Algae - High Phosphates

[Rangachick]

Hi everyone,
We have some algae (greenish/brown) growing on our rock and I'd like to know if you think this is just "part of the process" or if it is an indicator of something askew. The tank is a Red Sea 350 (90g). Parameters are:

Salinity: 1.025
PH: 8.3
Temperature: 77
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: (API) - Looks to be somewhere between 5 and 10ppm
Phosphate: 0.9 (Hanna ULR)

The one reading I am most concerned about is the phosphates. For the last 3 days I have dosed with Essential Reef Phosphate Remover (7.5ml per day). The bottle suggests the following doses:
0.03-0.25ppm - 0.1-1.0ml (per 100 litres per day)
0.25-1.0ppm - 0.5-2.5ml
1.0-5.0ppm - 1.0-5.0ml

Should I continue to dose until the phophate levels come down or just leave it and let things run its course whilst trying to figure out where the phosphate is coming from.

Livestock:
2 clownfish
2 firedarter gobies
1 zebra-striped dartfish
2 blue-green chromis
1 elegance coral

Cleanup crew:
2 trochus snails
3 hermit crabs
2 strom snails
2 nassarius snails

Apologies for the long post but thought I should include all info.

Many thanks

 

[xxkenny90xx]

I would get a small reactor and run some gfo.

 

[SPR1968]

You need something in place for phosphate removal, if that’s correct at 0.9 that’s very high, and a good target is around 0.03ppm so very low and this will keep many problems at bay.

It may take a while to come down as you may have phosphate release from the rocks but just keep on it.

Im not familiar with the product your using but if it works fine, I personally use rowaphos (GFO) in a reactor 24/7 on both my tanks and keep phosphate locked down

 

[Rangachick]

You need something in place for phosphate removal, if that’s correct at 0.9 that’s very high, and a good target is around 0.03ppm so very low and this will keep many problems at bay.

It may take a while to come down as you may have phosphate release from the rocks but just keep on it.

Im not familiar with the product your using but if it works fine, I personally use rowaphos (GFO) in a reactor 24/7 on both my tanks and keep phosphate locked down

Thanks for your reply.

Do you have any thoughts on how often I should test phosphates and at what point I should look at trying an alternate method of reduction? What are the implications if this level of phosphate? (I know that my elegance coral won't be happy for too long). I keep reading the advice for newbys like me to "go slow" so I don't want to impulsively run out and buy gfo and a reactor if I should just persist with dosing phosphate remover first.

 

[SPR1968]

Thanks for your reply.

Do you have any thoughts on how often I should test phosphates and at what point I should look at trying an alternate method of reduction? What are the implications if this level of phosphate? (I know that my elegance coral won't be happy for too long). I keep reading the advice for newbys like me to "go slow" so I don't want to impulsively run out and buy gfo and a reactor if I should just persist with dosing phosphate remover first.

This is an excellent article, albeit very detailed, that will explain the problems phosphate can cause etc.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-09/rhf/

There are many ways of doing things, the product your using may work, so maybe keep using It if it’s working and just follow the instructions and in the meantime look at other options as well. You basically need to implement something for continues phosphate removal in the long term.

Personally I use rowaphos and change it once every 2 weeks in my S650 (250-500grams) and every 4 weeks in my new 530usg system but I use 1kg of rowaphos in that. By doing this I rarely test for phosphate because the continuous use and changes keeps phosphate locked down. I can also tell if it’s getting ready to change because the tank starts to looks a little ‘dirty’. When I do test I’m delighted if the Hanna reads zero because it’s not likely to be because of test error margins.

For yourself I would test once a week, maybe twice to start because of the high level, as a general guideline and go from there and adjust the dose of what your using in line with the results.

As far as any corals go, if the phosphate has been high for sometime, you may need to bring the level down a little more slowly so they can adjust to it, so just amend your dosage accordingly

 

[Rangachick]

Thanks so much - I really appreciate it.

 

[Rangachick]

OK - so still no measurable change in Phoshate levels after dosing with above product (hanna checker still reads 0.9). I have been able to purchase some Seachem Phosguard which I can get into the tank today but I don't want to risk stripping it down too quickly. If the directions say to use 1 cup every 4 days should I start a little slower (maybe half a cup) so that it doesn't reduce levels too quickly?

 

[Louiemiller9]

Hi everyone,
We have some algae (greenish/brown) growing on our rock and I'd like to know if you think this is just "part of the process" or if it is an indicator of something askew. The tank is a Red Sea 350 (90g). Parameters are:

Salinity: 1.025
PH: 8.3
Temperature: 77
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: (API) - Looks to be somewhere between 5 and 10ppm
Phosphate: 0.9 (Hanna ULR)

The one reading I am most concerned about is the phosphates. For the last 3 days I have dosed with Essential Reef Phosphate Remover (7.5ml per day). The bottle suggests the following doses:
0.03-0.25ppm - 0.1-1.0ml (per 100 litres per day)
0.25-1.0ppm - 0.5-2.5ml
1.0-5.0ppm - 1.0-5.0ml

Should I continue to dose until the phophate levels come down or just leave it and let things run its course whilst trying to figure out where the phosphate is coming from.

Livestock:
2 clownfish
2 firedarter gobies
1 zebra-striped dartfish
2 blue-green chromis
1 elegance coral

Cleanup crew:
2 trochus snails
3 hermit crabs
2 strom snails
2 nassarius snails

Apologies for the long post but thought I should include all info.

Many thanks

I had phosphate issues in the past and I thought I had tried everything until I got a media reactor with GFO and that solved my issues.
Hope this helps

 

[Spieg]

PhosphateRx has worked well for me in the past (just go slow with small doses as it can work very fast and you don't want to shock your tank). GFO works too but is kind of a hassle to use (not to mention expensive). Whatever you use, I'd test PO4 every time before dosing/treating until you get a feel for what is going to happen.

 

[Rangachick]

I had phosphate issues in the past and I thought I had tried everything until I got a media reactor with GFO and that solved my issues.
Hope this helps

Thanks for that - I'll go ahead with starting half the recommended dose of Phosguard and monitor over the next few days to see if there is any change. I think the issue is that my test kit is the Hanna Ultra Low Range checker which tops out at 0.9 ppm (which has been my persistent reading) so it is hard to ascertain what my actual phosphate levels are. Hopefully I'll see some sort of drop over the next few days. Ultimately I'm hoping that the reduction helps my elegance coral's level of happiness.