Best way to lower Phosphates without lowering Nitrates?

[TheBear78]

Do you rinse the frozen food with RO? I'm sure that the liquid contains extra phosphate which just goes straight into the water.
Is the tank less than a year old and did you initially have issues with low phosphate?
As as been mentioned above, phosphate will get absorbed by the rocks. What can initially appear as a low phosphate issue can quickly flip and become an excess as the rocks become saturated. It's common in newer tanks (mine did it) especially if you work hard to increase phosphate only to realise you've fuelled the impending problem!
I use GFO (Rowaphos) in a small reactor which I luckily have room for in my sump. I initially tried it in a bag in a high flow area but it just clumped together and didn't really work.

 

[Big E]

If it was me, I do around a 90-100% water change and let the system reset

 

[Miami Reef]

If it was me, I do around a 90-100% water change and let the system reset

I like doing big reset water changes. It makes me feel fresh. ha

 

[Poseidon03]

Has anyone else used phosphate RX here? I could potentially just setup a little bag of GFO and clip it on the back chamber grid.



Im more so worried about what is causing the excessive build up. If I add more rock, it will eventually just store more phosphates and be in the same spot. I do have a decent amount of rubble in chamber 2 under the chaeto.

I have used it for years and have had no adverse effects. I've dropped my phosphates from .25 down to 0 over a few days on my first tank with sps, lps and softies. Melevsreef on YouTube uses it all the time and talks about it a lot when talking about hair algae. I've talked to him about it in person and he really loves the product (he was a speaker at our local frag swap a couple years ago).

 

[tgionet]

I have used it for years and have had no adverse effects. I've dropped my phosphates from .25 down to 0 over a few days on my first tank with sps, lps and softies. Melevsreef on YouTube uses it all the time and talks about it a lot when talking about hair algae. I've talked to him about it in person and he really loves the product (he was a speaker at our local frag swap a couple years ago).

WWC uses it as well

 

[SauceyReef]

Thanks guys much appreciated. I need more knowledge on how nitrate and phosphate are related. In the meantime I will get some phosphate RX and keep monitoring. Any other suggestions are welcome here.

 

[Poseidon03]

Thanks guys much appreciated. I need more knowledge on how nitrate and phosphate are related. In the meantime I will get some phosphate RX and keep monitoring. Any other suggestions are welcome here.

What do you want to know about nitrate and phosphate?

I've done a ton of investigation and research on that topic. Look into the redfield ratio and how it applies to living organisms. It will teach you the ratio of phosphate to nitrate absorption in a lot of plants and such. Personally, in my tank, I see a 10:1 ratio of absorption (10 Nitrate to 1 Phosphate), but that is probably due to other factors.

High phosphate foods would be things like flake and pellets. Though, I've heard Rod's food is high in phosphates.

 

[SauceyReef]

Well the situation is becoming drastic. I keep checking when I can (I am super sick right now), and my phosphates are getting higher! While my nitrate keeps going down almost to 0. Im feeding a ton, which is just not working. Something is causing an imbalance and inverse relationship. I think I will have to amazon prime phosphate RX as I dont know what else to do.

The last time I had a nitrate bottom out which I am very close to, I lost a couple really nice corals. My tank is mainly LPS and softies.

 

[SauceyReef]

What do you want to know about nitrate and phosphate?

I've done a ton of investigation and research on that topic. Look into the redfield ratio and how it applies to living organisms. It will teach you the ratio of phosphate to nitrate absorption in a lot of plants and such. Personally, in my tank, I see a 10:1 ratio of absorption (10 Nitrate to 1 Phosphate), but that is probably due to other factors.

High phosphate foods would be things like flake and pellets. Though, I've heard Rod's food is high in phosphates.

I would love to hear your suggestion on why this is happening, or what to do right now. I guess I should cut back on Rods food entirely than? I dont feed any pellet or flake food.

 

[ryshark]

I feed mostly pellets so phosphate can creep up pretty quickly. I keep it down with dosing MB7 and then dose the nitrates up.
I’ll check the parameters every few days and try to stay in this range with the MB7 and nitrate dosing.
PO4: .08-.12
NO3: 10-15

 

[Crofty]

I've used both PhosGuard and ChemiPure Elite bags dropped in my media basket to get quick short term drops in phosphates. They both seem to be pretty consistent in the finite amount of phosphate they remove (which correlates with the product size/amount) and then are spent. They worked well in my small tank but probably would have minimal impact on a large tank.

I've used a few of these to reduce phosphates I believe are leaching from old live rock I recycled from another tank - so probably not the same issue you are seeing. But they do work and quite fast - almost too fast if you use the larger bags which can then bottom phosphate out.

Others with more experience could chime in on longer term use of these products, but they seem like a short term solution to me and I have already stopped using them now that my system is more steady state.

 

[SauceyReef]

I've used both PhosGuard and ChemiPure Elite bags dropped in my media basket to get quick short term drops in phosphates. They both seem to be pretty consistent in the finite amount of phosphate they remove (which correlates with the product size/amount) and then are spent. They worked well in my small tank but probably would have minimal impact on a large tank.

I've used a few of these to reduce phosphates I believe are leaching from old live rock I recycled from another tank - so probably not the same issue you are seeing. But they do work and quite fast - almost too fast if you use the larger bags which can then bottom phosphate out.

Others with more experience could chime in on longer term use of these products, but they seem like a short term solution to me and I have already stopped using them now that my system is more steady state.

Im scared of dropping it to low to fast and hurting the corals, so I think I am going to stick with phos RX as I feel it will be easier to monitor slow decrease

@Big E the problem is I am doing big water changes and its not effecting the phos, but my nitrate is close to bottoming out. The phos must be leaching into the rock works, so doing a large water change is doing much.


Does anyone mind showing me a photo of Phosphate RX? - Is Blue Life the company to get?

 

[DaddyFish]

Has anyone else used phosphate RX here? I could potentially just setup a little bag of GFO and clip it on the back chamber grid.



Im more so worried about what is causing the excessive build up. If I add more rock, it will eventually just store more phosphates and be in the same spot. I do have a decent amount of rubble in chamber 2 under the chaeto.

I have used GFO, Phosphate-Rx and Phosphat-E (yes, it's spelled that way).
Phospat-E is the best option for me. It's predictable and dilute enough to dose automatically.

 

[zheka757]

Well the situation is becoming drastic. I keep checking when I can (I am super sick right now), and my phosphates are getting higher! While my nitrate keeps going down almost to 0. Im feeding a ton, which is just not working. Something is causing an imbalance and inverse relationship. I think I will have to amazon prime phosphate RX as I dont know what else to do.

The last time I had a nitrate bottom out which I am very close to, I lost a couple really nice corals. My tank is mainly LPS and softies.

I don't care what others have said, but do your self a favor and, Use neo nitro, and watch how your phosphate's go down, while you will also have some nitrates in tank. I have seeing it work, just like bottle says i will work

 

[SauceyReef]

I have used GFO, Phosphate-Rx and Phosphat-E (yes, it's spelled that way).
Phospat-E is the best option for me. It's predictable and dilute enough to dose automatically.

Phosphate-E by bright well? What makes it more predictable than Phos-RX? Cant you dilute both technically? (Or just dose cut in half)

I don't care what others have said, but do your self a favor and, Use neo nitro, and watch how your phosphate's go down, while you will also have some nitrates in tank. I have seeing it work, just like bottle says i will work

Hey man I appreciate your suggestion, but just want to stick with solely phosphate removing chemicals or filters. My nitrate is so low right now, its close to bottoming out. I really dont want that. Cant get anything that messes with nitrate at all at this point.

I am also going to just keep feeding mysis and cut back on Rods Food.

 

[Crofty]

I looked into using Phosphate Rx but I was leery of the manufacturer's "easily filtered out" claim regarding the precipitates that will form. I don't have a filter sock or filtration system that would capture the precipitates and wasn't sure how to go about rigging something up. Maybe the precipitates aren't that big of a deal anyway . I wasn't able to find a solid answer on that question except for it being bad for Tangs.

I would love to hear how it works for you though on your 13 gallon, and would appreciate your feedback. I will probably have to do one more round of phos control to finish balancing my rock.

 

[Big E]

Im scared of dropping it to low to fast and hurting the corals, so I think I am going to stick with phos RX as I feel it will be easier to monitor slow decrease

@Big E the problem is I am doing big water changes and its not effecting the phos, but my nitrate is close to bottoming out. The phos must be leaching into the rock works, so doing a large water change is doing much.


Does anyone mind showing me a photo of Phosphate RX? - Is Blue Life the company to get?

A close to 100% change sets you to zeros. I should have probably expanded on this is that I wouldn't just do status quo. You have to change what you were doing as well once the nutrients start to show a pattern. This isn't going to happen overnight.

First thing I would do is baster your rock daily until there is no more detritus coming from them.

I would never run chemicals on a tank that small but that's just me.

 

[SauceyReef]

A close to 100% change sets you to zeros. I should have probably expanded on this is that I wouldn't just do status quo. You have to change what you were doing as well once the nutrients start to show a pattern. This isn't going to happen overnight.

First thing I would do is baster your rock daily until there is no more detritus coming from them.

I would never run chemicals on a tank that small but that's just me.

I can guarantee you a 100% water change does not set you back to 0. Maybe if you test literally 5 minutes after the water change lol. But in 24 hours the phosphates that are leached into my rock will put that 1.2ppm back up to where it was. Also, Ive been basting my rocks each time I do water changes (and have very high flow) and its not doing anything to reduce that phosphate ppm.

 

[SauceyReef]

I looked into using Phosphate Rx but I was leery of the manufacturer's "easily filtered out" claim regarding the precipitates that will form. I don't have a filter sock or filtration system that would capture the precipitates and wasn't sure how to go about rigging something up. Maybe the precipitates aren't that big of a deal anyway . I wasn't able to find a solid answer on that question except for it being bad for Tangs.

I would love to hear how it works for you though on your 13 gallon, and would appreciate your feedback. I will probably have to do one more round of phos control to finish balancing my rock.

I think I am going to try Phos. E, and I will let you know how it goes!

 

[Rams]

I used phosphate RX when I had 0.90 po4 and dropped it to 0.10 in 3 days