How dirty is too dirty??

[Auqaman]

Hi,
I’m having trouble raising my phosphate level so I turned off my slimmer and started over feeding the tank. Phosphates still haven’t risen after 3 days and my tank is looking really dirty. It’s still a new tank, about 3-4 months old, so I think I’m still going through the “ugly” stage of the process. I took a picture this morning while the sun was hitting the tank. Does this look too dirty? I turned the skimmer back on once I took the picture
Thanks

 

[SPR1968]

I wouldn’t be trying to raise phosphate it causes all sorts of unwanted issues, one of which when raised, it can make the tank look ‘dirty’

A good target is around 0.03ppm or less

 

[Crustaceon]

I wouldn’t chase numbers right now. Just feed your fish the normal amount. If you get film algae on your panels every 3-4 days, be happy because it signifies you have enough phosphate in your tank at this stage. There are no preset parameters and what you will run will change as your tank matures. It’s ok to have .03ppm phosphate (only use a hanna checker for this) and between 2-5ppm nitrates for a newer tank. This is just a rough guideline. In general, you probably should just add a single food cube per day for your clowns and do a weekly 10% water change, making sure to siphon the sand in the process. Don’t worry about other stuff right now.

 

[NJDragonet]

I wouldn’t be trying to raise phosphate it causes all sorts of unwanted issues, one of which when raised, it can make the tank look ‘dirty’

A good target is around 0.03ppm or less

I 100% agree if it is really bothering you could clean the tank up a bit

 

[Auqaman]

I wouldn’t chase numbers right now. Just feed your fish the normal amount. If you get film algae on your panels every 3-4 days, be happy because it signifies you have enough phosphate in your tank at this stage. There are no preset parameters and what you will run will change as your tank matures. It’s ok to have .03ppm phosphate (only use a hanna checker for this) and between 2-5ppm nitrates for a newer tank. This is just a rough guideline. In general, you probably should just add a single food cube per day for your clowns and do a weekly 10% water change, making sure to siphon the sand in the process. Don’t worry about other stuff right now.

I think I will have to get the hanna because I don't 100% believe my tester. I haven't been siphoning the sand because I have 3 zombie (sorry I forget their real names) snails that live in the sand. Would it bother them too much if I siphoned the sand while they're in it?

 

[Hincapiej4]

I think I will have to get the hanna because I don't 100% believe my tester. I haven't been siphoning the sand because I have 3 zombie (sorry I forget their real names) snails that live in the sand. Would it bother them too much if I siphoned the sand while they're in it?

You could go the lazy route and get a diamon goby and maybe a fighting conch or two. And no it won't bother the nassarius snails

 

[GoingBroke88]

I'm assuming you mean nassarius snails. They hide under the sand and come out when they sense food. They won't mind being woken up when you disturb the sand bed. They'll just move around a little and then bury themselves back in.

And I agree about not chasing numbers at this time - your tank is in the process of settling in and the numbers will be changing for awhile. Are you keeping any corals in there right now? If it's fish and inverts only, they won't care about the low phos anyway.

 

[Auqaman]

I'm assuming you mean nassarius snails. They hide under the sand and come out when they sense food. They won't mind being woken up when you disturb the sand bed. They'll just move around a little and then bury themselves back in.

And I agree about not chasing numbers at this time - your tank is in the process of settling in and the numbers will be changing for awhile. Are you keeping any corals in there right now? If it's fish and inverts only, they won't care about the low phos anyway.

Yes Nassarius snails, thanks. I was hoping they'd keep the sand cleaner, but I'll start syphoning the sand. I'm not keeping any corals for that reason. Just fish, snails, 1 anemone and a small colony of zoas.

 

[fish farmer]

First off new tank with new rock and sand will absorb phosphates into the substrate until it reaches a balance and then start leaching out. Don't add to it, just feed fish, let the tank mature a bit. I think my original reef tank never read any phosphates for a couple of years and did incredible, fast forward ten years later and the same rock was leaching high phos levels for a long time.

 

[Auqaman]

First off new tank with new rock and sand will absorb phosphates into the substrate until it reaches a balance and then start leaching out. Don't add to it, just feed fish, let the tank mature a bit. I think my original reef tank never read any phosphates for a couple of years and did incredible, fast forward ten years later and the same rock was leaching high phos levels for a long time.

good point. Never thought of that. Thanks