Hello all, it's my first post, yet not the last for sure! I have a 55 gallon reef tank, 6 months old, with live rock and a deep sand bed. I have a dual return pushing about 2000 gallons an hour through the system and a 20 gallon sump that contains an AquaC 180 Skimmer. I have 2 small fish, a CBS, some hermits, a sand star, some snails and 3-4 corals. I run a chiller at 78 degrees to negate any pump/light heat. Lighting is run automatically in cycles of 12 hours of actinic light with 4 hours of MH and moon lights at night. I do 10% water changes weekly and all water is run through a RO/DI system. I run a filter sock at the start of the sump that I clean every few days and clean out the skimmer's collection cup in about the same intervals. Here's the problem.. I don't want to expand my livestock as there's some sort of problem with Silicates and/or Phosphates. I have red slime that will continually coat the sand and as much as I try I can't seem to get it to stop. My Phosphates test at 5ppm, everything else (ph/am/nitrates/nitrites) are perfect. I've tested the water I'm putting in and it reads 0 phosphates. I feed once every 3-4 days, a small bit of frozen brine, or a bit of pellet food.
Sorry about all the rambling, I'm trying to cover all parameters, any assistance would help as I'm doing everything I can to finally balance this tank so I can get on to enjoying my fauna.
Thanks so much,
Keith
Sorry about all the rambling, I'm trying to cover all parameters, any assistance would help as I'm doing everything I can to finally balance this tank so I can get on to enjoying my fauna.
Thanks so much,
Keith