Feeding

[Bifferwine]

Mine stay stable at .1, but that's enough for the hair algae to get out of control. My nitrates are at 0 (they used to be around 20, but then I tried AZ NO3).

[yote]

my trates usually hang rith around 0.5 to 0,,,,I have trouble seeing the difference between the 2 colors though so could go either way.

[AndyB4784]

if you have algae you have phosphates. Most PO4 test kits will read 0 because the algae is consuming the PO4. Also thaw your frozen food and discard the water that they frozen food comes in it will help you to minimize the amount of PO4 that makes it's way into the tank via the frozen food.

[Bifferwine]

I've been trying to get my phosphates down for a while now... Yeah, I always thaw and rinse the food before I feed it.

[AndyB4784]

what else are you adding to the tank? if you are thawing the food i'd look elsewhere for your PO4.

[Bifferwine]

The only other thing I add is Purple Up and once every two weeks I add Essential Elements. I get my water premixed from my LFS and I occasionally test it for everything, and every time so far phosphates have been at 0. I have no idea where else it could be coming from... Until this week I was feeding Ocean Nutrition flakes in the morning and frozen in the evening, but last week I completely cut out the flakes to see if that made a difference. No difference so far. Except for a tank full of more aggressive animals. My fish are angry, like these guys:

[AndyB4784]

Do you use RO water for top off? this could be your problem. also just an FYI purple up is essentialy sand mixed with RO water so i'd discontune use (unless you like throwing away money ) also with regular waterchanges (weekly) you don't need to add essential elements (and if you do be sure to get test kits, if you don't test for it don't dose it). also try testing the water after it has been in the jugs for a while and see if it isn't the jugs leaching the PO4.

[Bifferwine]

I use RO water only. For water changes and top off. My jugs are plastic camping jugs, would those leach phosphates? I'll have to try that.

I'll defend Purple Up, I have seen a huge increase in the coralline since I started adding it. I started adding it so that the coralline would compete with the hair. I use mostly Salifert test kits, and some A.P. and Red Sea. I have been doing weekly water changes to try and get the phosphates down, but I don't normally do it that often.

[AndyB4784]

you see what you look for i don't have a bottle handy but arn't the ingrediants just water and calcium carbonate? calcium carbonate has a difficult time disolving in salt water so it is essintialy the same as adding sand to the tank (but you will have the worlds most expensive DSB ) but hey if you see the difference...

ya check the water after it has sat in the jugs for a while and see what you get.

[Bifferwine]

It doesn't have ingredients on the bottle... But it does say it contains ionic calcium and 10 micron aragonite, so yeah, basically sand Who knew? Ah well, it costs 10 bucks a bottle and in two months I've gone through half a bottle, so no big loss. That's NOTHING compared to some of the other crap I've wasted my money on in this hobby (ahem, Sea Clone... Rio pump... etc...) I'd still recommend it! My sally lightfoot crabs sure love eating the coralline