instant nitrate reduction method

i was reading through the helpfull articales to try and cure my diatom problem and it said to use the instant nitrate reduction method and was wondering if thats just a water change or is there more to it than that or can any body help with getting rid of it i have a 30 gal amonia-0 nitrites-0 nitrates-10 phosphates-0.5 and i dont know the silacates i drove to every lsf in a 60 mile radius and nobody carries silcate tests and about two weeks ago i added macro after about three days the whole tank cleared exept a little green algae on the back glass then after about 3 more days its covering everything again and the macro looks dead i got the skimmer (sea clone 100) to work as good as it will also the tank is lightly stocked 1 fish a 3in damsle 10 hermits 9 snails 2corals 1star 6+feather duster im feeding very little i feed the damsel a pinch of bio blend tiny pellets once every 3 days and he eats algae off of the filter and feed the star once a week a piece of oyster on the half shell and feed the corals and feathers dt's phyto every other day 2 teaspoons my lfs said to cut the phyto down to 1 tea spoon once a week so im just now starting that so dose anybody have any ideas on were it could be coming from or how to get rid of it my lfs wants to sell me chemicals but i dont want to use any

 

If your phosphates are at .5 that is your problem. Anything above .03 slows down calcification and promotes algea.

Local water companies use phosphates to keep calcium from building up in the inside of pipes. Feeding to heavily can also contribute to the problem.

Are you using RO/DI water?

Look on the interenet for a phosban reactor... not to expensive 30 or so and should help you out.

Brandon

 

i am using ro from the store ill test the water im buying to see if thats it do you need a reactor or can you just put phos ban in a mesh bag and put that in the filter

 

you can use the mesh bag but the reactor works better. Food with high ash content can also contribute to phosphate levels.

 

dose the bio blend marine food have high ash content

 

the back says max 10% ash content if thats too much what would be a better food also do you know if the cpr skimmer/refugium combos work good i can get a knock off for a good price and want to buy it if its a good skimmer to help cut down on organics

 

ok now im mad i just tested brand new ro water i got from the store and it reads between 0.5 and 1.0 so thats were its coming from now ill have to buy a ro unit or drive 25 miles just to get it from my lfs thanks for the idea but still wanting to know about the skimmer if anyone knows thanks again for your help