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RE: high PO4's
>The tank with the high Phosphates is a 75 gallon tank.
>
>120 Watts of light for 12 hours.
>DIY CO2
>PH 7.25 - 7.5
Too high. Plants are suffocating from lack of CO2. Add more CO2 or get a gas
tank instead. Work on getting a good stable ph. 6.8-7.0 is better. After
that consider adding another 40 watt bulb to your tank. Check out the KRIB
on the PH/KH/CO2 chart. Read it and understand it well before moving on.
>Ammonia 0
>Nitrites 0
>GH 107 ppm
>KH 131 ppm
GH and KH are great. Your lucky. Water changes will help you if something
goes wrong.
>Nitrates close to zero. (The colors on the side of the test kit have 0,
>12.5, 25) I have lower than 12.5, but not quite zero.
>I don't have an iron test kit so I have no idea.
Feed fish more-maybe. The test kit your using is not very helpful. Lamott
while expensive is good for this.
>
>I have 10 O'cats, 2 SAE's, 1 Pleco, and only 6 non-algae eating fish.
>
>I think I'll clean test kit tube, re-read the directions and test again.
If it seems high to you, see what the Local water company says is the PO4
levels and then do a 50% water change and see if it's close or closer to
their value. Low NO3/light may be why you don't have algae at the moment.
You'll need to add more CO2 to try adding more NO3 though and more light.
I think you can further optimize your tank but if your happy with it, don't
change it. $ comes into play also with adding more light and gas CO2 but
these will help you so much and you will not suffer for years and years with
sub optimal growth and algae plagues and lots of more work dealing with DIY
CO2. I still use it on small tanks but never over 30 gallons or so. I did it
for about 12 years on larger tanks so I know the pain. I'd get the CO2 first
then add more light if you wish.
FWIW,
Regards,
Tom Barr