[Travis L. Stevens]

I missed a few replies as I was typing mine

s=&postid=7558865#post7558865 target=_blank>Originally posted by dstalfire
I feed once a day about half a cube of the frozen varitey pack maring cusine.

This is too much. As stated by several people above

I just replace both halides and 1 of the power compacts.

That's good

The water may not be clean, but how do I tell? If I new the water was the problem I would mix it.

I am getting my water tested again tomorrow, but it always seems to be the same crap, everything looks fine, is what they say.

Buy your own test kits and do it. Don't trust a store that just tells you they are fine. Look for yourself. See exactly where they are at. The opinion of "fine" is a thin line. What's fine for one person may not be for another. For example, it's "fine" to have nitrates of about 20ppm in mixed reef tanks. But that doesn't bode well for anyone that doesn't want algae in their tank

I have used the phosban before, and the liquid.

Phosphate removers are more of a bandaid then anything. They help in the short run, but in the long run they mean squat. And if they aren't taken care of properly, they can actually turn against you. I would just stop using it all together.

I have play sand in my refuigum but everything I have read says that is fine and will not leach any silcates.

That's fine. And no, they won't. Unless your tank is about 500' deep. Also, what sand grain size do you have? If it's too fine, you won't be able to properly denitrify. If it's too coarse, then you will have too much aerobic area.