No problem. Hope it sheds some light on that nasty stuff. Sounds like you do have some potential problems. Your refugium is probably helping you a lot right now. One thing that you mentioned that caught my attention, is that you said you keep your nutrient level high, because your LR is loaded with filter feeders. The goal is to keep it balanced. Your filter feeders should be consuming most of what you put in. If you are sure you are building nutients (via nitrate phosphate and DOC tests), then you need to cut back somewhere. The food itself is not what I am considering a nutrient in this discussion. It is the bi-product of the food. That being excess food which breaks down, the waste product of the animals that consume the food and the waste of the reef itself (all of which in its final stages becomes a nutrient) and phosphates that are added with the food. Thus, if you cut back on the food, you cut back on the bi-products.
In a well balanced system,(which to be honest, I would be willing to bet very few of us, including myself have) almost all of the food that enters the system is consumed by the animals (remember, when the animals consume this food, only a small percentage of it is actually "digested" and used by the animal, thus much of it is expelled as undigested food). The waste then re-enters the system and begins to break down even further. Then some type of mechanism removes any nutrients as they are released by the wastes. That is where caluerpa in a refugium comes in really handy. Skimming is another one as well, and carbon helps too. The goal here is to have the mechanisms that can remove the wastes pretty much as soon as they become available to the system. Now, the problem is how much is too much? That is where the big question of feeding micro foods to the reef comes in. Is the stuff being put in the tank being utilized? The DTs, the Marine Snow, the golden pearls, seafood slushies etc. We think so, but do we know how much is being utilized? Are we feeding enough? Too much? It is a tough thing to find that exact balance between food input, nutrient release into the system and the export mechanisms that remove the nutrients from the system. Honestly, I have yet to do it. Okay, so here is where Andrews arguments of deep sand beds become as viable as ever. In his system, food for corals are supposed to be produced by the system itself. You should not really have to add much extra food for your corals to that system, and equally for the fish. Organisms in a deep sand bed system will produce as long as there is food (detritus to begin with) and room. If you have animals consuming the "spawns" of the micro organisms in the tank, then there is always going to be room (because the micro organisms dont have a chance to set up house anywhere). The reef itself produces much of the needed food for the food chain, and thus, in theory, it becomes much easier to have a balanced tank, becuase it creates its own complete food chain (or as close as we can get without having a 20 billion gallon tank). Its supply and demand, in theory. (Am I way off here Andrew??) Again, another book, but some things to ponder.......I must have had too much caffine today... Shane > -----Original Message----- > From: Sisemore, Chris [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] > Sent: Thursday, November 01, 2001 1:13 PM > To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]' > Subject: RE: slime algae > > Shane > Thanks for all the info. I don't think I have a cyano problem but I wanted > to know the causes so I don't create one & its a good thing I asked > because I seem to have most of the contributors in my tank. My Tank is > fairly new (4 months) I added more LR a few weeks ago, I feed mostly > frozen foods (marine supreme & brine)& DT's & I keep my nutrient level > high because my LR is loaded with filter feeders(Sponges ,Bryozoans, > Mollusks & Tube worms)& my current may be inadequate. In the last week I > started seeing cyano around some hard corals that came on my LR ( > Cladacora tube coral I think) so I blew it off with a baster & with the > algae there was always a cloud of detritus. Only one type of coral was > affected & it was a branching coral, so I believe the current is > insufficient to clean between the branches. > > I brought up foods because I think there is a wealth of untapped info. > with members about what foods have worked for their fish & corals without > polluting the water. > > Interesting fact about the # of fish, I have 2 clowns in a 150. > > Chris > > -----Original Message----- > From: Shane Clays [ <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>] > Sent: Thursday, November 01, 2001 10:48 AM > To: '[EMAIL PROTECTED]' > Subject: RE: slime algae > > > > ________________________________________ LEAVING THE LIST ================ To stop receiving messages you will need to send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a command to remove you from the list. The list manager controls who belongs to the list. For example: -------------------------------------------------------------- From: John Doe <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: <not needed> UNSUBSCRIBE --------------------------------------------------------------
