Phosphate issue need advice

ksicard

ksicard

New member
Hello all,
Basically I'm having issues with my phosphate levels. I'm not one to chase numbers but I can't get my phosphates below 0.08-0.09ppm with GFO. The reason why this is an issue is due to a hair algae problem I have. Even with running 2.5 cups of high capacity GFO on my 75DT + 30 frag tank, which is above the recommended amount, the algae continues to grow. I'm about to up my GFO amount 3-3.5 cups and that should keep the hair algae at bay. My issue with this is that GFO is expensive and running nearly triple the recommended dose is not ideal. I have already been cutting back on feedings and making sure not to over do it and I think my problem lies with my rock leaching phosphates. I'm not sure how I can fix this problem short of re starting the tank with either new rock or conditioning my current rock to get rid of the leaching phosphates.

What I would like to know is what are my options in fixing this problem? I'm pretty sure the issue lies with my rock leaching phosphate in very high levels and I'm not sure how to tackle this without breaking down my tank. Please let me know how I can go about fixing this.
 
I think my phosphate levels may be a bit to excessive for that to be a viable option. I tried using all in one bio pellets and I made the mistake of taking the GFO reactor offline while waiting for the BP to kick in and the hair algae grew back. When I say hair algae problem I mean every rock in the tank was 100% covered by 3-4 inches in length of hair algae and that only took 6-9 days to grow back in. I think my hair algae issues may be a bit to excessive for that to be a viable option. I just threw some more GFO in the reactor and that should keep it at bay for awhile (3.75 cups total).

If I recall correctly cant you soak rock in some sort of acid bath or something like that to rid rock of stored up phosphates? I may try soaking my rock in this type of bath using sections of rock at a time so I dont have to re cycle the tank and remove livestock. I could do a section at a time till I eventually soak every rock. Could anyone inform me on what I'll need to accomplish this? I cant remember what substance eliminates the stored up phosphates.
 
How long has the rock been in your tank?
It can pick up phos from diff places. So new rock from a phosy place in a clean tank will leach for a while until it's clean too, then stop. But if there is an issue with your husbandry such that the rock is soaking up phos in your tank, it's kind of a waste to use muriatic acid to burn off the outer layer, or lanthanum chloride soaks to pull the phos out unless you deal with the source of the problem.

Dirty rock that is really bad it can leach for several months in a clean tank. If it came to you phosy, that will be from the beginning. If the rock came in clean and you let it get dirty, it usually takes 12-18 months to get full and then you see algae when it cant take any more, and for several months after you catch up on maintenance. .
 
The rock has been mine for 3 years. I broke down my tank about 2 years ago and set it back up earlier last year. The rock sat out on my deck during the time between when I broke it down and re set it back up. I would think being rained on etc... would cause the rock to store up a good bit of something.

In terms of my tank it has always been clean since it is an SPS tank. I do have a heavy fish load but I always maintain weekly 15% wc, been running gfo/carbon from the start, and a strong protein skimmer. My tank has never really been that dirty. the hair algae came in on a few frags I bought and over time it built up and now the problem has gotten bad.

I wouldn't say my tank has ever been really dirty, I think from the way i stored the rock out in the open its caused phosphates to build up over time.
 
After starting my new 125 gallon tank using my old dry rock, It took my tank 2- 3 months to finish leaching all the phosphates after the initial cycle. My PO4 was 1.41 ppm and slowly went down to 0.02 in 3 months time with regular GFO and using only the recommended amount. I was doing weekly 10 percent water changes to help out as well.
what i found was that since the rocks leach phosphate at a slowly steady pace it seems as your GFO is not working but in fact it is staying at a steady pace with the amount of PO4 leaching. Seeing how your levels are no where near as bad as mine were just give it some time it readings will go down.
and remember to test the output of your reactor and compare to daytank to see if GFO is still good before changing(assuming you are using a reactor).
I'll be glad to look up my PO4 chart i made while i was tracking this initial PO4 drop if you would like for reference.
Good Luck with it.
 
Yes I siphon the sand bed weekly. my tank has been set up over a year now. It is normal for rocks to leach phosphate out for that long?
 
Could you just do lights out for a week or so? I mean blackout, completely dark. Put up covers to completely shield any light out. The algae will die off, then do as large a waterchange as you are capable. That hair algae is storing a ton of nutrients. Not just the rocks....
I had dino's a few years ago and I thought my water was pretty clean. I did lights out for two weeks, and the die off from the algae spiked my nitrates from zero to over 150.
Just move any corals that are mobile to a temp holding tank. The soft corals that were attached to rocks in mine did just fine for two weeks blackout.
When it is done just make sure you have something to out-compete the nuisance algae's, or you could just have a different kind of outbreak. That would be the time to put in a turf scrubber..
 
I would not completely blackout a tank that has livestock on it. Especially not for a whole week. Even a couple days can be bad news for fish. Dinos often require more drastic measures than the basic husbandry that will usually eliminate gha (assuming OP has correctly IDed the issue).

What is the total flow in your tank, livestock, and feeding schedule/amount?
More than a year is excessive especially since your running gfo all along. Are you testing the reactor effluent so you know when to replace it?
Using rodi?
Removing as much algae as possible, and taking it all of the way out of the tank (not just scrubbing it off into the water column)?
 
Rather than busting the bank with high capacity GFO, you may want to consider dosing lanthium chloride. BUT you must first do a search on the subject on RC -- there are some serious downsides to using LC that you want to avoid.

Also, can you post some pics of your algae infestation to make sure we are dealing with GHA?

Mike
 
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