[Horace]

Well so here is what happened.

I used the Fluc.....it did indeed wipe out MOST of the HA. However, very soon after I had a HUGE Red Slime outbreak. To combat that, I used some Chemiclean. It wiped out 95% of the RS, but it also resulted in a big increase in Po4 (so I added a fresh batch of Phosguard). HA is already starting to grow again, and will likely overtake the tank again within a matter of 2-3 months I would say.

I gotta say, I have never been more frustrated with this hobby. The thing is I KNOW its a nutrient problem, and I know all the normal ways to deal with them, but for some reason, I cannot seem to get it under control. If I cant get the tank free of RS and HA within the next couple months I may have to get more drastic and start up Zeovit or some other carbon dosing regiment. Dosing vinegar did NOT work....so that pretty much rules out using either vinegar or vodka (which would likely make the RS problem worse).

I know the chems/blackouts etc are all just bandaids....but at this point I need to get back on track somehow. I really dont feel like i overfeed, so I am starting to wonder if I just dont have enough rock and beneficial bacteria going (thus why I think going with some Zeoliths may be the answer). I really dont like having to manually add shtuff to the tank every day though, so I just dont know...maybe give prodibio or Aquaforest a try......