Phosphate trouble

L

looneyreefer

New member
My nitrates are 0/undetectable, however I cant seem to get my phosphates lower than .1/.2 Everything looks healthy in the tank. Whats a good way besides water changes to help lower it.
 
i am in the same boat too. over the 6 months that my tank has been up i have seen everything get where it needs to be expect for my PO. it wont get below .36 i have a gfo reactor, skimmer, bio pellet and cheato and still cant seem to get to .04............sucks.
 
Well if you have measurable amounts then it is in the water column and you should be able to export it through the normal means. Just need to get more proactive w/ the GFO and activivated carbon combonation in a reactor. Be sure to aggressivly skim as well. Don't look for that dry skim, set the skimmer to skim a little more wet and empty more frequently. Of course if you are constantly adding PO4 to the tank then you must be more disciplined in your approach to reef keeping.

The problem is when you have no measurable amounts of PO4 in the water column but know it's there because of problems like persistant algea. That means the PO4 is bound up in rock and / or substrate; and this requires a different approach, one that is far different from exportation, it is a naked approach !

Merry Skerry
 
Stony corals might have an issue with that phosphate level. I think that's about it. Well, coralline growth might slow down.
 
I dont run carbon of gfo, I plan to buy a dual reactor from BRS when I get the extra money. Right now I am just doing water changes a little more to keep it around .2

The only thing I notice in my tank is the brown cyano on my substrate. My tank is about 1-year old.
 
I had to get very aggressive with my GFO use to get mine down from a .14 reading on my hanna. Water changes and standard GFO use wouldn't cut it.

Using Rowaphos and testing every other day resulted in the media being depleted about once a week at first. Then slowly it would take a bit longer to see the media being depleted.

Took about 2 months, media in the reactor is about 2 weeks old and I have a 0.00 reading on my hanna.

Love Rowaphos, been 10000x better than anything else I've ever used, but be warned, stuff is NASTY and requires a buttload of rinsing. I usually incorporate a 5g water change when I change media, load the reactor, put the output in a 5g bucket, and turn it on. It's usually clear by the time 5g is passed through it.

Also don't do more than the recommended dose or it will drop your alk. I use 1/2 cup in my 100g volume.
 
Mekanic said:
I had to get very aggressive with my GFO use to get mine down from a .14 reading on my hanna. Water changes and standard GFO use wouldn't cut it.

Using Rowaphos and testing every other day resulted in the media being depleted about once a week at first. Then slowly it would take a bit longer to see the media being depleted.

Took about 2 months, media in the reactor is about 2 weeks old and I have a 0.00 reading on my hanna.

Love Rowaphos, been 10000x better than anything else I've ever used, but be warned, stuff is NASTY and requires a buttload of rinsing. I usually incorporate a 5g water change when I change media, load the reactor, put the output in a 5g bucket, and turn it on. It's usually clear by the time 5g is passed through it.

Also don't do more than the recommended dose or it will drop your alk. I use 1/2 cup in my 100g volume.
Click to expand...

Great feedback, Mekanic. Little insights, such as changing the Rowaphos + a 5g water change, are always so helpful. This is why I love RC. :thumbsup:
 
the source is more than likely the substrate. If you cycled the tank with substrate in place, as the rocks clean themselves and achieve balance they shed down into the substrate. This shedding is loaded with phosphate...it get trapped in the sand and then through bacterial processes ends up released back into the water. GFO will keep the water lower in phosphate, however, I prefer to recommend changing out the substrate first and removing the source. With the tank mature now, the new substrate will take much longer to 'fill up' and maintaining it with regular siphoning should allow you to maintain very low to no readable phosphate in the water. With just a skimmer and siphoning some of my substrate every couple weeks(I just do it in portions) I maintain no readable po4 in my water without any additional measures such as GFO. I guess it is just a matter of would you rather clean it up while doing a water change, or invest in reactors and GFO.
 
I'm skeptical that the cycling process can contaminate sand to that degree. I've cycled tanks with sand and not had that type of problem, as have lots of other people.
 
just tested my water last night and i was able to get down from .36 to .16 at least im moving in the right direction.
 
I agee gfo will help. but it might take quite a bit. I prefer brs high capacity gfo..36 ppm is harmful to most corals even some soft corals, ime. water changes won't keep up alone. I don't know if you have sand or not but see no need to remove it as a irst suspect if you do. If you choose to then I would do it incrementally to avoid stripping out the biofilter.
 
tmz said:
I agee gfo will help. but it might take quite a bit. I prefer brs high capacity gfo..36 ppm is harmful to most corals even some soft corals, ime. water changes won't keep up alone. I don't know if you have sand or not but see no need to remove it as a irst suspect if you do. If you choose to then I would do it incrementally to avoid stripping out the biofilter.
Click to expand...

i do have sand and about 100 lbs of rock in my 90 gal. there is no way i would replace my rock or sand.

to be honest im not sure i buy into that thinking. i see so many lfs with large fuges and tanks that dont appear to have been touched in years. if rock or sand can get loaded with PO, why do i not see more lfs change out their rock or sand.

i will prob just wait it out, and keep up with the water changes and gfo till it gets down under .08
 
Well maybe,

I wouldn't jump to pull out the sand or rock either but PO4 may cling to it when and if it was exposed to high inorganic phosaphte levels and then equilibrate with low PO4 water. It stops eventually but may take some time,maybe months , with gfo. Old sand may also clog up over time with organics and loose some ofit's usefullness after years of use.
 
my test last nite had my phosphate around .2 again with nitrate at 0.

I will be upgrading to a 75 within the next month. Im going to rinse the sand very well. I think one issue for me is the lack of flow maybe. I turkey baste my rock every night and also before water changes and a decent amount of crap flies off
 
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