High Phosphate help

[Dasidius]

Hello guys my tank is about 1 month old. Its a 70 gallon tank with about 70 pounds of LR. I have three clowns, three shrimp, clean up crew and no corals in the tank. I got a new phosphate test kit in today and I was alarmed that the numbers seemed high. What can I do to fix this? Thanks in advance guys!

 

[dragon99]

With no corals, there's no immediate concern other than preventing an algae outbreak.

You need some type of nutrient export. Water changes are one of the easiest solutions. Macro algae in a refugium is a good solution or a algae turf scrubber. You can also consider things like carbon dosing or a carbon reactor. Or go the chemical route with GFO.

 

[FlyinBryan]

I second GFO, add some carbon as well, it'll help clean up and polish the water.
What kind of a filtration system are you running? Sump?
Nitrates are pretty high as well.
Curious, how long did you cycle the tank prior to adding fish?

 

[Aznxgqboyx]

Get phosfree from the pool supply store, it can get your po4 to 0.0x 0-100 real quick

 

[Aznxgqboyx]

This

 

[Aznxgqboyx]

I have over 15 fishes no macro algae just a skimmer. A pair of Triggers eat and waste alot. Whenever my po4 gets over 1.0 i drop few drops of phosfree to get it to 0.0x

 

[Dasidius]

Thanks for the input guys! My sump is the stock red sea reefer 250L and I have an octopus skimmer. I was looking into getting a aqumaxx reactor to help with the Nitrates. What is the difference between a reactor and a GFO? I waited two weeks on the fish. I added them early cause a buddy of mine broke down his tank and needed a home for them. My cycle was helped out a little by using live sand and 50/50 new and used water from an established tank.

 

[Dasidius]

Great looking tank!

 

[Aznxgqboyx]

Great looking tank!

Ty, still have to save up money for corals tho, lol

 

[Aznxgqboyx]

Thanks for the input guys! My sump is the stock red sea reefer 250L and I have an octopus skimmer. I was looking into getting a aqumaxx reactor to help with the Nitrates. What is the difference between a reactor and a GFO? I waited two weeks on the fish. I added them early cause a buddy of mine broke down his tank and needed a home for them. My cycle was helped out a little by using live sand and 50/50 new and used water from an established tank.

Gfo is for phosphate removal, personally i rather do few drops of the phosfree, but each to his own. And for nitrate removal you can run zeovit stones to help get rid of ammonia before it processes into nitrite>nitrate + water changes, if it still doesnt help then some type of carbon dosing/biopellet

 

[Aznxgqboyx]

Great looking tank!

Here they are swimming

 

[Dasidius]

I see a lot of people running multiple mechanical filters under their tank. My sump is very small so this is a problem for me. What do carbon reactors do? Im confused between GFO, carbon and Biopellets. I kind of prefer the gadget side of things versus putting chemicals in the water.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I see a lot of people running multiple mechanical filters under their tank. My sump is very small so this is a problem for me. What do carbon reactors do? Im confused between GFO, carbon and Biopellets. I kind of prefer the gadget side of things versus putting chemicals in the water.

I discuss what these methods are and how they work in these articles:

Phosphate In The Reef Aquarium
https://www.reef2reef.com/blog/?p=3184

Nitrate in the Reef Aquarium - REEFEDITION
https://www.reef2reef.com/blog/nitrate-in-the-reef-aquarium

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

FWIW, a lot of folks have problems with the Hanna calcium checker.

 

[KKaiser85]

FWIW, a lot of folks have problems with the Hanna calcium checker.

Ya, I know. *Disclosure time!*
I work for Hanna. So clearly I'm biased here.

But I will say, we heard the problems people were having, and generally it had to do with the incredibly small amount of sample you need.. people had a difficult time getting such a little bit, so we have now included a micropipette to get the exact amount needed. Super accurate.

 

[FishLover01]

There is no concern for 2.0 phosphate in a fish only tank. It will cause them no harm. Im not an expert in invertibrates but I think it could possibly cause issue with them.

 

[markstubb]

But I will say, we heard the problems people were having, and generally it had to do with the incredibly small amount of sample you need.. people had a difficult time getting such a little bit, so we have now included a micropipette to get the exact amount needed. Super accurate.

Where does one get a micropipette?

 

[markstubb]

Nevermind... I used the google and answered my own question