Best products to remove phosphate

[stevediaz1]

I'm reading o.oo phosphates with my Hannah checker and I do have some algae I know that the algae is consuming the phosphates faster than the Hannah can read them so my question is what would the best products be to remove these phosphates currently I'm using aquamaxx rox 0.8 carbon in small reactor and seachem phosguard in a bag
So please mention your best products for phosphate removal and their pro's & con's on the water parameter thanks if you guys know of any other just list them as 1 thru 10 in a list 1 being the best and your first choice

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

There are lot's of good methods of exporting phosphate, and I do not think they can be rank ordered because the pros and cons of each make them better or less suited to particular applications. There is no reason to only use one method, and I use several.

Growing macroalgae or an ATS will reduce both nitrate and phosphate. They are slower, but cheaper than many binders. Some consider them more natural.

GFO is a good choice of binder. Aluminum oxide would be second choice to GFO to me for concern over released aluminum, but it can be a bit easier to use when not in a reactor. Lanthanum works fast and can be cheap, but can have issues with organisms and preferably is used upstream of a filter to collect the precipitated solids. It may also drop alkalinity a bit. Some have suggested soluble iron, but I'd consider that experimental.

Organic carbon dosing will reduce phosphate, but not as much as it will reduce nitrate, and it can leave some phosphate in the water even when nitrate is essentially gone.

Skimming certainly helps keep phosphate low.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

This article has more of the pros and cons of these methods and some others:

http://www.reefedition.com/phosphate-in-the-reef-aquarium-by-randy-holmes-farley/

 

[stevediaz1]

Ok then so gfo it is

 

[superbluetang]

I use GFO and it helps out a lot. The other thing I do is reduce the light to control the algae growth. Once the algae is gone, I return the light back to it's normal schedule.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Ok then so gfo it is

Sounds good.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

 

[Ryengoth]

Don't rely on GFO as a permanent solution though, you're going to be dumping iron in at the same time as you're removing phosphates. If you can get an algae mat to grow in your sump, the display will be much cleaner since you'll be feeding the algae in the sump directly.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Don't rely on GFO as a permanent solution though, you're going to be dumping iron in at the same time as you're removing phosphates. If you can get an algae mat to grow in your sump, the display will be much cleaner since you'll be feeding the algae in the sump directly.

A lot of people do use GFO long term. I do, and I also dose iron for macroalgae, and did not have any detectable iron in the water by Triton testing.

 

[Ryengoth]

A lot of people do use GFO long term. I do, and I also dose iron for macroalgae, and did not have any detectable iron in the water by Triton testing.

The macro is consuming the amount you are using, which is fine. If you overload your reactor, though, you can dissolve excess iron and the nuisance algae will use it. I saw major implications with it when I was cycling my tank. YMMV I am having better results with spot peroxide treatment and relocating some of algae growth to my sump.

 

[Kungpaoshizi]

Chaeto, lanathum chloride, nopox.. Manual removal will help in these things becoming the dominant controlling factor.
+1 against GFO, never really had good tanks that used it. (see advanced aquarists write up on iron leaching, or the numerous experiences with rtn/stn while running gfo)
After all like someone once said, you're the biggest Tang the tank will ever see.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

The macro is consuming the amount you are using, which is fine. If you overload your reactor, though, you can dissolve excess iron and the nuisance algae will use it. I saw major implications with it when I was cycling my tank. YMMV I am having better results with spot peroxide treatment and relocating some of algae growth to my sump.

I'm not sure how to reconcile these concerns with recommendations from Red Sea and others to dose iron to quite high levels where it definitely is not limiting to algae growth.

 

[reefwiser]

Better time spent on getting a biological balance in your reef with Algae scrubber or Macro algae. A good protein skimmer and not over feeding.
Once you output protein equals your input protein your problem will be solved and your tank will have less problems. Using a chemical that uptakes Phosphate will keep your tank always out of balance and when the chemical can not keep up with your input the algae returns. GFO and other chemicals are crutches that people use to prop up there tanks when they do not have the proper biological balance in there aquarium.

 

[Ryengoth]

Better time spent on getting a biological balance in your reef with Algae scrubber or Macro algae. A good protein skimmer and not over feeding.
Once you output protein equals your input protein your problem will be solved and your tank will have less problems. Using a chemical that uptakes Phosphate will keep your tank always out of balance and when the chemical can not keep up with your input the algae returns. GFO and other chemicals are crutches that people use to prop up there tanks when they do not have the proper biological balance in there aquarium.

I saw that pretty quickly when I was re-cycling my setup and testing GHA treatments.

I'm not sure how to reconcile these concerns with recommendations from Red Sea and others to dose iron to quite high levels where it definitely is not limiting to algae growth.

Absolutely, you would want the iron to support your algae scrubber or algae store in your refug. A GFO, though, will be a deterrent for new algae to grow in the sump, though, by removing the phosphates it is currently feeding on in the DT. If you have elevated nitrates then you could get growth in the sump but it will grow everywhere and cause stress, especially if it has abundant light available for photosynthesis.

It's like trying to grow crab grass in a pot, in protected raised flower bed. If you spray the whole area with fertilizer(iron, phosphates and nitrates) it will all grow. If the grass spreads from the pot to the flower bed, you could:

1) manually remove the visible green growth and cover it with a light blocker for a few weeks
2) dry it all out, hoping the roots of the grass in the flower area will die before the potted grass will die. If you water the pot, water will leak to the nuisance grass and potentially keep it alive just enough for it to come back in a few weeks.
3) use a targeted herbicide and spot treat only the green growth and continue treating it until the roots can no longer support growth.
4) tear the bed down and start over

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I saw that pretty quickly when I was re-cycling my setup and testing GHA treatments.



Absolutely, you would want the iron to support your algae scrubber or algae store in your refug. A GFO, though, will be a deterrent for new algae to grow in the sump, though, by removing the phosphates it is currently feeding on in the DT. If you have elevated nitrates then you could get growth in the sump but it will grow everywhere and cause stress, especially if it has abundant light available for photosynthesis.

It's like trying to grow crab grass in a pot, in protected raised flower bed. If you spray the whole area with fertilizer(iron, phosphates and nitrates) it will all grow. If the grass spreads from the pot to the flower bed, you could:

1) manually remove the visible green growth and cover it with a light blocker for a few weeks
2) dry it all out, hoping the roots of the grass in the flower area will die before the potted grass will die. If you water the pot, water will leak to the nuisance grass and potentially keep it alive just enough for it to come back in a few weeks.
3) use a targeted herbicide and spot treat only the green growth and continue treating it until the roots can no longer support growth.
4) tear the bed down and start over

I just don't see how the small amount of iron released from GFO makes it a worse thing to do than dosing larger amounts of iron which many people recommend and do.

I'd be curious if anyone has ever seen a detectable level of dissolved iron in a reef tank that could be attributed to GFO alone.

 

[Ryengoth]

I'm hoping I can do some testing on this and also what specific conditions GHA will actually grow under in a controlled environment.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Ok let us know what you find.

 

[lfrazier]

I will following this thread as well. I have been having a time with GHA and BHA. I saw it growing on the back glass 2 months ago and then I added GFO (not in a reactor, just the last baffle of the sump before the return chamber) After that I noticed it started growing on the tips of my acros and then I found that I was clipping the tips about every week or so, then I was seeing STN on my others acros as well. Now I am in the middle of a full blown GHA/BHA bloom. I have increased skimming but with no luck.

 

[dewboy1127]

Use rowa phos for gfo media..its said to not leach phosphates back into tank once is fully used up

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Use rowa phos for gfo media..its said to not leach phosphates back into tank once is fully used up

They may say that, but it is not necessarily true. All forms of GFO bind phosphate in a reversible manner, and if you bind a lot of phosphate and then try to lower the phosphate levels below the equilibrium value for the phosphate on the GFO, it will come off. I've measured this myself in tests.

 

[dewboy1127]

They may say that, but it is not necessarily true. All forms of GFO bind phosphate in a reversible manner, and if you bind a lot of phosphate and then try to lower the phosphate levels below the equilibrium value for the phosphate on the GFO, it will come off. I've measured this myself in tests.

Hey thats good to know appreciate that means better keep check on mine more often