Thank you clownfish4me, Russel P, ReeferLogan, and Danamck. I appreciate you all taking the time to respond !
I believe part of my problem, which I discovered by listening to a few more TalkingReef Podcasts today (I'm working through them), is that I bought a Prism
Skimmer and that the
skimmer is one of those things in life that you do not want to save money on. The reviews said the Prism is okay but users said that after having one and then going to an AquaC the AquaC was taking out tons of organics which evidently the Prism was missing. I apparently should have bought an AquaC Remora instead. You just gotta love this hobby for all the stuff we buy that now sits in a closet or the garage because we took a wrong turn at some point...
I have some powerheads in that afore mentioned closet so I'll add a few. Oh ! Also I came across a study that mainly concluded that a deep sand bed ( 3.6" for the study) was the most effective in dropping
Phosphates through the floor. I only have about 1" of substrate because I started in the hobby as a freshwater keeper. I did notice on one reef site many reefers chose to not even use a substrate saying it made it easier going with nothing. Would that not make the tank far more unstable, since the deep sand bed, in the afore mentioned study, caused the tanks to become much more stable and as I said, drop the
Phosphate ???
Here is a link to the study if anyone is interested. They are trying to prove if a Plenum is better than just a sand bed. I, don't care, but it gave me some good evidence toward deep sand beds and
phosphate and alkalinity.
Advanced Aquarist's Online Magazine - Feature Article: An Experimental Comparison of Sandbed and Plenum-Based Systems. Part 1: Controlled lab dosing experiments
