mrg02d
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Your algae is responsible for your 0 nitrates and phosphates. They are eating that as fuel. You may have to sit on it and wait till it burns itself out. For sure your overdriving lights are the main reason. Continue with the light feeding of your animals and remove what you can when you do PWC's and see how it goes in a week or so. You may need more CUC's in your tank.
That sucks about the lights. The tank looked so much better with the 160W! Although, nothing but the clam liked being up high in the tank with the 160W. I will stick with the 96W and see how things go. Should I still be okay with 96W for most corals?
Might the mini refugium (modified AquaClear 70 HOB filter) make a decent dent in the problem when its set up? I will keep up with PWC, ClearMax, and sucking the crap out until the chaeto gets here.
As for more CUC, what would you recommend? Right now I have about 7 hermits, 5 trochus snails, 3-4 cerith snails, an emerald crab, and a pom pom crab.
Matt