Yet Another Debate...

[heath]

I don't think there is anyone local that can do it..

just tested for the following;
mag, cal and alk... they are all a bit on the high side..
my salinity is; 1.025/1.026, is that a bit high, its what its always been at..
not sure what the temp is, thermometer broke..(need a new one)
I also have some of the black bio balls in the return section of the sump..

this is driving me nuts trying to figure out what the hell I am doing wrong.. I have cut back on my feeding a bit..
nothing has been added to the tank..
with my ro unit being down for a few weeks I was not able to water changes, could that be it and I just need to get back on track..also, I have a lot of water evaporation on the tank...my top up is roughly 5-7 gals a week...
If you could see the tank actually it looks really good, everything is growing awesome...

 

[SpongeAl]

I would get rid of the bio balls completely, check for any other sponges or filter bags that are dirty.

I don't think you can test for phosphates accurately with anything other then a Hanna ULR checker, IMO.

A good water change and some Rowaphos in a reactor will lower the phosphates in quick order, you should be able to notice this in a few days even without the checker. Although I do recommend the checker, it is decent.

 

[heath]

I tried the Hanna checkers and I didnt like them...