Battling against Live Rock Leaching Phosphate

[AetherealKnight]

Well I’m fighting a losing battle here against Phosphate. I kinda let phosphate get out of control and neglected my tank for a period of time due to other priorities in life but now I’m back. And it’s proven quite hard for me to lower phosphates.

When I finally got back, I found out that my phosphates were 2.5+ in my RS 350. Yes, not 0.2, it was above that my low range phosphate Milwaukee reader. So I started using phosgaurd back in June using the recommended amount in my tank. And around August I installed a gfo reactor and a Refugium with chaeto that is exploding In growth. I managed to get phosphate to climb down to and consistently be around 0.3-0.4. Corals are looking significantly better than before, particularly my lps corals.

At this point, I’ve been changing phosgaurd and gfo roughy every week. I plan on upgrading soon but I don’t want this phosphate problem.

So how do I go about curing live rock that has corals attach to it? I really prefer not to buy actual live rock for my new tank and rather reuse my dry Carib sea live rock that I had for 7 years. Nor do I really want to use lanthanum chloride in my reef tank with my yellow tang. Should I just carefully frag all my corals that I can and place my live rocks to cure them in a tub using lanthanum chloride?

But I guess that will mean my fish will be living In a bare bottom Red Sea 350, with nothing but pvc pipes and coral frag racks until rocks are done curing to be placed in the new tank.

 

[divewsharks]

Lanthanum Chloride is perfectly safe, just dose it into either your skimmer or a 100micron filter sock as the precaution.

 

[Peter Houde]

Well I’m fighting a losing battle here against Phosphate. I kinda let phosphate get out of control and neglected my tank for a period of time due to other priorities in life but now I’m back. And it’s proven quite hard for me to lower phosphates.

When I finally got back, I found out that my phosphates were 2.5+ in my RS 350. Yes, not 0.2, it was above that my low range phosphate Milwaukee reader. So I started using phosgaurd back in June using the recommended amount in my tank. And around August I installed a gfo reactor and a Refugium with chaeto that is exploding In growth. I managed to get phosphate to climb down to and consistently be around 0.3-0.4. Corals are looking significantly better than before, particularly my lps corals.

At this point, I’ve been changing phosgaurd and gfo roughy every week. I plan on upgrading soon but I don’t want this phosphate problem.

So how do I go about curing live rock that has corals attach to it? I really prefer not to buy actual live rock for my new tank and rather reuse my dry Carib sea live rock that I had for 7 years. Nor do I really want to use lanthanum chloride in my reef tank with my yellow tang. Should I just carefully frag all my corals that I can and place my live rocks to cure them in a tub using lanthanum chloride?

But I guess that will mean my fish will be living In a bare bottom Red Sea 350, with nothing but pvc pipes and coral frag racks until rocks are done curing to be placed in the new tank.

If 2.5 didn't wipe out your corals, then why are you concerned about 0.3-4?

 

[AetherealKnight]

If 2.5 didn't wipe out your corals, then why are you concerned about 0.3-4?

Because it did wipe out a lot of my lps and sps. Softies weren’t affected. But after lowering phosphate my lps started to recover. Unsurprisingly my Xenia and anthelia seem to love it though.

 

[AetherealKnight]

Lanthanum Chloride is perfectly safe, just dose it into either your skimmer or a 100micron filter sock as the precaution.

What about the stories of tangs dying when dosing lanthanum chloride?

 

[scotty333]

I use lc to peg my po4 at currently .07 but with food I can go up or down to my desired level
3 tangs , no problems as long as you don’t get it in the display

 

[VintageReefer]

.3-.4 is no problem for lps

Issues you experienced are likely from the 2.5, and from what I assume was an aggressive reduction.

Staying stable at .3-.4 - has no issues. Are you changing Phosguard every 4 days? If after 4 days you have no reduction, replace Phosguard and add a tablespoon more. Eventually it will reduce further.

 

[AetherealKnight]

.3-.4 is no problem for lps

Issues you experienced are likely from the 2.5, and from what I assume was an aggressive reduction.

Staying stable at .3-.4 - has no issues. Are you changing Phosguard every 4 days? If after 4 days you have no reduction, replace Phosguard and add a tablespoon more. Eventually it will reduce further.

Well my corals were not doing so great before my reduction, they looked significantly better during my slow reduction from 2.5 in June to now. Yeah I’m basically changing phosguard everyday 4 days. I’m like using a cup just to keep it between 0.3-0.4.

 

[Lavey29]

What are you adding to the tank that raises phosphate? Pellet food? Roids? Coral supplements?

 

[VintageReefer]

Well my corals were not doing so great before my reduction, they looked significantly better during my slow reduction from 2.5 in June to now. Yeah I’m basically changing phosguard everyday 4 days. I’m like using a cup just to keep it between 0.3-0.4.

All Im saying is you have reduced to a point where the numbers are ok for coral. I have seen many many tanks, my own included, so perfectly fine with sps and lps having a tank with phosphate .3-.4

The biggest impact on corals is going to be change. The reduction from 2.5 to .3-.4 is a big change. An important one, but reducing that much is considered a change and now I would focus on stability and maybe slowly working those numbers down a bit more but I wouldn’t be aggressive.

I was at .98 phosphates due to a spike from new foods I was trying. I reduced down to .55 over 3 days. Then spent the next 3 months gradually reducing down to .2. And then stayed there a few weeks. And then reduced down to .12 over another 2 weeks. I didn’t lose any corals during this period.

 

[DanConnor]

I'm not clear how you know the phosphate is coming from the rocks. How long have they been in the tank? I would expect them to be cured enough. Water changes?

 

[AetherealKnight]

What are you adding to the tank that raises phosphate? Pellet food? Roids? Coral supplements?

I fed quite pretty heavy, 1 sheet of nori, some flakes and pellets and occasionally roids. Since then I drastically cut back feeding, but not so much that my fish will starve.

 

[AetherealKnight]

I'm not clear how you know the phosphate is coming from the rocks. How long have they been in the tank? I would expect them to be cured enough. Water changes?

Oh they’ve been in the tank for 7 years. It was only till recent I got back around to rehab my tank. After doing water changes, I would test for phosphate before and after without feeding. So I’m quite confident that it is coming from my live rocks.

 

[Lavey29]

I fed quite pretty heavy, 1 sheet of nori, some flakes and pellets and occasionally roids. Since then I drastically cut back feeding, but not so much that my fish will starve.

And cut out the roids. Feed frozen not pellets.

 

[fishyjoes]

I fed quite pretty heavy, 1 sheet of nori, some flakes and pellets and occasionally roids. Since then I drastically cut back feeding, but not so much that my fish will starve.

You can switch out foods that are high in phosphate with foods that are low in phosphate and still feed as much as your creatures need.
Mysis shrimp is very low in phosphate, for example.
There's a paper or thread about this here

Phosphate in the Reef Aquarium

The phosphorus atom is one of living matter’s basic building blocks. It is present in every living creature and in the water of every reef aquarium. Unfortunately, it is often present in excess in reef aquaria and that excess has the potential to...

www.reef2reef.com

Aquarium Chemistry: Phosphate And Math: Yes You Need To Understand Both

Foods are by far the most important source of phosphate in most aquariums. In considering whether sources of phosphate other than foods are important, one must carefully look to the actual amounts involved to determine whether other sources are even worth trying to minimize.

reefs.com

 

[AetherealKnight]

You can switch out foods that are high in phosphate with foods that are low in phosphate and still feed as much as your creatures need.
Mysis shrimp is very low in phosphate, for example.
There's a paper or thread about this here

Phosphate in the Reef Aquarium

The phosphorus atom is one of living matter’s basic building blocks. It is present in every living creature and in the water of every reef aquarium. Unfortunately, it is often present in excess in reef aquaria and that excess has the potential to...

www.reef2reef.com

Aquarium Chemistry: Phosphate And Math: Yes You Need To Understand Both

Foods are by far the most important source of phosphate in most aquariums. In considering whether sources of phosphate other than foods are important, one must carefully look to the actual amounts involved to determine whether other sources are even worth trying to minimize.

reefs.com

Is frozen any different from freeze dried? And I should still feed nori right? Not sure how my tangs are going to get their veggies without nori or algaemax pellets

 

[fishyjoes]

Is frozen any different from freeze dried? And I should still feed nori right? Not sure how my tangs are going to get their veggies without nori or algaemax pellets

I don't know enough to answer those questions, just wanted to supply the articles in hopes that they help you figure out a solution

 

[Lavey29]

I don't know enough to answer those questions, just wanted to supply the articles in hopes that they help you figure out a solution

...

 

[Lavey29]

Is frozen any different from freeze dried? And I should still feed nori right? Not sure how my tangs are going to get their veggies without nori or algaemax pellets

There are frozen fish foods with seaweed mixed in for herbivores.

 

[divewsharks]

i use freeze dried in my diy food mix. rehyrdated with Selcon or Brightwells and some RODI water. Zero issues with PO4, same with Nori, I also add Nori flakes to my DIY.