Needing feedback on my setup

[TankBusters]

Hi, I am new to ReefCentral but not the hobby. Ok, I have a 125 g. tank with single overflow that I split into to at the refugium, durso pipe and double returns. I am using a Trigger Systems refugium capable of 350 g. and Trigger Systems protein skimmer capable of 300 g. I have a mag drive 1200 powering the skimmer and a mag drive 1200 for return to tank. There is about 3-4" of reef grade sand in the tank and about 30 pounds of live rock in there and more to come. In the refugium I have nop miracle mud yet! There is about 15-20 pounds of live rock and different types of calurpa in there. I do a dry skim on the skimmer and run 60 watts of lighting in the refugium 24 hours a day. The tank houses a 12" banded shark, a 4" Dragon Wrasse and a blue devil (damsel) and 3 hermit crabs in the refugiumI am getting alot of red algea though and the slime algea remover (antibiotics) didnt do a very good job yet. Nitrites are 0 amonia 0 and nitrates are 15ppm. It has been running for about a month. Any suggestions on what I should do to cut the red algea? It has been about 2 years since I have had my first reef with refugium so any new info that has been somewhat proven would be appreciated. Below is an early picture of the ref and skimmer so you have an idea of what I am working with. My main concern is nitrates. I have 4 other systems-fresh and brackish and I have always had high nitrates. Thank you in advance for any info or changes I should make.

[TankBusters]

Ok, hmmm... cannot post pics. Oh well. I hope I described my setup well enough.

[TankBusters]

Ok... No interest?

[reefgeek67]

i would check phosphates......if you are using any tap water at all (even with the prime) you will probably have some phosphates. generall rule of thumb....NO TAP just ro/di. the nitrates are not off the charts, but they could be lower.....try and syphon out all the slime, and do a water change. are you over feeding??? is the fish waste being removed well enough???? possibly a water flow problem.

[reefgeek67]

hope that helps!!!

[TankBusters]

Phos is 0 and I have quite a bit of flow to the tank, I think the problem may be that there was some algea on the rock when I put them in the refug, my mistake nbut it is growing oput of control. I am doing a few small water changes to bring down the nitrates now, but I made some home made food and it is hard to target feed, some of it gets lost in the rock so that may be an issue. Thanks

[ENGINEERgoby]

If you have a lot of algae then it may be sequestering the phosphates, so a reading of zero may not be accurate.

[JN Reef]

I think you just added the fish in too soon. YOu added them all in and the tank has only been running for a month. Plus, the amount of live rock you have in there is very minimal for the size of tank. I think the tank hasn't been cycled enough yet.

What kind of lighting are you using for the tank?
Is there only one direction of flow (supplied by the mag 1200 returnining water)?
Red algae, as you call it, is actually cyanobacteria... that runs wild when the tank has insufficient flow and build up of
nutrients/waste. Its a nuisance to get rid of.

A quick fix is erythromycin. I have used this and it fixed the problem. I believe that erythromycin is the primary component of "slime remover." I used the one commercially called "Maracyn."
There's topics on this on this site. Just search for it.
Treat with Maracyn to get rid of the cyanobacteria, then increase the flow to prevent any further outbreaks. don't worry, the maracyn doesn't harm your corals, but it can kill off alot of your pods.

[TankBusters]

Thank you for the info, these fish and the live rock did come out of an established tank that I had running. The main problem is in my refugium, I dont really want to increase any flow through there but in the tank I have 3 maxi-jet powerheads and one of them has the hydor on it. I could stand to have some more turbulence in the tank so I think I will swap out some power heads with some rotating heads and hook up the wavemaker. I will try the Maracyn. Thanks again

[McCrary]

Increase your flow in the refugium. Cyano bacteria (red slime algae) is usually caused by lack of water movement. I have never been a big fan of dosing medications to get rid of anything, so increasing the flow would be my suggestion. I have a small powerhead in my refuge to get some surface movement and prevent dead spots where the red slime algae can grow.