Phosphate

[E46Twist]

Hi all, so I posted this in my other thread but didn't get much response so I am putting it in a new thread. I recently set up a 125 and here is exactly what went in it. 100lbs dry rock that was cooked with and acid bath(more will be added.) Return pump, wavemaker, PVC plumbing, IO salt mix, and a bottle of one and only. I already emailed Dr. Tim and asked him if his product would do it with no response yet. Also I used RODI water to mix my salt in. So from your experiences, what of these components could be causing really high phosphate levels? My red sea kit is darker than the highest level(.64.) I do not see anyway that can be an accurate reading because when I test my other tank with much of the same rock source, same water, same salt it reads very very low.

 

[Titans_Reef]

I've never cooked rock with acid so im not sure on that. When I set up my tanks, (a 125 and a 40g breeder), I just washed the rocks outside with a water hose to get all the gunk out of the inside of the rocks since it was dry rock. I also rinsed out all the dry sand I used in the 125g with a bucket and the hose. I never tested for phosphates but after I'm done cycling, I turn my lights on to start getting diatoms. It gets diatoms so fast expecially my 40g since it has MH lights so I just wait until the snails eat all the diatoms and they have it under control and I see minimal growth. I just let nature take its course to lower the phosphates.

To get back on to your question lol, it may be that the rock and sand is leaching the phosphates into the water since its a new set up. I would syphon the sand to clean it up but be careful not to suck up the sand when doing it with a gravel vac. I just pinch the gravel vac's hose when I see the sand getting near the top where the hose it attached. I do not think your test kit is bad since you test your new saltwater with your old tanks and they read different. If it bothers you a lot, just get a GFO reactor or a biopellet reactor. Thats what I did with my 125 but im doing the natural way with my 40g and using chaeto to export nutrients along with snails to eat the diatoms which grow from phospates. I also skim very wet after I clean the glass to remove as much as I can and feed less so almost no food hits the floor since it can contribute to high phosphates. My 125 was set up using tap water but I used biopellets when I started to get diatoms so I did not see much but, my 40g breeder was set up with rodi water which read 0 tds from start to finish and I had tons of diatoms in the tank so im guessing phosphates in there is high.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Assuming the measurement is accurate, the rock would be the likely cause.

Where did the rock come from?

 

[thegrun]

+1, I would also suspect the rock. Even with an acid bath if the rock was sitting in water high in phosphates it could still be leaching them back into your tank.

 

[E46Twist]

Well it does not look like it is a fluke reading based in what you guys are saying then. I guess I'll be getting some phosban

 

[aujosh84]

I've given up on my red sea phosphate test kit. I've used my friends api and had readings < .05, but the red sea phosphate kit is always above the max. The color isn't even right on it, its always a dark blue color that just gets lighter and lighter, when it should have a greenish tinge to it. Have you tried doing a control test with pure salt water? Then try diluting tank water 50/50 with pure saltwater. Keep diluting from there until your able to tell if its your kit or if you really do have phosphates that hight. With my kit, it was either 0 or MAX no matter how much i diluted it.

 

[E46Twist]

Yeah the kit works fine on my other system. I will do a test of fresh SW tonight

 

[E46Twist]

Well I did not get around to mixing up a new batch of SW. I went and picked up an API kit, and it read out 2ppm. It did not register on my other tank.