1/2"sq of Mysis.

Try cutting that down to only 4-5 feedings per week total. I'm glad you are feeding Mysis instead of Brine Shrimp, much more nutritious! Do you rinse your frozen food before feeding? There is a lot of nuisance nutrients in the water that the Mysis are in when it is thawed. To keep these out of your tank, you should pre-thaw in a small bowl/cup/whatever with a splash of RO water. Once thawed (like 3 mins) pour off all the water, and add some fresh RO. Pour that water off right away, and your nicely rinsed Mysis are ready to be fed!

I've been doing planted tanks for years, and have not used a test kit in years (the tank usually tells what it needs ). But, being a SW noob, guess I may have to break down and get some!

Ah yes, I'm starting my first planted tank. It's much different! As a SW noobie you need to RELY on test kits until you learn what to look for. Even then you need to be testing for your Calcium, Alkalinity, and Magnesium levels regularly. If you have a calcium reactor, then you'll can basically set it to keep those levels exactly where you want them. Without a calcium reactor you need to test regularly.

Salifert or Elos are the best test kits you can get without being a lab! Buy Calcium, alkalinity, pH, and nitrate for now. Then take a sample of your water to the LFS for them to test ammonia, nitrite, phosphate, and magnesium for you. These last four won't change very quickly, so you can rely on getting your water tested at the LFS and be able to change them when/if needed.

Alkalinity is the most difficult to keep stable without a calcium reactor. I would test it twice a week until you learn how quickly your tank uses it up, and how much supplement you need to add. Once you have it figured out (probably take you at least a month to really figure out) then you can start testing once a week until you have that figured out, then wait a bit longer between, and eventually it will be something that you'll only need to test for every 4-6 weeks.

Calcium will be used up regularly, but doesn't change as quickly as Alkalinity can, so weekly testing until you know that one as well.

[/quote]I add Purple up about once a week.[/quote]

Don't supplement something that you can't test for. You now have no idea what your calcium and alkalinity levels are, so adding them is not a very good idea. Your calcium could be 600 ppm from adding the Purple Up and you wouldn't even know. Purple Up is pretty much a good marketing scheme. It doesn't promote coralline algae any more than keeping proper water parameters and lighting does.

Guess it may be time to raise the flame shield.

No need for that.