Hello All. I have a 90G DT with TS Saphire 34" sump. Means of filtration are(2) 4" filter socks, Aquamaxx Q1 skimmer, and refugium with chaeto. Other than live rock in the DT, I have MarinePure spheres in the sump. Currently it's a FOWLR system with 6 "larger" fish of 4-6". I feed fairly heavy - 3x/day with pellets and frozen. The tank has been up for ~5 months and I do plan to start gearing up soon for SPS dominant.
I have never done a water change on this tank yet. I check nitrate and phosphate via Hannah checks. Nitrates are consistently 15-20 which I'm happy with. However phosphate has crept up to .52. BUT, I have zero algae in the DT and only need to clean a light haze off the glass once/week. Chaeto is growing well in the refugium and I also have some other brownish colored alge growing in the refugium. I added 2 large turbo snails and they are really cleaning up this brown algae.
My question is, should I start trying to work the phosphate down to ~.03 levels before starting to add some SPS frags with GFO or Chemipure Elite? I'm really trying to keep my equipment simple. I'm very happy with the condition of the DT with no algae. I also need to point out that I run 48" AI Blades only at 20% max currently and realize this could be why I have no algae in the DT.
I have never done a water change on this tank yet. I check nitrate and phosphate via Hannah checks. Nitrates are consistently 15-20 which I'm happy with. However phosphate has crept up to .52. BUT, I have zero algae in the DT and only need to clean a light haze off the glass once/week. Chaeto is growing well in the refugium and I also have some other brownish colored alge growing in the refugium. I added 2 large turbo snails and they are really cleaning up this brown algae.
My question is, should I start trying to work the phosphate down to ~.03 levels before starting to add some SPS frags with GFO or Chemipure Elite? I'm really trying to keep my equipment simple. I'm very happy with the condition of the DT with no algae. I also need to point out that I run 48" AI Blades only at 20% max currently and realize this could be why I have no algae in the DT.