Just to demonstrate that things aren't always perfect in paradise, here are some pics of the algae problem I've found myself in.
This was after about 5 days of no glass cleaning. You can see some spots that look recently cleaned, due to the crisp edges on the algae. But really that is just spots that I missed 5 days ago, the kicked in with a little head start on everything else.
In the last pics you can see (if you look real hard) some thread algae that has started in these "daughter shoots" of my Ozelot swords. They are in a very high flow area at the top, under the brightest light. And they did not appear until I bumped my phosphates up to 2.0. And it happened that SAME DAY. So, given what I have been through in the past with this crap, I KNOW that fast moving water, under high light, with phosphates in the 2.0 range AT LEAST is a significant contributing factor to this stuff. I'm not gonna say it causes it. There may be some other root cause. But in certain conditions (like my tanks) it remains dormant until I provide those three conditions.
I have since sniped off those daughter plants, temporarily replanted them in sand, and have thus robbed them of one of the three triggers - fast moving water. And the thread algae can no longer be seen. But they are in bright light (not as bright as the top of the tank) and phosphates are still around 2.0.
As for the GDA, it seems to be improving with time. If you've been following this thread you will know that when I changed my filter media in my Ocean Clear 340 it exploded. And immediately thereafter I was getting non-zero amonia readings. But now the amonia appears to be zero. Yet the GDA continues.
So I wonder, maybe it's not so much a biofilter "maturity" issue, as a biofilter "size" issue. Common sense dictates that your biofilter get's bigger as it matures, and ultimately settles into an optimal size. And if so, maybe while my test kits show zero ammonia, maybe it is there in very small quantities - too small for my kits to show. And if indeed GDA is linked to your biofilter size, maybe that little bit is just enough to keep triggering GDA.
This leaves me with a dilemma. I've got a now OC 340 waiting to be installed (replacing my Eheim Pro II). A 340 has the giant pleated filter plus 50 sq. ft. of biofilter material. And I've got the filter media for an OC 318 arriving in a day or so. This is a whopping 205 sq. ft. of biofilter material. And (I think) if I drop it in the 304, removing the 340 media, I've converted my 304 into a 318 - one massive biofilter. It's an option.
So I've got a few options - all involve replacing my Eheim Pro II - drop in a new OC 340 (mech + 50 sq. ft. bio) or a new OC 318 (205 sq. ft. bio). But all options involve uncertainties, and compromises.
New OC 340- Requires an new Poseidon T1 (have one extra now) to push it. Poseidons are wicked quiet, but add 1-4 degrees of heat to the water. I don't know it the tank (and ambient room conditions) can handle that.
- Also, it may not be a large enough increase to the potential size of my biofilter. I have no idea what the size of my Eheim Pro II 2026 is that it is replacing.
New OC 318- Needs to be fronted by a mechanical filter. That means plumbing it to be in-line with my 340. That has two big potential problems.
- My design of redundant plumbing loops is shot. If I lose this loop, it's all gone.
- Removing my Eheim Pro II (to make room in the stand) means the lose of about 250 GPH filtration. That means my total flow will only be about 300 GPH at best. That's what the OC 340 plumbing loop does now. And an OC 318 on that will only slow it down more.
And I have a third option...
New OC 340
...but running in parallel to the other 340, pushed by a single Poseidon (similar to Tom Barr's new setup)
- The major disadvantage I see here is that you might have to keep adjusting the ball valves that balance the flow between the two parallel plumbing loops.
- As one filter gunks up, you have to keep directing more flow to it, until you change the media, and then reset them again.
I'm WIDE OPEN for opinions here. If you got 'em, I'd love to hear 'em!
Thanks.
PS - you can't see the two wonderful Ozelot swords anymore - except for their shoots, because the arrived in emersed form. Those leaves all died underwater (no growth and algae covered), and all the new submerged leaves went straight to the top. I had to keep cutting them back to train them to put out lower leaves - which they are doing. But they are doing it slowly, and they are currently hidden behind the driftwood and the moss. Hopefully they will return - in submerged form - to their former emerged size before too long.