Phosphate issue looking for guidance

[Jettareefer]

My delima is this i made a very short sided desicion to add all of my coral to my new tank. It has been running for a month with 60lbs live rock I purchased from another reefer out of an established tank as well 20lbs live sand. Intitally my p04 was 0 and that all changed after I forgot check it before adding my live stock I feel very dumb because after it was set in stone I pulled a reading of .25(salifert). So far my corals still have great pe some of them have slightly browned mainly my Hawkins on the other hand my red dragon seems to be growing faster than ever before but at this point it's been a week since the coral were introduced. To combat this issue I did a 15 gallon water change at the same time I added 2 tbsp rowaphos which i pulled shortly due to my alkalinity dropping at a progressive rate. Currently getting reading .10 range with a salifert kit. I truly believe the phosphates are coming from the sand it got kicked up a bit when I put the vortec in. My question is should I continue to do 15 to 20 gallon water change every 5 days to keep lowering my phosphates? Gfo scared the bejesus out of me... I really want get my coral back to being beautiful again without causing to much stress. Any help would be great.

Tank info
58 oceanic reef ready
1/2" sea swirl connect to mag 7 return
Vortec mp 40
Reef octopus 110
10 gallon sealife systems sump

Water Parms
Ph 8.1
Alk 8-8.5
Cal 440
Mag 1290(low due to water changes)
Nitrates 0 ppm
Phos .10 maybe a tad higher
Temp 79.3-81F

Livestock
Pink lemonade
Hawkins
Joe the coral
Red planet
Green planet
Tri color
Forest fire digitata
Orange cap and digitata
Blue millepora
Superman
Borealis
Blue stag
Pink birdsnest
Red dragon
1 clownfish

 

[Jettareefer]

Here's a fts

 

[clowndude]

I know you said Gfo scares you, but thousands of people use it with success. Key is to start slow and not overdue it. Trust me just doing water changes won't be enough. If you are accumulating phosphates faster than you are diluting then u are just spinning your wheels. I run Gfo off and on in my tank as needed. I try to stay around .02 which seems to be the magic number for my tank. If you don't want to run Gfo try to look into Red Sea pox.

Also take a look at what foods you are feeding, some have way more phosphates than others which is why it's a good idea to rise your foods.

Good luck and remember nothing good happens fast especially in an sps tank.

 

[Jettareefer]

Thanks clowndude what would you recommend for a staring dose? I started with 2 tablespoons and my Alk dropped .5 in a matter of hours. I feed the clown pellets one at a time, on occasion I will feel him San fransico bay brine and rinse it before hand.

 

[RandoReefer]

A starting dose of GFO for 58gal? .... Like 1/4-1/2 cup in a reactor.....

I use 2cups every month in my 125g.... started with 1cup

 

[Jettareefer]

I am going to give it another try, do you ever notice any Alk changes after changing it monthly ? I am starting to think I wasn't have all issues when first put it in. The reason I say this is I had been testing my Alk with API although I do have a Hanna checker which I whipped out and got a reading around 10dkh which was way different with API kit reading 8.5... Kinda Po'd at the moment but everything is still alive.

 

[bogg]

Might want to cross check your test kit with a low range Hanna IMO also

 

[Jettareefer]

I wish I had one I would be able to sleep better, seriously considering purchasing a low range meter for phosphates. After 35 gallon of new water and 2 tablespoons of rowa spread out this week some of my coral are getting blue and purple back in them.

 

[HVAC Guy]

Why are you scared of GFO? Have I missed something? Can it be bad?

 

[Jettareefer]

I jumped to the conclusion earlier that Gfo lowers you dkh which is true to some degree because it's a heavy metal. Although this unusual unless you add way to much and shock the tank. Me and my hanna meter later ruled this out hah.. I currently still have 2 tbsp in a media bag in my filter sock on my overflow drain.

 

[reefmutt]

my advice would be to not get too freaked out by a reading of .1 p04.
its really not that bad..
have a good look at your corals.. are they doing well? good colour, pe, growth?
if so, and i think you mentioned that they are doing well, don't pull your hair out over that po4 reading..
bring it down slowly.. but when you get it lower, you may want to bring up your n a bit.. sps don't really like 0 n unless you are feeding heavily..
i have found a good way to keep gfo going steadily without swings in p and or alk is to use dual chambers for it. change the gfo twice as often but use half as much and alternate the chambers so that only the older gfo is being replaced. this way you have both old and newer gfo running at all times... it has worked for me.. i do this in a Mr. Dual reactor but i modded the plumbing so that both chambers flow upwards so that i get fluidized gfo in both chambers.
but having said all that, don't go crazy about a p level of .1 the corals won't mind..
once you get your levels down, don't forget to begin feeding more.. the corals will be hungry..

 

[lynchmob3000]

i can say that your corals will start uptaking alk at a faster rate when they arent clouded up with a ton of phosphate. i would start feeding more frozen and a lot less floating or sinking pellets as they are really nasty to your tank

 

[lynchmob3000]

i can feed frozen everyday to my bc clown tank with no phos issues. i feed pellets a few every day and i get algae blooms and high phos

 

[Jettareefer]

Reefmutt I like your gfo reactor idea I may do that if I continue using Gfo, how would you advise bring up the nitrates? I just added a large Menularus wrasse, and as far as the colors go they have great pe the colors are just dull, but have been this way since they were in my nano. Although I kept them colorful for months before they faded but all of them shown major growth I have prently more than enough light and flow so I assume it's my chemistry.

 

[RandoReefer]

Lanthium chloride...... but now we delve into a whole other arena of ultra low nutrient tanks.

 

[Jettareefer]

I bought phosphate e by brightwell which lanthanum chloride I recently saw a thread were a guy killed all of his stuff which freaked me out. After doing more research I found out it the same thing as Phosfree for pools, I manage a pool store and can get a whole 2 liter bottle for the same price as the brightwell.

Randoreefer what experience do you have with lanthanum chloride? (Dosage,results, and ect.)

 

[Benar]

No more than 1ml per 1000L per 24 hours is the consensus here in Aus/NZ. We usually drip it into skimmer intake or the skimmer chamber itself. I do 0.4 - 0.5ml (450ltr tank) about twice a week when necessary, straight into my skimmer chamber - no ill effects on a tomini and purple, or SPS. I mostly used it to strip rock I knew was a bit dirty when going through a tank restart. It's very effective.

 

[sahin]

my advice would be to not get too freaked out by a reading of .1 p04.
its really not that bad..
have a good look at your corals.. are they doing well? good colour, pe, growth?
if so, and i think you mentioned that they are doing well, don't pull your hair out over that po4 reading..
bring it down slowly.. but when you get it lower, you may want to bring up your n a bit.. sps don't really like 0 n unless you are feeding heavily..
i have found a good way to keep gfo going steadily without swings in p and or alk is to use dual chambers for it. change the gfo twice as often but use half as much and alternate the chambers so that only the older gfo is being replaced. this way you have both old and newer gfo running at all times... it has worked for me.. i do this in a Mr. Dual reactor but i modded the plumbing so that both chambers flow upwards so that i get fluidized gfo in both chambers.
but having said all that, don't go crazy about a p level of .1 the corals won't mind..
once you get your levels down, don't forget to begin feeding more.. the corals will be hungry..

+1

Even though you added established rocks, your system is still young. Right now, since the system is young, and the water/equipment etc is different to the tank the rocks came from, there will be changes...there will be adjustments taking place...Once your system is a bit more mature (like closer to 6 months), hopefully colours should be appearing pretty fast.

Bring down the PO4 slowly. Keep parameters stable and keep up with the regular water changes.

 

[Jettareefer]

Benar what brand do you use ? Just curious it's sounds like NZ has some powerful stuff

 

[Jettareefer]

Sahin I agree, with sps you have to be patient nothing happens fast although I will have to say I am see some noticeable differences already in colors since I reduce the phosphates with water changes and added gfo. I am having no regrets about switching over my livestock to this tank since i think it's for the better my nano was no where near as stable as this young tank is. Since I got back in the hobby 6 months ago I have yet to loose a coral. Btw I envy some of the colors you have in your tank and I look forward to the FTS!!