Phosphates won't lower

[fishnugget1]

Phosphates are .10 Nitrates 5

Have chemipure blue in tank as well as a bag of Phosguard. My phosphates won't go down. I am dosing Acropower 3ml per day. Tank looks great. Have refugium that is growing so-so. Using a Kessil 160 light. I feel it grew better with a home depot fixture and led grow bulb.

Should I worry about phosphates or leave it alone. I have read it should be in .03-.05 range.

Any Ideas?

 

[Redfoxtang]

All tanks are different so the .03-.05 are just guidelines. If everything in your tank is happy and you don’t have a ton of algae growth I would say leave it and let you tank do it’s thing. My tank hovers around the .08-.1 mark and it’s just fine.

 

[ScottB]

+1 on @Redfoxtang

I used to run real clean in my DT, and things were fine. Never had any GHA.

I decided to gradually let it dirty up a bit with more fish and a lot more food. Gradually crept up from .03 and 3-5 to now .10 to .15 and 10-15. Over that time my sticks and monties really took off. My 2-part consumption was ~160ml per day and is now 250ml per day. I run a small amount of GFO about 4 hrs a day, swap it out when PO4 ticks higher.

Full disclosure: I did also switch my lighting over the period to 8 X 80 watt t5 so it is impossible to separate out causation. Still no GHA -- the tangs do their job very well.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Phosphates are .10 Nitrates 5

Have chemipure blue in tank as well as a bag of Phosguard. My phosphates won't go down. I am dosing Acropower 3ml per day. Tank looks great. Have refugium that is growing so-so. Using a Kessil 160 light. I feel it grew better with a home depot fixture and led grow bulb.

Should I worry about phosphates or leave it alone. I have read it should be in .03-.05 range.

Any Ideas?

Those values are fine, IMO.