Best Product to use for PO4 and Nitrates

[Chato2701]

I have been dosing vodka for a while but my nitrates and PO4 is up now. My corals are starting to turn brown. Not really sure what happened, or what is going on but I'm looking for something to get the levels down and get the color back.

I have a 90 gallon setup, have three 175W MH, and 2 actinic bulbs over the tank. Have 5 fish and a ton of coral.

I was thinking about trying Korallin PO4 stuff but can't find any reviews about it. Don't want to buy it if it's not going to work. So anyone have any suggestions? Thanks.

 

[cwegescheide]

I have been dosing vodka for a while but my nitrates and PO4 is up now. My corals are starting to turn brown. Not really sure what happened, or what is going on but I'm looking for something to get the levels down and get the color back.

I have a 90 gallon setup, have three 175W MH, and 2 actinic bulbs over the tank. Have 5 fish and a ton of coral.

I was thinking about trying Korallin PO4 stuff but can't find any reviews about it. Don't want to buy it if it's not going to work. So anyone have any suggestions? Thanks.

Husbandry? I do use Phosban for the Po4 though. Do you use filter socks? Do you change them often? Weekly water changes? Have sand?
What and how much do you feed?

I do ~ 15%/week water changes and run bare bottom. I have a lot of bigger fish in my tank and feed like crazy (4x/day) and change my filter sock 2 times a week. I can't keep nutrients in this tank but I also run an I-Tech skimmer and that thing kicks butt..

Make sure your sump doesn't have a bunch of crap in the bottom of it. Last time I had nutrient issues was because I let a lot of detrius accumulate..

Chris

 

[Chato2701]

Weekly water changers- 15%. Feed twice a day, half a cube in the morning, and half a cube in the evening. I also feed the corals with SPS Grow twice a week, but haven't done it at all this week. Have a 3 inch sand bed.

They were at zero but they aren't anymore and I haven't changed anything in the tank, not sure where it's coming from.

No crap at the bottom of the sump.

 

[aurora]

Look into NP biopellets or similar products. The current TOTM use it and the owner swears by it. It's essentially biodegradable plastics resin. Put it in a high flow area in your sump or better yet it's own chamber with independent flow. The bacteria grows on the surface of the resin pellets which are essentially starch polymers and consume N and P from the water column. You need a strong skimmer for this to be successful.

 

[NaClCrocodile]

Vacuum your sand lately? I had NO3 sneak up on me from dirty sand. What kind of skimmer?

 

[Chato2701]

AquaC 120 is the skimmer I am using.

 

[Cultivatedcoral]

Could be the sand if it's an old bed and you may have had a pocket released. Phosguard works well.

 

[Chato2701]

So what am I supposed to do if it is the sand? Just add supplements to get it down.

 

[Logzor]

I'm in agreement with everyone else. Water changes, increased flow, better skimming, and reduced feedings.

IMO vodka should be the last resort and are for people with tanks that demand a high amount of food but require extremely low nutrients. I assume you are relatively new, I honestly don't think that vodka is a good choice for someone new to the hobby - there is no short cut around normal husbandry.

 

[Chato2701]

I am not new to the hobby-guessed wrong. Have had salt water tanks for over 4 years. Just never had a problem like this-I'm guessing the sand thing is the issue. I did a water change last week and after that is when it started.

I ordered some supplements that should be here soon. And I do do weekly water changes-have a skimmer-don't over feed-and have adequate flow. So I'm thinking the sand issue sounds like the best guess. Maybe I stirred it up when I was changing the water. The sand bed is as old as my tank.

Thanks for the input.

 

[Cultivatedcoral]

We just removed the sand in 2 of our tanks and acros colored up almost immediately. We will never use sand again. Just doesn't work for us.

 

[dieselgrk]

i battled high N and P for two years to the extent that the full blown zeovit method did nothing to counter act my problems.

two months ago i added a RDSB 8" deep with fine oolitic sand. i began performed weekly 35g water changes with 0 tds tested ro/di water on my 100g system. i lowered fish feeding to 2 frozen cubes of food per day only. i added 250ml rowaphow changed out monthly. 1 cup of activated carbon changed out monthly. before each water change i blasted all rock work, over flows, and sump with a strong power head. and i also added a filter sock to the sump inlets, all in addition to the zeovit basic 4 (minus zeofood7) and within two months my N and P are at zero!

 

[thebanker]

Could be the sand if it's an old bed and you may have had a pocket released. Phosguard works well.

I had a bad experience with Phosguard. It shriveled all my softies... it's aluminum based, and I know randy doesn't reccommend it.

There's always NP biopellets or NNR... though they take about a month to get going and your skimmer better be good to skim the increased bacterioplankton in the water column.