Help with lowering Nitrates and Phosphates

[WhoDatDSant]

Hi all, over the past few weeks I've bought nicer food from Petco. I have only been feeding once a day if not every other day as I was probly overfeeding before.
I just cant seem to get my phosphate below the .25 level, and my nitrates below the 20-40 range?!

The only other test I have are carbonate hardness and calcium and there at the right levels. And I've been performing 15 gallon water changes weekly on a 55 gallon tank.

I cant seem to get them lower than this and I want my phosphates at 0 before I start trying to add corals.

[thegrun]

If you have a sump adding a refugium hwelps a lot. How long has the tank been set up?

[Duna_]

I'll suggest NP Biopellets and refugium with chaeto ... easy and effective! ;) You don't need to add products daily. I dropped from nitrates 40 and phosphates 0,35 to almost 0 in three months (the first two months there's no visible drop).

The more you feed, the more nitrates and phophates, so more bacteria on the BP and so less nitrates. The phosphates, will make the chaeto grow.

[Sugar Magnolia]

Are you using any mechanical filtration? If so how often are you taking it off and thoroughly cleaning it?

[WhoDatDSant]

I have no sump would be my only problem with this tho. The tanks been setup for about 8 months tho. Ive just started testing in the past 2 months and everthing seems to be in check besides the phosphates and nitrates.

All I have is a hob filter with 50 - 60 lbs live rock and and 45 lbs live sand.

[WhoDatDSant]

I change the filters out on my tank every 2 weeks.

[WhoDatDSant]

I was told not to change the black sponge-like filters because they grow beneficial bacteria.

Do I need to clean those somehow? Because if that can be a cause thats probably the source right there. I have not cleaned those 1 time since the tanks been set up!

[Gagonzalez]

Yes. Clean them weekly if possible. Not cleaning them does grow good bacteria but also creates a Nitrate factory over the long term. The rock and sand should be your primary source of filtration.

[WhoDatDSant]

Dang, I havent cleaned them because someone at my LFS told me not to. Smh!

How do I go about cleaning them? Like just scrub the outside of them, rinse them off with tap water or what? The nitrate factory has been kicking lol

[Sugar Magnolia]

Rinse them really well in hot, running water. It'll take a while for the water coming out of them to run clear. You are going to be shocked at how nasty the water is at first. I'm sure that is the source of your elevated nitrates and phosphates.

[WhoDatDSant]

Welp I went and rinsed them out on both my tanks. As you said above they were nasty! Im gonna do a water change for my 50 gallon tonight and see what my test say tomorrow Thanx.