Dean...this sounds like the step by step stage my reef has gone thru. Ask Troy Valentine...my whole tank is a refugium! And my green mandrin has a pot belly. :-D I've put no chemicals to eliminate. I started with tap water to initially "fill" the tank...got some brown alage...went away. Sometimes, I just grab a handful of the hair algae off the back glass if it gets too much. I have purple coraline all over my rocks and glass. I constantly scrape it off my glass - from what I understand...this "feeds" my LR. My LR has really colored up. I have a patch that I keep controlled of razor caulerpa, a few other plants that I haven't identified; I get a small patch of the red rusty colored algae on my sand everyonce in a while & then its gone. I see a cycle going on & if one certain thing "gets out of control", I'll sound the alarm. olice: It just looks like a "healthy" tank.

I haven't been in this that long...but that's what I've experienced with my reef development.

Sherri :rotf: