All very good info, Please continue the discussion .
As for nitrates it's zero. Don't have a recent po4 reading I will get all new tests this week. I do think it's there just tied up in the algae and in this old Lr I have. I think the rock was loaded up before I got it !
I really don't know how the skimate smells. I will check that out. I do know it tastes terrible. It's an older ASM G4x with a sedra needle wheel. I think I run it wet. I get a very dark color and can fill the huge cup 3/4 in a week plus a couple of days. Slime algae is a very good description of this stuff. In the pic it looks lite brown and the rock it looks white. I scrub it off and the rock looks pretty good . However in a few weeks it returns. Any way If I absolutely have to tear the tank down and cook or replace the rock, I won't be happy ! So I have the lights adjusted properly and running 7 hrs. I increase the flow big time. I got all the rock out the ref. I added some chaeto and hung a ecosmart 5k flood light over it. All I can do is wait and see what happens. That's Ok I honestly enjoy the challenge.
Yeah, don't break it down.. And lol,I hope you haven't tasted your skim.. [emoji14] [emoji14] [emoji14]
And yes, the reason I was asking about the skim is because if I remember correctly, it was when I was running Halides for some reason.. But, on pellets, your skim stinks and smells extremely different.. And you have to wet skim to rid all that stuff from floating in your water.. Take a look at the picture I'm attaching.. That is 4 days of skim.. It is with a skimz 251.. That skimmer, just for comparison and to think about it, is 11" in diameter,2 pumps and skims like nobody's business! It is rated for up to a 285 heavily stocked system by brs, and I think 780 heavy stocked by skimz. The point is, you need a heavy duty skimmer that is extremely easy to adjust. The picture shows the darkest i run it, so that it is liquid, but still concentrated.. Usually,I run it lighter and wetter.. But the goal is to get the stuff out of your system as fast as possible with pellets..
The annoying thing about slime algea, and me personally,a buddy broke it down to me, and I've pretty much followed with success.. He said "it's bacteria dude, so treat it as such, knock it out, and you may have to do it a couple times, but be done with it and not dick around, making your coral suffer".. And the pellets,I had an asm slimer on mine, and it did nothing to keep the level of mulm out of the system. And I even have a recirculation reactor for my pellets that I set to a slow trickle. Honestly, which you may want to seriously think about modding your pellet reactor to recirculation for more precise control. That one modification makes all the defence in using pellets, and I can't stress that enough...
So basically, before that,I had done all the flow increases, the black outs, the "it's your nutrient level" stuff, blah, blah.. And that's not against anyone,I just have an absolute stance on it.. I did two things.. First,I chem cleaned it.. That knocked it down.. Then, that's when I started overpowering my fuge..
It was at that point that I decided that I never really wanted to see algea in my display again.. I had fought it for long enough, and was literally sick of it.. This was over the course of about a year and a half.. So I just started with the mindset, that if it's going to grow, I'm gonna control where the ugly mess grows abd work on it.. I started with the sodium on mgr system and haven't looked back.. Now I'm running a full led fixture on the fuge, but it's very rare, and at the same time, annoying if I see even a single spot of algea in my display.. That tells me something really, really isn't right..And it's been like that for maybe 4 to 5 years..
So my advice, knock it out and be done with it.. Chemiclean, then 3 days later, carbon the Heck out of it to get your skimmer back up and running, and then, to keep it out of your display, do some heavy lighting on your fuge, our build an algea scrubber.. If you go the route with lighting the fuge, you're going to really need either a small sodium fixture(150 watts), or a full led grow fixture.. None of the little clamp on or screw in bulbs.. I'm talking about really, really making the stuff grow, keeping nutrient out of your system..
Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk