Highl phosphate!!!

[mazza]

Hi all I’ve been having problems with my phosphate the past few weeks in my Fluval evo and I can’t seem to lower them at all I’ve done 30% water changes I’ve been running rowaphos in a filter bag in with my filter basket and in beside my return pump it was at a steady 0.25 since I’ve set the tank up 3 moths ago but in the last week it’s rose to 1ppm I feed twice a day mixture of frozen and flake can someone please help thank you in advance

 

[lapin]

Could it be a change in your water supply?

 

[Bruttall]

Every thing you add to your tank adds phos. Some foods are worse than others. At a guess, without seeing your set up, I'm gonna say you are over feeding. Reduce amounts by Half, in a 7 day period if that's not enough you will see your fish getting skinny (this is so rare as to almost never happen) and monitor phos every couple days.

I have something like 25 fish in a 300g tank, 7 tangs, a large rabbit fish and large skat and I only feed 1 sheet of nori a day, a pinch of flake in the AM, and 2 cubes frozen on the weekends. I also dose Fresh Hatched Brine shrimp about 3 times a week.

 

[DED65]

How much are you feeding? How much Rowaphos are you using? It is possible that your rock is leaching phosphate. You can try feeding less or increase the amount of Rowaphos, but you do want to do that slowly so that you are not removing too much phosphate.

 

[Doctorgori]

Every thing you add to your tank adds phos. Some foods are worse than others. At a guess, without seeing your set up, I'm gonna say you are over feeding. Reduce amounts by Half, in a 7 day period if that's not enough you will see your fish getting skinny (this is so rare as to almost never happen) and monitor phos every couple days.

this is true, while we are at it perhaps try and “roll your own” food as chopped up fresh sea food “anecdotally” seems to be less phosphate “leach-ish” than commercial food…
I suspect this is more of a partial size/consumption/waste thing than actual ingredients
…but really all foods add phosphate one way or another
note:
Lanthium chloride might give you a faster response but it has its own caveats

 

[mazza]

Every thing you add to your tank adds phos. Some foods are worse than others. At a guess, without seeing your set up, I'm gonna say you are over feeding. Reduce amounts by Half, in a 7 day period if that's not enough you will see your fish getting skinny (this is so rare as to almost never happen) and monitor phos every couple days.

I have something like 25 fish in a 300g tank, 7 tangs, a large rabbit fish and large skat and I only feed 1 sheet of nori a day, a pinch of flake in the AM, and 2 cubes frozen on the weekends. I also dose Fresh Hatched Brine shrimp about 3 times a week.

Yeah I might stick to just the mysis shrimp for the next week and cut down on the feeding I normally split a cube of shrimp into 3 feeding 1/3rd at a time twice daily and dosnt seem to be much waste if so I’d net as much as I could out of the tank I’ve recently started dosing alk ca mg all are in the recommend range and seem stable could that also have a effect on phos also love the tanks what a pleasure it must be sitting down to that each night

 

[Timfish]

Test your new saltwater for PO4 as well as your fresh water before adding saltwater to positively exclude them. Double check your test kit with either a PO4 standard (Hach makes one, amazon) or compare it to a fellow reefers test kit. Don't sweat it 1.0 mg/l isn't good but it's not going to kill anything but as pointed out above lowering it slowly is better than dropping it really fast (and maybe dropping it too much and causing issues). You didn't say howold your system is but as animals grow and biofilms develop they will use up PO4 (as well as the organic and particulate forms of phosphorus, the live baby brine shrimp mentioned above being an excellent example).

 

[Troylee]

Is there a reason why you want to lower it? Are your corals suffering? To me that’s not really high.. what are your nitrates sitting at?

 

[mazza]

How much are you feeding? How much Rowaphos are you using? It is possible that your rock is leaching phosphate. You can try feeding less or increase the amount of Rowaphos, but you do want to do that slowly so that you are not removing too much phosphate.

I’d split a cube of mysis/marine mix into 3 pieces feeding 1/3rd at a time twice daily not much waste I’ve a filter bag with 3 and half table spoons of rowaphos in with my return pump also good point on the rock leaching the phosphate I’ve added a dry rock about 7 weeks ago it’s seems to have a fair amount of algae I’ll post a photo belox

 

[Troylee]

I’d split a cube of mysis/marine mix into 3 pieces feeding 1/3rd at a time twice daily not much waste I’ve a filter bag with 3 and half table spoons of rowaphos in with my return pump also good point on the rock leaching the phosphate I’ve added a dry rock about 7 weeks ago it’s seems to have a fair amount of algae I’ll post a photo belox

I see zero reason to be concerned about your phosphate level in that tank.. it’s not hurting anything.

 

[braaap]

I’d split a cube of mysis/marine mix into 3 pieces feeding 1/3rd at a time twice daily not much waste I’ve a filter bag with 3 and half table spoons of rowaphos in with my return pump also good point on the rock leaching the phosphate I’ve added a dry rock about 7 weeks ago it’s seems to have a fair amount of algae I’ll post a photo belox

If this is your tank you are WAY overfeeding. Your clowns only need flake or pellets. They don’t need frozen. You are just adding phosphates and nutrients your tank doesn’t need. Feed flake once a day and be done.

 

[mazza]

Is there a reason why you want to lower it? Are your corals suffering? To me that’s not really high.. what are your nitrates sitting at?

My lfs recommended I use rowaphas when they tested my parameters 2 months ago it’s was sitting at 0.25ppm and told me it’s pretty high so when it i tested and saw it rose to 1ppm I assumed it’s extremely high also my gsp frag seems to be struggling/not opening as much and my nitrates are about 15/20ppm

 

[Lavey29]

I agree with other posts. That's not high and of no concern in a 3 month tank.

 

[Troylee]

My lfs recommended I use rowaphas when they tested my parameters 2 months ago it’s was sitting at 0.25ppm and told me it’s pretty high so when it i tested and saw it rose to 1ppm I assumed it’s extremely high also my gsp frag seems to be struggling/not opening as much and my nitrates are about 15/20ppm

Far from extremely high and it’s not hurting anything.. gsp is having different issues cause they could grow in a toilet lol ! It’s either lighting or flow on that part…

 

[Ziggy17]

If this is your tank you are WAY overfeeding. Your clowns only need flake or pellets. They don’t need frozen. You are just adding phosphates and nutrients your tank doesn’t need. Feed flake once a day and be done.

Don’t just feed your clowns once a day with flake. If you have time to feed a little frozen, do so. Just cut back as they don’t need much. Vitalis soft pellets in the smallest size is also good to mix to their diet. A little will go a long way with just a couple clowns, so even if you buy a few different options, it won’t cost much over a year span.

 

[braaap]

Don’t just feed your clowns once a day with flake. If you have time to feed a little frozen, do so. Just cut back as they don’t need much. Vitalis soft pellets in the smallest size is also good to mix to their diet. A little will go a long way with just a couple clowns, so even if you buy a few different options, it won’t cost much over a year span.

There is literally ZERO reason to feed clownfish frozen. They don’t require it. Any decent pellet or flake will give them everything they need. All he’s doing is adding more phosphate.

 

[Lavey29]

There is literally ZERO reason to feed clownfish frozen. They don’t require it. Any decent pellet or flake will give them everything they need. All he’s doing is adding more phosphate.

Uh pellet food is the worst for raising phosphate of any food you could feed a fish.

 

[DED65]

I’d split a cube of mysis/marine mix into 3 pieces feeding 1/3rd at a time twice daily not much waste I’ve a filter bag with 3 and half table spoons of rowaphos in with my return pump also good point on the rock leaching the phosphate I’ve added a dry rock about 7 weeks ago it’s seems to have a fair amount of algae I’ll post a photo belox

I think the tank looks really good for having dry rock put in 7 weeks ago. Whatever changes you make do it slowly. There is absolutely nothing wrong with feeding frozen food and it will be much healthier than any pellet or flake. I think the fish should be fed twice a day and not starving because of the phosphate. Just watch the amount so it doesn’t rot in the tank. It looks like you are doing everything right!

 

[Stacykirk88]

Test your new saltwater for PO4 as well as your fresh water before adding saltwater to positively exclude them. Double check your test kit with either a PO4 standard (Hach makes one, amazon) or compare it to a fellow reefers test kit. Don't sweat it 1.0 mg/l isn't good but it's not going to kill anything but as pointed out above lowering it slowly is better than dropping it really fast (and maybe dropping it too much and causing issues). You didn't say howold your system is but as animals grow and biofilms develop they will use up PO4 (as well as the organic and particulate forms of phosphorus, the live baby brine shrimp mentioned above being an excellent example).

I am in a similar position with phos at .90 via a Hanna tester. Tank is 4 months old. My nitrates are high around 40ppm. Ammonia 0, Nitrites 0 and ph 8.0 I don't have test kits for the other minerals yet. I also have a skimmer that has been running for a week now. I started cutting back on the frozen foods yesterday and will do a water change either today or tomorrow. My question is will adding nitrifying bacteria help with Phos or the nitrate? I understand that right now my bacteria is able to handle the load from the tank since ammonia and nitrite is 0.

 

[Ziggy17]

There is literally ZERO reason to feed clownfish frozen. They don’t require it. Any decent pellet or flake will give them everything they need. All he’s doing is adding more phosphate.

How about because they like it. That’s a reason. So can’t be zero reasons. Geez, and here you said that there were zero reasons. Zero. Oh wait, perhaps there’s 2 reasons. Frozen food offers nutrients. OMG, a second reason. Holy smokes. From ZERO, to 2 reasons. Your world must be crumbling right now. 2 reasons, and not ZERO. Should we completely ruin your world and suggest a third??? Variety!!!!!!! Holy crap, a third reason. 3 is so far from ZERO you must be contemplating your existence in this world. From ZERO to 3. Oh man, I’d hate to be you right now. 3 whole reasons. Jeez. Who would have thought we could have gotten to 3. THREE!

Enjoy your day captain zero! Haha just having fun my man. Point is, there are reasons. To say zero invites some sarcasm.