Equipment:
The tank kept cruising of for few months including adding my first SPS which are a green and a red monti cap. Then came algae.
This was about the worst stage. Green hair algae began to take hold. This was also just before moving from an apartment into my current condo.
In the move, I was able to remove a lot of it physically. The McCosker’s didn’t take the move well, and only lasted a few weeks after. It has been replaced with a Yellow Coriss Wrasse, who has been going strong for about 1 yr. After the move, I was manually removing algae regularly. I added a GFO and Carbon in a BRS dual reactor. But the algae persisted.
The corals were still growing and the existing kalk ATO wasn’t keeping up with the calcium and alkalinity. I added some vinegar to the ATO hoping to increase the kalk potency and start carbon dosing. Soon after, I did notice the algae started to recede a bit, and the chaeto in the refugium stopped growing. My nitrates and phosphates went to 0. This definitely helped fight algae. I continued with vinegar and added NoPox a couple times a week. The algae receded mostly except the two corners of the tank. I did have to remove algae monthly from around the tank. I also started two-part dosing to supplement the kalk ATO.
I’m fortunate to have a part fish closet in the new place. It’s in a bedroom adjacent to the tank. This door is to the closet directly behind the tank.
I get the two bottom shelves for my toys. This holds some supplies, my ATO, most electrical, dosing pump/containers, and the media reactor. The 5 gallon glass Carboy jug is my ATO. These are pretty cheap because they’re common for homebrewers. It works via vacuum, no switches, valves, or pumps are needed. There’s a rubber stopper on top that holds two tubes, water and air. It’s elevated above the sump, so it allows water to syphon into the sump. The Air Line goes to the return section and is placed at the desired water height. The Water Line goes anywhere in the sump.
How it works:
- Water syphons into the sump
- Once the return section water level raises to the air line, it “plugs” that line
- Since no air from the air line can enter the glass ATO the syphon stops
- As water evaporates, the return section lowers below the air line, allowing air to enter through the Air Line into the ATO
- The syphon starts back up drawing water through the Water Line into the sump
- Cycle repeats
At some point, I got my hands on an aqua-lifter pump, which I use only to start the syphon after ATO refills.
More of the fish partial closet:
The media reactor is plumbed off a T valve from the return pump through the wall.
The Dosing setup with the Jebao DP-4. I found that Arizona Iced Tea jugs make great 1 gallon containers. They’re much stronger than water or other juice containers. I auto dose calcium, alkalinity and magnesium.
The dosing lines flow into the tube holder into the return section.