DesertReefBoy
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- May 23, 2017
- Messages
- 572
- Reaction score
- 300
Good morning.
Here is a little background on my tank.
I have a 90 gallon new tank and need some help with phosphates. I have roughly 50-60 lbs of LR I cured for 2 months and then cycled for 3.5 months in a brute can in the garage. Two 50% water changes were done during he curing process. Then during the cycling process Dr Tim’s bacteria was added twice along with ghost feeding a cube of mysis every other week. The water was tested and was ready to be put in my new tank.
I added the rock and added more Dr Tim’s. I added 5 blue/green chromis, blue damsel and a hippo tang. Lights remained off the first month to try to cut down on unwanted algae growth. After a month I added two clownfish and turned lights on. I also added MicroBacter7 to diversify things. I started seeing algae growth (diatoms) and then it took off and was everywhere. I added a yellow tang and some CUC. few days later added a blue eye kole tang as well.
A month and a half in I added chaeto and started working on my refugium. I have been doing religious 10% water changes every Tuesday since the rock has been in the DT. I just did one and that is why the water is cloudy in the tank. Before the water change the water was clear. The algae started to turn from brown to green and now I am starting to see spots of coralline.
My tank had a algae bloom and made my tank VERY cloudy. 3 days with the lights off cleared it up.
I have been only feeding LRS and try to make sure not to over feed. I have been trying hard to keep No3 under 4 ppm and Po4 under 0.05 ppm. I have been trying to control the nutrients with the refugium (adjusting the overall time it is lit) and feeding more/less.
My question is my Po4 has been steadily rising. I used to use rowa in my previous tank but didn’t like how it was hard to control phosphates. I added new rowa and it would bottom out Po4 then slowly increase over time. This led to dinos and I tore my old tank down after battling it for almost a year off and on. I know use maxwells phosphateE and have had success using it. My Po4 has been sitting around 0.04-0.07 but shot up to 0.29 over the last week. I tested the water multiple times with my Hanna checker and then with Red Sea pro kit. I did have some inconsistencies with the tests. First Hanna test read. 0.29. Second read 0.21. Red Sea read 0.1. I have a 7 stage RODI filter and changed everything out a few months back. I have 0 TDS I use tropic marine pro reef salt. I mixed the salt up and tested the Po4 with the Hanna. It read 0.03. This could be adding to the problem but doesn’t explain the huge jump in Po4. I’m going to take some of my old water from the water change and run rowa. I know rowa with strip the water of Po4 and I’ll retest with both test kits to see if something is off. I have had a few members of the clean up crew die could this be the cause of rising Po4?
Any insights would be greatly appreciated.
Equipment list.
Lights. 2 hydra 26 HD supplemented w/4 T5
Flow 2 maxspect gyre 230
Skimmer curve 5
Return pump apex cor 20
Refugium light H380
Here is a little background on my tank.
I have a 90 gallon new tank and need some help with phosphates. I have roughly 50-60 lbs of LR I cured for 2 months and then cycled for 3.5 months in a brute can in the garage. Two 50% water changes were done during he curing process. Then during the cycling process Dr Tim’s bacteria was added twice along with ghost feeding a cube of mysis every other week. The water was tested and was ready to be put in my new tank.
I added the rock and added more Dr Tim’s. I added 5 blue/green chromis, blue damsel and a hippo tang. Lights remained off the first month to try to cut down on unwanted algae growth. After a month I added two clownfish and turned lights on. I also added MicroBacter7 to diversify things. I started seeing algae growth (diatoms) and then it took off and was everywhere. I added a yellow tang and some CUC. few days later added a blue eye kole tang as well.
A month and a half in I added chaeto and started working on my refugium. I have been doing religious 10% water changes every Tuesday since the rock has been in the DT. I just did one and that is why the water is cloudy in the tank. Before the water change the water was clear. The algae started to turn from brown to green and now I am starting to see spots of coralline.
My tank had a algae bloom and made my tank VERY cloudy. 3 days with the lights off cleared it up.
I have been only feeding LRS and try to make sure not to over feed. I have been trying hard to keep No3 under 4 ppm and Po4 under 0.05 ppm. I have been trying to control the nutrients with the refugium (adjusting the overall time it is lit) and feeding more/less.
My question is my Po4 has been steadily rising. I used to use rowa in my previous tank but didn’t like how it was hard to control phosphates. I added new rowa and it would bottom out Po4 then slowly increase over time. This led to dinos and I tore my old tank down after battling it for almost a year off and on. I know use maxwells phosphateE and have had success using it. My Po4 has been sitting around 0.04-0.07 but shot up to 0.29 over the last week. I tested the water multiple times with my Hanna checker and then with Red Sea pro kit. I did have some inconsistencies with the tests. First Hanna test read. 0.29. Second read 0.21. Red Sea read 0.1. I have a 7 stage RODI filter and changed everything out a few months back. I have 0 TDS I use tropic marine pro reef salt. I mixed the salt up and tested the Po4 with the Hanna. It read 0.03. This could be adding to the problem but doesn’t explain the huge jump in Po4. I’m going to take some of my old water from the water change and run rowa. I know rowa with strip the water of Po4 and I’ll retest with both test kits to see if something is off. I have had a few members of the clean up crew die could this be the cause of rising Po4?
Any insights would be greatly appreciated.
Equipment list.
Lights. 2 hydra 26 HD supplemented w/4 T5
Flow 2 maxspect gyre 230
Skimmer curve 5
Return pump apex cor 20
Refugium light H380
