zoas and phosphates

[dviper150]

I know zoas are much easier to keep then SPS because they don't demand the pristine water requirements that sps do. I do have some sps in my tank which is zoa dominated. I am however thinking of going all sps. Do zoas tolerate phosphates well compared to sps or do they also require a low amount of phosphates to thrive? I can't keep my phosphates below .1 and I am changing out gfo every 2 weeks. Its getting very costly to buy gfo so was thinking of just converting to all zoas if they can tolerate high phosphates. My zoas are growing/doing just fine with with the amount of phosphates and even do fine when the phosphates shoot up to .5 but the sps not so much. What do you guys think?

 

[A. Grandis]

There are better ways to control phosphates than GFO IMO. Many people really like GFO and they say it's the best thing out there!!! Some have reported bleaching and other disasters with SPS, LPS and zoas... They blame GFO as the only recent change in the system.
I prefer to do water changes in a good maintenance schedule and avoid feeding the tank with high phosphate contents.

Clearly GFO isn't working very well in your case.
And perhaps you don't want to depend on it like that, I assume.
Not a normal scenario and it's eating your wallet!!!

My suggestion to you?
First of all make sure your test is accurate and you are testing properly.
If the test is expired will give you wrong readings.
Stop GFO at once and forget it!
Get in a 10% biweekly water change maintenance schedule and avoid some of the foods that are too high in phosphates. This is specially for your SPS maintenance. Make sure you get a quality salt mix going for the reef.

Keep in mind that some of the most beautiful SPS tanks have large zoanthid colonies without any problems for years and years. Low phosphates...

It is a very good idea to keep low phosphates in closed systems anyway.

Open your mind and try to see if there is anything else that would affect negatively your SPS corals besides phosphates alone. There are so many other things that could do that!
Good luck!

Grandis.

 

[metasinapsis]

new on the hobby - but in my opinion chang gfo media every 2 week is to much i belive it has a bigger live spam so for every 2 months of using the same media you will reduce a lot on cash . Also using biopellets i belive is cheaper way for reducing nitrates. probably if you use both bio and gfo you will totaly erradicate the po4 that is not so good.
I runnig a bag of phoslock and biopellets - my PO4 is low .25 or less
And i feed them messy

Are you using RO/DI water ?

i will like to know more about your zoa aquarium. Im vary interesting in focus on soft corals in this first stage.

 

[cap032]

FWIW, I have zoas in a tank with high nitrates 40ppm + and high phos .5 +...........they love it and have spread like weeds. Imo, the dirtier the water the better as far as zoas are concerned! Lol

 

[haze152]

I have a mixed tank sps dominate phosphate are .16-.36 nitrates 15 I have no promblems getting both

 

[ksicard]

GFO is extremely effective at controlling phosphates, I think based on what your saying it's either the brand of gfo, the amount being used, or the flow rate through your reactor that is the issue. Also if you're not running GFO in a reactor than don't waste your time buying GFO, you must have a reactor for it to be effective for an sps tank.

I have found that if you're having trouble keeping your phosphates down then increasing the amount of GFO being used will end up helping you keep your desired level of phosphates. I would add 1/4 cup of GFO to your current amount every 3 days and test at the end of the three days and keep adding 1/4 cup to your amount every 3 days untill target level of phosphates is reached. Once you know how much GFO to use just use that same amount and replace it whenever your phosphates start to rise again. After adding the newly established GFO amount to achieve target levels just let it run without replacing it until you see your phosphates start to rise, once you figure out how long that GFO works for just replace it 3-5 days before it expires.

Using the above method I've been able to dial in not only the correct amount of GFO to use but also finding out that GFO typically will keep your phosphates down for 3-6 weeks. Some people say use less and replace weekly but I've found in a high nutrient environment you need X amount of gfo to reach certain levels of po4. I now use 1.25 cups of GFO on my 75g sps tank and change it every 4 weeks. And I feed very HEAVILY and my phosphates never go above 0.06ppm which is where I like it. 1.25 cups is typically a large amount for a 75g tank but that's what I've found to be most effective for my tank. With GFO you wanna start with small amounts and raise the amount untill you find that sweet spot. If you use to much to fast than that's how you end up with bleached out looking corals and whatever other horror story you've heard.

 

[Gary Majchrzak]

I know zoas are much easier to keep then SPS because they don't demand the pristine water requirements that sps do.

I could disagree but it's such generic statement that it would be a waste of time.

I will post that IME (and in the experience of others) many types of Zoanthids are more of a challange to maintain than many types of "SPS" (admittedly- another general statement!)

While neglecting water changes for several weeks my Zoanthids appeared to suffer much worse than my Acropora.

 

[650-IS350]

Agree with Gary

 

[organism]

Why don't you stop using GFO and just dose vodka? Problem solved. I use it and have a ULN system with no nitrates nor phosphates, and the zoas and SPS all do fine. Costs about $40 a year.

 

[dviper150]

Why don't you stop using GFO and just dose vodka? Problem solved. I use it and have a ULN system with no nitrates nor phosphates, and the zoas and SPS all do fine. Costs about $40 a year.

I do dose vinegar but I don't think vinegar and vodka lower phosphates much like gfo does. They are more for nitrates.

 

[organism]

They lower phosphates and nitrates, I feed a 34 gallon like crazy and don't have a speck of hair algae in the tank, chances are your dosage is off... Also I get much better colors on the zoanthids under ULN since they have less zooxanthellae, really makes them pop

 

[650-IS350]

Yo Mig, PM me what Vodka you use, regiment, dosage amount etc. I have 37Gal cube.

 

[jda]

Adding in generalities, my mixed reef is typically higher in DOC, but still low in N and P (nearly undetectable in both). I don't skim a bunch in this tank and I don't have a whole pile of clams to filter the water. The stuff grows pretty well.

However, in my ultra clean SPS tank, the same corals grow even better. I put 1 polyp of fruit loops and 1 polyp of rasta on an old clam shell the first week of January. I have like 35 fruit loops and 30 Rastas in about 6 months - it also seems like it took 3 months for the polyps to "mat" and grow a second and third, so most of this growth has been in 90 days. My blue and red hornets started with 1 polyp and I have about 15 in 2 months. On the down side, I got a utter chaos as a single polyp and it only has grown a second in 2 months. I also use a lot of MH lighting on this tank.

IME, the Z&P will do excellently in clean water as well... and probably better than in dirty IME. They also will respond to very high light levels IME.