Phosphate help!!

Phosphate level that I tested at my tanks at work are betwee .25-.5 ppm. This is causing the brown algae on the sand correct?

 

there are two main types of brown "algae". diatoms which is indeed an algae and a great consumer of sillicates (sio4) and cyano which are bacteria (if im not mistaken) a picture would help ID what it is.

in regards to your p04 levels they are not ideal but they are not super dangerous either. how often and how much do you feed? often the first step one takes to reduce phosphates is cut down on feedings, this should not be done however if you risk your fishes health.

now back to the brown stuff.

if its cyano higher flow will help eliminate the problem, if its diatoms they will eventually disappear on their own, once the silicates are consumed.

how old is your system and do you use ro/di water to mix your salt?

for the record you want to aim to have about 0.05 ppm of phosphates as some po4 is needed for coral tissue growth and regeneration, dont quote me on this though....

 

^^^+1 to the above,some more info on your tank(s) would help determine just what it is your dealing with,pics if you can.

 

It is definitely brown cyano algae. I'm kind of out of luck with salt mix ad water. It's store use salt mix. Couldn't tell what it is. And it's filtered tap water. I only have one Sorce of water flow in each tank and that's the return. I try to do the water change weekly to get rid of it. Now the feeding, I use frozen or pellet but when I am not there I couldn't tell you what happens. I have two salt systems and this is happening in only one

 

add flow and you should see it vanish. try getting your hands on an RO/DI unit it will save you a lot of trouble in the long run.

this is really just my personal preference but i would also look into home made fish food recipes, I started making my own fish food roughly two years ago and i would not go back to flakes or others if my life depended on it. I spend about 20 bucks every two months at the fish market and I have a stock of food for my lovelies for the next couple of months in the freezer.

my food icecubes are thin, about .5cm high X 2cm X2cm I feed my over stocked tank one of these a day (half a cube in the morning and the other half in the afternoon)

more details of your system as stated above will help, as well as what your objectives are with the setup. you mention multiple systems?

 

Using GFO in a reactor will reduce your phosphates and also help combat your cyano issue. Flow helps too, but if it has enough fuel to grow (phosphates and nitrates) flow alone isn't going to stop it.

 

Will post pics later showing the set up

 

Algae problems are usually caused by aquarium water with excess nutrients like phosphate, nitrates etc. You can try and siphon out what you can to remove the algae in the short term. In the long term you may have to examine how you care for your tank. There are some commercial dry foods also contain excess nutrients and other undesirable things like nitrates, phosphates etc so I strain/rinse my fresh/frozen foods before feeding my tank. You may want to consider feeding your fish less often. Also, changing your photo period, bulbs, adding more flow and using RO/DI water all help. Adding a phosphate remover like Tropic Marin Elimi Phos and increasing flow in your tank may help too.