Best way to lower and maintain Phosphates

[PatW]

GFO works very well and it works fast. You can get it from Bulk Reef Supply. You need to use it with care because it can take your phosphates to 0 quickly and cause problems. I have used it in a 300 gallon. I put the GFO in a mesh bag inside one of my filter socks. I only put in 2 tablespoons. And that usually does the trick (but my phosphates do not get that high). Generally I control phosphates with Chaeto algae in a refugium. I often end up dosing small amounts of phosphates to maintain a low level. I dose Trisodium phosphate reagent grade.

Now if you have high phosphates and have had them for some time, your rock work may well have absorbed phosphates. Even with removal from the water column, phosphates will be released by the rock. It just takes some time and persistence to leach the stuff out of the rock.

 

[DrMMI]

Hi, very interesting read here as I am combating similar issues with high phosphate levels. Any recommendations in better understanding the relationship between nitrate and phosphate (e.g articles, videos, charts, etc)?

FAQ #42: How does the relationship between nitrates and phosphates affect my aquarium?

Today on BRStv, we have another episode of BRS 52 FAQ where we answer all of your frequently asked reefing questions from our popular 52 Weeks of Reefing series. Today we are answering Candelz Reef’s question: "How do I have high nitrates but low phosphates?" This is actually a very common...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

 

[ZoWhat]

 

[Ntvper]

Do you think I should have my skimmer on a timer? Maybe on during the day and off a night? Thats when my refugium lights turn on.

Don’t change nothing your not testing for….I find any changes you make you should up your testing to see what changes happen that you can’t see. After any dosing most instructions say leave your skimmer off for four to six hours.

 

[Ntvper]

Do you think I should have my skimmer on a timer? Maybe on during the day and off a night? Thats when my refugium lights turn on.

I cannot say without being there but you can try without too much issue is every time you feed leave skimmer off for couple hours every time and see if it is a positive result or negative

 

[SeaDøøby]

Would adding mineral mud in the refugium be a good idea. My lfs has some mangroves I could add to the refugium. Or should I just stick to the sand that I already have in there?

 

[Ntvper]

You could but slow down relax breathe in and out, one more time and again watch those changes they could be disastrous. Lucky you, I want to set up a mangrove tank just plumbed into my sump……fertilizer lol but alas I gotta wait until my current tank will support another life form I just hate dosing and dumping chemicals when nature already has a way….. and I broke as hell lol

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I’ve heard that the skimmer can remove the nutrients before it can get to the refugium making the refugium not work at its best.

Skimmers cannot remove nitrate or phosphate themselves, but even if it did work that way, how could that be a drawback if the goal is removing nutrients?

 

[BanjoBandito]

scrubber!