[karimwassef]

I've never registered N or P. To be honest, I've been too busy to measure anything my Apex doesn't track except Alk/Ca/Mg occasionally ... but it would be a good datapoint since the change. I can say that there's no visible algae in the tank except coralline. Having said that, my overflow and sump do have algae clumps where the tangs can't reach and they are constantly eating. Same for blennies, snails and urchins... my front glass gets coated in a film of algae but every morning, it's potmarked with mouth and sucker prints.

My Alk is 8.5dKH,Ca 550, Mg 1600, pH varies between 8.1 and 8.4 (forced steps through kalk drip), Temp 76-83 depending on TX weather. Salinity 30ppm.

I suspect that the influx of bugs that used to cause me so much pain became part of the diet for my tank (directly or indirectly).

I also suspect that stopping my skimmer and moving to a settling tank also retained nutrients in the immediate zone of the algae.

By the way, I am NOT advocating that this works for a new tank. I love my
monster skimmer and surge that are now offline. My tank was very established when this happened. The monster ATS was already in full force when I ripped it out and let the settling tank take over seeded with live rock full of life.