High Phosphate Issue and suggestions for help.

[trsmith18]

Those recommending Chemipure or GFO. How would that be different than the Phosguard at reducing phosphate?

 

[IslandLifeReef]

Those recommending Chemipure or GFO. How would that be different than the Phosguard at reducing phosphate?

When you added the Phosguard, did you rinse it thoroughly before adding it to your system? If not, Phosguard contains aluminum, which when allowed to float freely in the water, can cause issues with coral.

 

[Matrig]

I was using this. Link but it knocked off a Blue tang after a high dose so I switched to this which is a lanthanum product Link

I think it works great. I often have to stop dosing as my phos drops too low.

 

[ZombieEngineer]

Those recommending Chemipure or GFO. How would that be different than the Phosguard at reducing phosphate?

GFO is better than phosguard. Phosguard is aluminum oxide which depletes faster, costs more, and leaches both aluminum and phosphate back into the water column if you let it fully exhaust before replacing it.

GFO is ferric oxide. This lasts longer, does not release phosphate when exhausted, is cheaper and any leaching only adds a small amount of iron, which unlike aluminum is an important trace element necessary for many organisms.

 

[trsmith18]

When you added the Phosguard, did you rinse it thoroughly before adding it to your system? If not, Phosguard contains aluminum, which when allowed to float freely in the water, can cause issues with coral.

I certainly rinsed it for a while, but I guess anything is possible. Is there a solution to the problem if I didnt do it well enough?

 

[IslandLifeReef]

I certainly rinsed it for a while, but I guess anything is possible. Is there a solution to the problem if I didnt do it well enough?

If you rinsed it well, then there should be no issues. Just a shot at what is causing your problem. I have used this product without a problem, so if you think you rinsed it well, you probably are fine.

 

[trsmith18]

Yes

How do I know if its dying? Its not brown, but it does look much bigger than a month ago. There little pieces of it that break off and are floating in the refugium

 

[eqbal9947]

Best bet- Bring it down gradually by adding a pouch of ChemiPure Elite which I use religiously

I second this. I used same for phosphate in my 25G QT tank which had an algae bloom aswell. took phosphate levels down and no algae in 2 weeks

 

[eqbal9947]

Those Material come to roughly $40. . . chemipure elite $13 and Removes phosphates, silicates, odors and color-causings dissolved organic molecules. Many are not up to mixing their own. Over 2 decades of use, I will stick to what produces the effect I have

beautiful

 

[ZombieEngineer]

How do I know if its dying? Its not brown, but it does look much bigger than a month ago. There little pieces of it that break off and are floating in the refugium

It's obvious when cheato dies. It will get white and start breaking up into strings.

If it's growing, it's helping your problem. I like to let the mat grow until it nearly fills the area and then remove a handful whenever it looks cramped for space. You can adjust your photoperiod and intensity down once your nitrates and phosphate levels start getting too low or dropping too fast.

 

[Fishy888]

Just make sure you drop N and P slowly enough to not crash either one. Otherwise you'll have your own personal Jurassic Park. Dinos everywhere. I am still dealing with the tail end of my own battle with dinos. I wouldn't wish them on my worst enemy.

 

[trsmith18]

Just make sure you drop N and P slowly enough to not crash either one. Otherwise you'll have your own personal Jurassic Park. Dinos everywhere. I am still dealing with the tail end of my own battle with dinos. I wouldn't wish them on my worst enemy.

Good to know. My tank has been having mass die off right now. I’m trying to bring down the phosphate level but my CUC and corals are dying one by one releasing more.

 

[josephxsxn]

I have great success with Phosphate-E, which is Lanthanum Chloride. It's alot cheaper then the resins as well with a $50 jug lasting me over a year now. I put mine on a doser that doses directly into my skimmer anywhere between 1ml and 2ml per day (tweaked based on test results) keeping my phosphate around 0.1ppm... I tend not to go lower because it's easy in my experience for the Lanthanum to take you to low and this gives a bit of buffer.

 

[reefah]

GFO is better than phosguard. Phosguard is aluminum oxide which depletes faster, costs more, and leaches both aluminum and phosphate back into the water column if you let it fully exhaust before replacing it.

GFO is ferric oxide. This lasts longer, does not release phosphate when exhausted, is cheaper and any leaching only adds a small amount of iron, which unlike aluminum is an important trace element necessary for many organisms.

I second this