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I'll apologize in advance as I'm sure this has been discussed a million and one times. I recently purchased a Hanna ULR Phosphate checker as I suspected my phosphate levels were high. I received the unit on Tuesday and it registered as .22. As far as I'm aware, I should be aiming for .05 or less but not absolute 0.
I suspect this could be due to two different causes:
Since taking the first reading, I've only been feeding pellets. Should I continue to feed only pellets? Should I only feed the spirulina soaked brine shrimp?
I figure GFO will probably be the way forward but I have read the horror stories so i'm hesitant. What would you do in my position? Thanks in advance for the advice.
I suspect this could be due to two different causes:
Feeding habits. I've recently acquired two helfrichi firefish and my LFS recommended feeding brine shrimp. I began feeding 1/2 cube frozen brine shrimp, some live baby brine from a hatchery, 5-10 pellets, and BRS Reef Chili (3-4 times a week). Due to the relatively low nutritional value of the shrimp, I would soak these in roughly a cup of tank water with spirulina powder for about an hour. I was feeding this daily.
I recently purchased additional ceramic rings to place in my sump. My main goal is to have a sufficient habitat for copepods so I can eventually have a Mandarin. I've begun to wonder if these are leaching phosphate.
My aquarium is a 90 gallon with a 30 gallon sump. Its only been up for six months although 30-40% of the rock is from a previous tank. I have a kole tang, two clowns and two firefish. My nitrates typically run between 5-12ppm per my Nyos kit. I have a refugium that is growing chaeto at a pretty good pace.Since taking the first reading, I've only been feeding pellets. Should I continue to feed only pellets? Should I only feed the spirulina soaked brine shrimp?
I figure GFO will probably be the way forward but I have read the horror stories so i'm hesitant. What would you do in my position? Thanks in advance for the advice.