Ladykrup
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Our 55 gal. FO tank is 1 1/2 yrs. old. We have the wet/dry filter - nitrate is 40, nitrite 0, Ammonia 0, PH is 8.2, temp 79, Phosphate is off the chart!
Over the last few months we had unexplained fish death with new fish. LFS said this is common, as water conditions degrade, old fish are used to it, new fish can't handle it. They determined that we had low PH and high phosphate. We could have been better about water changes in the past but now do it every two weeks. I brought up the PH and am trying to get the phosphate down with no luck. All the water for changes and top off is run through a tap water filter, tested for phosphate, ph, etc.- 0 phosphate! I have cut back feeding and will not get another fish until this problem is resolved! Where is this phosphate coming from? Two fish, a damsel and a cuban hog, disappeared about one month ago, didn't jump out, I have no idea what happened to them. Could they be rotting under a rock and putting phosphate in there. We are running a big protein skimmer. It actually needed a new airstone so perhaps it was not running for a while but it is skimming like crazy now. LFS says we are on the road to recovery but when will the phosphates improve? They are off the chart!
We also stuck a poly filter down in the sump (LFS advice) to soak up some phosphate, I guess! My questions is, does anyone agree that we could be on the road to recovery? Or what might we do better? Sorry for the long post. Thanks!
Over the last few months we had unexplained fish death with new fish. LFS said this is common, as water conditions degrade, old fish are used to it, new fish can't handle it. They determined that we had low PH and high phosphate. We could have been better about water changes in the past but now do it every two weeks. I brought up the PH and am trying to get the phosphate down with no luck. All the water for changes and top off is run through a tap water filter, tested for phosphate, ph, etc.- 0 phosphate! I have cut back feeding and will not get another fish until this problem is resolved! Where is this phosphate coming from? Two fish, a damsel and a cuban hog, disappeared about one month ago, didn't jump out, I have no idea what happened to them. Could they be rotting under a rock and putting phosphate in there. We are running a big protein skimmer. It actually needed a new airstone so perhaps it was not running for a while but it is skimming like crazy now. LFS says we are on the road to recovery but when will the phosphates improve? They are off the chart!
We also stuck a poly filter down in the sump (LFS advice) to soak up some phosphate, I guess! My questions is, does anyone agree that we could be on the road to recovery? Or what might we do better? Sorry for the long post. Thanks!