Phosphates

[Treed]

I just got a hanna tester meter and the phosphates say .25 is that bad for a SPS tank or it ok? Im looking into getting a reactor for BRS and put there GFO in the first reactor and then carbon in the second chamber. IS this a good idea? Any tips? Thanks!

 

[Denadai]

Very Bad

You must reach 0.00 or at least 0.03

You have to review your setup...skimmer, fishes, food etc

Best Regards

 

[ANGRY JOHN]

why the brs reactor, there are much cooler options like avast. JMO

 

[reef_reis]

You have to review your setup...skimmer, fishes, food etc

Agree, GFO isn't the solution of all problems, show us ur sistem, maybe it isn't too good for SPS... or may u have to much fish

 

[jkf1983]

+1 on the avast reactors. I also agree that your phosphate is way too high. Gfo will definitely help and growing cheato will as well. Check the source of the problem though too.... Skimmer, food, source water, too many fish, water changes, etc.

 

[Treed]

I use RO-DI with 0 TDS....Its a 180 gallon....Good reef dynamic skimmer thats over rated for the tank...I have some marco algae in my refug.....And iv just started religous weekly water changes. I dont rly run much media other than the weekly water changes and Iv just started MB7 and Biofuel. I know there is to many fish in there around 5 tangs and other asst. fish. I feed Ocean Nutrtion flake food once a day and sometimes mysis. I feed 3 tsp. of oyster feast at night every other day. So I figured if I can start running some media or something to help eat away at my problems things maybe better. So just lead me to what I need to get to help. Thanks!

 

[jkf1983]

Maybe try less flake food and feed the tangs some dried nori

 

[M007]

0.00 P04 is highly over rated.....

0.00 P04 is highly over rated.....

Unless you have a specific problem you can attribute to P04 I wouldn't go crazy trying to achieve 0.00. I've seen some amazing SPS growth and colour in systems with 0.50 :fun2:

 

[Treed]

Well the corals are RTNing more than I would like so I thought maybe the phosphate was the problem and im rly not running any kind of media. Is there something I should be running? I do blame some of the RTN on the alk tho too.

 

[dzhuo]

im rly not running any kind of media. Is there something I should be running?

Have you consider running GFO? These phosphate binders are known to be very effective in lowering phosphate. There are lots of brands of GFO and discussions all over the chemistry forums so I would look into that.

I am not really sure if MB7 and Biofuel are helpful but they might be. Are these bacteria culture?

 

[lolgranny]

I just got a hanna tester meter and the phosphates say .25 is that bad for a SPS tank or it ok? Im looking into getting a reactor for BRS and put there GFO in the first reactor and then carbon in the second chamber. IS this a good idea? Any tips? Thanks!

You sure you tested it right? vial rinsed well? You cant have any debris in it otherwise its off. I just got mine as well.. tested it the 1st time and when i went to hold down the button so the 3min timer appeared it instead just showed my results which were 0.18 I did it again the correct way and its 0.00
just a thought to make sure.

Let us see your setup / some pics.

 

[Treed]

My tank looks horriable right now....Lots of algea. Thats why Im looking for the best way to get rid of these phosphates. I did it all correctly and it said .25 last week it was at .16 but tomorrow is water change day.

 

[lolgranny]

My tank looks horriable right now....Lots of algea. Thats why Im looking for the best way to get rid of these phosphates. I did it all correctly and it said .25 last week it was at .16 but tomorrow is water change day.

How new is your tank? Whats your nitrates at? I see you say your using RO/DI with 0 TDS. is this YOUR tds or are you taking the fish stores word? How much are you feeding / how often / what are you feeding with?

What kind of skimmer / filtration.

Pics of tank / sump would help us out

 

[Alex T.]

Three teaspoons of Oyster Feast every other night is a perfect recipe to escalate phosphate levels. You have more than enough fish eating and pooping in this tank. Leave the coral foods to the frag farmers who don't have fish. Oyster Feast created more problems for my sps tank than it's worth. You'll do fine without it. I know someone will quote Eric Borneman's article on SPS needing to feed but the reality of it is that our fish are enough food producers in an SPS tank.

Clean water, stable parameters, healthy stocking and feeding of fishes coupled with a solid maintenance routine is all you need. The rest just sucks more money out of your wallet IMO.

 

[ANGRY JOHN]

wow oyster feast that bad?? I use 3ml everyother night but i have 5 small fish in a 90. I have seen my clam come back from the brink with no growth for 4 months and two weeks into it i observed growth again. Maybe its just a case of to much of a good thing!!!

 

[SaltwaterAdict]

Three teaspoons of Oyster Feast every other night is a perfect recipe to escalate phosphate levels. You have more than enough fish eating and pooping in this tank. Leave the coral foods to the frag farmers who don't have fish. Oyster Feast created more problems for my sps tank than it's worth. You'll do fine without it. I know someone will quote Eric Borneman's article on SPS needing to feed but the reality of it is that our fish are enough food producers in an SPS tank.

Clean water, stable parameters, healthy stocking and feeding of fishes coupled with a solid maintenance routine is all you need. The rest just sucks more money out of your wallet IMO.

+1 couldn't agree more.

 

[Treed]

How new is your tank? Whats your nitrates at? I see you say your using RO/DI with 0 TDS. is this YOUR tds or are you taking the fish stores word? How much are you feeding / how often / what are you feeding with?

What kind of skimmer / filtration.

Pics of tank / sump would help us out

The tank is going on a over a year old. Im looking into getting a pinpoint nitrate tester. And yes the RO is mine. I have my own system that i just replaced membranes and my own TDS meter that reads 0. I feed ocean nutration flakes ever day once a day. Then 2 times a week they get mysis and brine but only what they all can eat. My skimmer is a reef dynamics skimmer. I have a 55 gallon sump with a filter sock then into the skimmer through a bubble trap then into macro algae then returned 14 feet to the tank. There is also a small reactor with ROWA's in it.

 

[Pallobi]

Three teaspoons of Oyster Feast every other night is a perfect recipe to escalate phosphate levels. You have more than enough fish eating and pooping in this tank. Leave the coral foods to the frag farmers who don't have fish. Oyster Feast created more problems for my sps tank than it's worth. You'll do fine without it. I know someone will quote Eric Borneman's article on SPS needing to feed but the reality of it is that our fish are enough food producers in an SPS tank.

Clean water, stable parameters, healthy stocking and feeding of fishes coupled with a solid maintenance routine is all you need. The rest just sucks more money out of your wallet IMO.

i also could not agree more with alexT... so many people think they have to feed their tank, and you do, in some way or another... but too many who do, dont do it properly or do it far too much... and the fish DO the job jus fine... i used to use oysterfeast, and it did nothing but cause problems... or at least more than it did good... now my fish feed the corals... along with great husbandy, proper flow and lighting and consistant water quality...