Phosphates keep rising back!!

[Jabbar.reefer]

I'll suggest one last thing...

In the time period where the phosphates have been testing high, have you put anything new in the tank? I'm wondering if there may be something that is causing your test kit to provide a false reading or actually leaching phosphorous. I'm thinking of things like rocks, decorations, filter pads, filter blocks, & etc., or sand. Even new additives or food could be part of the problem. Can you think of anything?

I'll leave it up to the experts now and follow along in case we've forgot something. Good luck.

Nothing that I can actively think of!

That's what I was wondering, rather than treating the problem, If I would have found the source it would have been the best and I would have saved a lot of $$$

Now that I cannot find or think of anything that can leach phosphates to this level in the tank, I don't know what I'm going to do.

 

[reefgeezer]

Think back, what changes did you make to drive down the nitrates. Not what could be leaching phosphates, just what changed. If you can think of anything and you don't know exactly what it is, remove it and see what happens in the next few weeks. For example, when did you add the Marine Pure blocks?

If nothing stands out, I'd imagine the experts will tell you to pick a method i.e. GFO, Lanthanum Chloride, Carbon dosing with or without nitrate dosing, or a big cheato fuge or reactor, properly implement it... and stick with it. Whatever is driving phosphates up will take quite a while to resolve itself. Patience is required... nothing good happens fast in a reef tank.

 

[Uncle99]

1.What types of foods are you feeding during each of the three feeds.? How much each?
Frozen is good as it is mostly water. Review phosphate content of any other foods, some are very high.
I would reduce to 2 feeds, I have Anthais too and they do fine on 2 feeds.
2.Did you use a 1 micron filter pad when using the LC, then removed it in about 6 hours?
You want to lower phosphate to less than .09 using LC, then mop up/maintain with ROWA.
3.Rowaphos reccomends using their product in a filter bag (supplied). Reactors do not work as well with this product.

My take is the problem stems from an imbalance in the import/export ratio, yet, this should be manageable through water changes, carbon dosing, and some phosphate management.

I have no sump, no reactors, no fuge, and can manage the load with above processes, but it was about 14 months until a balance came to be. Now holding 5ppm nitrate and .04 phosphate. Rowa is not required anymore, but once a week I do use some LC.

Maybe that helps, anyways that my $0.02, good luck.

 

[Jabbar.reefer]

Problem has been solved guys!!
Thanks Everyone for the help!

I did a 20% WC just coz I had to vacuum the sandbed, had also put in some matrix carbon to absorb all the chemcials that might have been in the tank. Stopped NOPOX dosing.

There was one major suspect for leaching, I had put some knock off marine pure sheets made by some company called ocean free. Took those out as well.

Tested my phos today to be at 0.09.

Tank is still running rowa and phosguard(which shall be taken off in a few days)
Will be running carbon, rowa, purigen and my fuges for the long run.

Thanks again, Happy Reefing!!

 

[Dan_P]

Can I get Randy to reply on this thread. I could really use some expert help as I including all of my reefing friends are experiencing this issue for the first time.

I think Randy has moved over to Reef 2 Reef.

 

[homer1475]

I think Randy has moved over to Reef 2 Reef.

+1


He's a mod of the chemistry section.

 

[tkeracer619]

Phosphate binds to calcum carbonate so all of your rock and sand holds much more than the water which can only hold a little in suspension.

Feeding likely isn't the cause, it simply is that over time export has not been greater than import and all of this excess phosphate has bound into the substrate. It could be that the rock is just leaching it and will always (within reason) leach it but that is rare.

You need to work on export and be patient as this will take a lot of time. I'd recommend looking into slowly dripping LaCl into a 5 or lower micron sock. This is the cheapest method. Just do the research and take your time, it's aggressive.

I've pulled tons of phosphate out of bins of curing rock and it can take a few months of work to get the levels in check. With a living reef you need to be careful, you do not want to remove the phosphate too fast.

 

[CLM65]

And to my surprise when I checked a few weeks later for phosphates as the glass was getting algae more frequently it was sitting at 1.86 ppm!!

I'm using Hanna ULR Phospate Checker, the test tubes are fairly new as I have a whole bunch of them, and I tested me Fresh Salt Mix which read 0.00 so I know the test kit is fine.

Sorry to bring this thread back up, but I have a question about the Hanna ULR tester readings. I have recently purchased a similar tester (I'm assuming you meant ULR Phosphorous tester, not the LR phosphate tester). The upper limit of the ULR tester appears to be 200 ppb phosphorous, which converts to 0.6132 ppm phosphate if I'm doing this correctly. What did you do to get the higher readings? I'm also dealing with a phosphate issue and I'm not sure what exactly my readings currently are as I'm maxing out the ULR tester (200 ppb).

 

[Jabbar.reefer]

Sorry to bring this thread back up, but I have a question about the Hanna ULR tester readings. I have recently purchased a similar tester (I'm assuming you meant ULR Phosphorous tester, not the LR phosphate tester). The upper limit of the ULR tester appears to be 200 ppb phosphorous, which converts to 0.6132 ppm phosphate if I'm doing this correctly. What did you do to get the higher readings? I'm also dealing with a phosphate issue and I'm not sure what exactly my readings currently are as I'm maxing out the ULR tester (200 ppb).

Sorry for the confusion, I've been using the Hanna LR Phosphate kit. The ULR Phosphorus kit is too complicated to work with. I'd suggest you get an exchange.

 

[CLM65]

Sorry for the confusion, I've been using the Hanna LR Phosphate kit. The ULR Phosphorus kit is too complicated to work with. I'd suggest you get an exchange.

Well that explains it! Thanks for clarifying. Yeah, I probably should have gotten the phosphate tester, at least for now and until I get my phosphates under control. Maybe I'll look for a sale or a used one. I hope to eventually be in the lower end of the range where the ULR phosphorous tester would be beneficial.