Newbie here with a tank that’s about 18 months old. My tank was going along fine but sometime in the last few months created a big imbalance in my tank. I‘ve now got cyano and diatoms covering a majority of my sand. If I had to guess at what happened I bottomed out nitrates (3-ish) and phosphates (0.02-ish) and also added new lights to my tank.
I‘ve been able to raise my nitrates and my current parameters are:
Nitrate 5
Phosphate 0.12
Alk 8.1
Mg 1350
Ca 460
I just added GFO in a media bag to try and lower the phosphates — targeting around 0.05. I’m still doing 10-15% weekly water changes and vacuuming a portion of the sand bed.
I’m considering Chemiclean or adding bacteria to try and kick start this. But I also know that things take time. Open to any suggestions. Thanks in advance.
I‘ve been able to raise my nitrates and my current parameters are:
Nitrate 5
Phosphate 0.12
Alk 8.1
Mg 1350
Ca 460
I just added GFO in a media bag to try and lower the phosphates — targeting around 0.05. I’m still doing 10-15% weekly water changes and vacuuming a portion of the sand bed.
I’m considering Chemiclean or adding bacteria to try and kick start this. But I also know that things take time. Open to any suggestions. Thanks in advance.