Hi there all,
I hope you’re well!
I am looking for some experience-based advice.
I have a +/-53 gallon system (38-gallon display, 20-gallon sump) with an oversized Aquamaxx protein skimmer and plenty of live rock. System has been running for almost 2 years with a brief interruption due to a move just under a year ago. I use TM Pro Reef salt and RODI water from my AquaticLife RODI system and perform 40-45% water changes every other week. The only thing I dose is the calcium carbonate mix posted by another reefer about once a week. I feed a mix of frozen food just about every evening and I rinse it well in RODI before I serve it. I also have an auto feeder that runs once a day at noon with a mix of high quality mysis flake and pellets.
I currently have two orange storm clowns, two canary wrasses, one neon goby, and a Randall’s prawn goby. Inverts, bullseye pistol shrimp, a few Pom Pom crabs, one CA red devil BTA, one fighting conch, and an assortment of snail cleanup crew. Corals are all LPS, NPS, and softies: dendro, fathead dendro, Sun corals, acans, branching hammer, duncan and pulsing Xenia. All of my coral are doing very well, growing and multiplying. I also have an abundance of pink, purple and red coralline, and 2 clams that came on my live rock that have been thriving for about a year.
The thing is, I have a big phosphate problem. Phosphate is at .25ppm and nitrate is at 4.2ppm.
I am worried about my BTA. It lost its bubbles even though I have cut my phosphate in half (I know, crazy it was that high), and although it has grown quite a bit since I bought it a few months ago, the bubbles have yet to come back and it’s tentacles curl and kink every few days.
I am currently considering two options:
Santa Monica Rain 2 algae scrubber
or
Phosguard
I have heard positives and negatives about both. On the one hand, I love the natural approach with the algae scrubber, but I am worried it will bottom out my nitrates. On the other hand, I feel the Phosguard will solve my problem, but I am worried about bottoming out my phosphates and I feel like it may be a short-term solution when I need something sustainable.
Any thought or suggestions?
I hope you’re well!
I am looking for some experience-based advice.
I have a +/-53 gallon system (38-gallon display, 20-gallon sump) with an oversized Aquamaxx protein skimmer and plenty of live rock. System has been running for almost 2 years with a brief interruption due to a move just under a year ago. I use TM Pro Reef salt and RODI water from my AquaticLife RODI system and perform 40-45% water changes every other week. The only thing I dose is the calcium carbonate mix posted by another reefer about once a week. I feed a mix of frozen food just about every evening and I rinse it well in RODI before I serve it. I also have an auto feeder that runs once a day at noon with a mix of high quality mysis flake and pellets.
I currently have two orange storm clowns, two canary wrasses, one neon goby, and a Randall’s prawn goby. Inverts, bullseye pistol shrimp, a few Pom Pom crabs, one CA red devil BTA, one fighting conch, and an assortment of snail cleanup crew. Corals are all LPS, NPS, and softies: dendro, fathead dendro, Sun corals, acans, branching hammer, duncan and pulsing Xenia. All of my coral are doing very well, growing and multiplying. I also have an abundance of pink, purple and red coralline, and 2 clams that came on my live rock that have been thriving for about a year.
The thing is, I have a big phosphate problem. Phosphate is at .25ppm and nitrate is at 4.2ppm.
I am worried about my BTA. It lost its bubbles even though I have cut my phosphate in half (I know, crazy it was that high), and although it has grown quite a bit since I bought it a few months ago, the bubbles have yet to come back and it’s tentacles curl and kink every few days.
I am currently considering two options:
Santa Monica Rain 2 algae scrubber
or
Phosguard
I have heard positives and negatives about both. On the one hand, I love the natural approach with the algae scrubber, but I am worried it will bottom out my nitrates. On the other hand, I feel the Phosguard will solve my problem, but I am worried about bottoming out my phosphates and I feel like it may be a short-term solution when I need something sustainable.
Any thought or suggestions?