Hey my tanks phosphate is creeping up I have been doing 5g. water change in my 75g. tank and it's not help with phosphates. My test kit tells me to do a 50% water change to fix this. What do you guys think I should do ??
Here a good read http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.php Are you running any gfo? Increased skimming & watching what you feed can help too - frozen rinsed is much better than flake & can really help with phosphates.
In a 75 I had with a DSB, it usually took me about 10gal to clean well. Overfeeding and lack of cleaning properly or enough usually leads to phosphates. Do you blow off your LR when you clean? I dont know your tank, could you give us some info on it? Substrate/Fowlr/Reef/LR/Amount of Fish/Sump-fuge?
Wow, you mean some people actually clean their tank and rock. that's what I got critters for, yer makin this sound like work....lol
LOL. you dont have to clean your tank. I think some people enjoy the green water effect and dead fish rolling across their substrate.
No seriously.  I don't vaccum, I don't scrub, I don't mess with the sandbed or anything else. My water is crystal clear, my critters thrive, and my clean up crew does it's job. I use only RODI water, I skim good, I don't overfeed (except myself and Ranger, our dalmation) and by God's grace and a pinch of fairy dust I don't have problems. But that may not be the case with everyone. What works for me works for me.
Thats great if all of your parameter stay in check.. Do you run a plenum? I tried DSB without disturbing it and it didnt work for me.Â
My tank is a 75g with a 4.5gl refugium I have 760w light I run my metal halide for 5hrs a day and my t5's for about 9hrs a day and my refugium light 24hrs. I have a DSB and I have alot of diging type fish that keep it turning over. 5 small power heads. 2 on each side and 1 in the mid blowing to the frunt of the tank. I have 12 fish only 4 mid size fish all the other are small. I do 5gl water change every sunday and clean all my filters and power heads. today my phosphate test was at 1.0 or 2.0 ppm
I have a 75 as well with a light bio load, I change a lot more water than that every week. I usually change somewhere between 15 and 20 gallons. I don't have measurable phosphates and nitrates stay around 10ppm. I also run carbon and chemipure in media bags in the overflow. Also when you buy salt get the biggest container you can afford, it makes a HUGE difference in price buying 20 - 10 gallon boxes or 1 - 200 gallon box.
GFO is very effective at lowering phosphate, Bulk Reef Supply is now selling a pelletised form that is very popular, they were out when I ordered. Phosban is said to leach phos back into water, there website says this is incorrect just to be fair to them. These are good fixes but you will ultimately have to identify the root cause of your elevated phos levels.
I found out why my phosphates was high. I have been using tap water to top off my tank and the phosphates in it are off the chart
