.24 Phosphates too high?

[ibrat82]

I've had my tank cycling for 4 weeks and it cycled over the weekend. I did my first phosphate test today here's what came up using Hanna checker. 0.24ppm

Is this too high? How can I reduce it?

Here's my other parameters
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10ppm
Ph 7.6-7.9
Orp 410

I'm running a gfo and carbon reactor using phosbond by seachem and carbon matrix also from seachem.

 

[thegrun]

It depends on what you plan on keeping but yes it is high and at a minimum you are likely to have algae issues. Some corals will be fine, more sensitive corals like SPS will not be happy.

 

[DrPheel]

if you started it with dry rock then your phosphates and silicates are probably coming from there and your sand (assuming you use RO/DI water). if you did your first test today, try it again in a few days and see if it goes up or down. If it goes up well your phosphate media is exhausted and this can happen fairly quick in a new tank and since you don't know how much phosphates you started out with. You are just cycled and have no algae in the tank so the phosphate is loose and can be leached by media, you want to take care of this before the algae sets in and binds those nutrients. A big water change can also help lower the phosphate in the water column to help lower them. If it stays at the same lever after doing all the above , then try to used a aluminum based media like Kent PhosLock but when using aluminum based media (and I think the one you are using is like this also) it is very important that you remove and change the media when you see the levels of phosphate go back up. This media will release all the phosphate that it leached once it is saturated. it is not recommended for extensive use but just to kick the numbers down and then keep it in check with your regular GFO

Happy Reefing

 

[ibrat82]

Yes I did start with dry rock and dry sand. I just put new gfo media in a 4 days ago. Can it exhaust itself that quick?

 

[sfdan]

Yes I did start with dry rock and dry sand. I just put new gfo media in a 4 days ago. Can it exhaust itself that quick?

You can test the level of phosphates in the water coming out of your reactor to see if the GFO is doing anything.

 

[DrPheel]

You can test the level of phosphates in the water coming out of your reactor to see if the GFO is doing anything.

this is also true ! your effluent should read close to 0.00 if you have proper contact time with the media. depending on the levels when you changed it 4 days ago we don't really have a number to compare with since you did the test yesterday. now you must rely on your test readings so at any singe of numbers on the rise then more then likely your media is exhausted. and you will also see your effluent rise in phosphate levels. Best way to export them without wasting media would be a few good 50+ % WC spaced a few weeks appart. Your dry rock and sand will leach back silicate and phosphate in the water for a bit but they will fall back in check no worries

Happy Reefing