Quote:
Originally Posted by patd
Myka (Mindy?)...thank you especially for taking the time to provide your advice. I so appreciate it.
Have I missed something? When you say nutirent load -what are you referring to exactly?
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You're welcome.
Nutrient load is when more nutrients are going in than are coming out. A nutrient build up over time has created a nutrient load. Basically, you need to look at your tank as a whole and figure out how you can keep it cleaner. Maybe you need some detrivores (Cerith snails are great for this)? Maybe you need to reconfigure your powerheads to keep detritus from settling? Do you have any filtration besides the skimmer? If so, what is it, how often do you change the medias?
Are you feeding too much? Most people do. If the fish don't have sunken bellies they are getting enough food. Feed just a tiny bit at a time, let the fish eat it, then feed a tiny bit more, and continue like this until they aren't ravenously going after the food. Tossing the whole meal in the tank in one go is sure way to get fish food all over the tank instead of in the fishes' bellies.
A Phosban reactor is a good idea. Imo, every reef tank can really benefit from it. GFO (granular ferric oxide) is used in the reactor which absorbs phosphate. Phosphate is the biggest contributing factor algae growth. We introduce it via fish food mainly, and detritus also has high phosphate. Growing Chaeto algae in the sump will help absorb phosphate as well, but you don't have a sump.