Greg, I ran dead rock for a couple months maybe, then moved over to all Walt Smith rock.
Yes, I had a lot of die off that couldn't be removed, although pulling all the sand has apparently helped, nutrients are now at 0. I'm probably going in the rigth direction now, and Tim's advice is good, adding fozdown and carbon source directly to the tank.
Removing by hand is tough, as it's short little clusters that don't come off easily, although I got a bit out last night with tweezers.
I might look at cheato for sump if I can add some light and find some cheato
I still have some sand and crap behind the rock that I'm struggling to get at, I might have to stick a pump down in the back and blow it out
Topping up Mg on Dave's accelerated program now, hopefully I'm one of the lucky ones that gets some results from it.