How long

I have about a 12 gallon fuge in my sump on my 125. I have prolly a 3 inch sand bed in the fuge(should I go deeper?) and a little lr rubble. I have a ball of chaeto, some sea lettuce, had gracilaria but it died, and some sad looking fern caulpera(?). My question is why aren't they growing? My nitrates are usually around 20(tanks still new, 2 months old). I thought I would have seen some growth by now. All I have seen grow is a brown diatom bloom, I think, and some green sprouts on my rocks in the dt. any suggestions or words of advice are appreciated thanks in advance.

 

Why are the nitrates at 20? WHY TOO HIGH, IMHO.

What else is in the tank?

Maybe some Water changes?

 

20 nitrates is not way too high depending on what you're keeping coral-wise.
Things take time to grow, once you get over the initial algae blooms (diatoms, etc.), there will be more nutrients available for your macro algae to use to grow.

 

the only thing i have in there are; a red head salon wrasse, cuc, and 4 firefish. no coral tank is no where near ready for it

 

Everytime I do a water change I get a spike in nitrates its annoying

 

What light do you have on it! I wouldn't stress much, my tank couldn't grow chaeto to macro algae to save its life the first 3-4 months, then it started taking off around month 6. I went thru prob 4 balls of chaeto that died!

 

umm... its a self reflecting 5100k or 5600k something like that. Was recommended on here and rc.

 

I dug out the gracilaria, I think it breaking down and helped lead to my algae bloom. also, using frozen food.

 

honestly I went through 3 lights and 3 months. But in the end, I just think the tank was producing enough poo and wasn't stable enough for it. My tank still isn't a huge fan of chaeto, but loves fern chalurpa and HATES sea lettuce. No rhyme or reason. You'll find one that works. But Id just wait and try again in a month!

 

cool thanks, chaeto still looks good just expected growth. was thinking about getting some more pods to put in dt. I hear algae blooms are a good time to boost pod populations.