How do giant aquariums manage phosphate levels?

[vetteguy53081]

My difference is i do not use the pellets in a reactor buy rather in a filter bag in my sump where there is good water movement . It leaves me with some no3 and po3 at lower levels

 

[RedSea500MaxS]

Yes, biopellets works the same way as a liquid carbon source. But it's solid.
What you can do is add nitrate to make sure there's still some left in the water, while lowering the phosphate.

10 ppm nitrate and 0,3 ppm phosphate sounds quite high to me, if you want to have corals like Seriatopora for example. But that's just my observations.

Thx Sallstrom...yes I have read more and more about dosing. My NO3 is usually like ~<5ppm, but PO3 high???? What do you dose for NO3, and how to know how much to dose when biopellets are working 24/7 to reduce to 0. I get dizzy trying to maintain all these numbers...LOL. (My old tank was 100% jammed full with 150 huge SPS, 80 LPS and like 40 fish in a 225, with only a Ca Reactor and Skimmer....zero testing except occasional Ca (back then we thought Ca was super important not Alk...lol)......and everything grew like weeds. The good old days). Thank you for your expert help, trying to get this all right.

 

[Sallstrom]

Thx Sallstrom...yes I have read more and more about dosing. My NO3 is usually like ~<5ppm, but PO3 high???? What do you dose for NO3, and how to know how much to dose when biopellets are working 24/7 to reduce to 0. I get dizzy trying to maintain all these numbers...LOL. (My old tank was 100% jammed full with 150 huge SPS, 80 LPS and like 40 fish in a 225, with only a Ca Reactor and Skimmer....zero testing except occasional Ca (back then we thought Ca was super important not Alk...lol)......and everything grew like weeds. The good old days). Thank you for your expert help, trying to get this all right. ‼

Biopellets are hard to know how much they do, since there are other parameters like flow and after a while you don't know how much of the biopellets that has been consumed and how much are left. So dosing a liquid carbon source is easier to keep track of, IMO.
I'm not that into calculating, but sometimes it's good to know how much x ml of a solution raise the NO3. We used KNO3 for adding nitrate many years. Just make sure it's a product for aquariums.

But all and all, its a lot of measuring until you get to know your tank and how it reacts. Then perhaps you could meassure less often, but you still need to meassure if you want to be on the safe side. I'm getting paid to keep corals alive, so I meassure a lot..
So dose, measure, adjust dose, meassure, meassure, and so on. My goal is to find a dose that keeps the numbers stable.

In your case, with 5ppm nitrate and high PO4, I would go with GFO. That would be safer IMO.

 

[MissyTwitch]

Two algae scrubbers/refugium am and pm. 300g display. 500g system.

 

[1stNoel]

Thx Sallstrom...yes I have read more and more about dosing. My NO3 is usually like ~<5ppm, but PO3 high???? What do you dose for NO3, and how to know how much to dose when biopellets are working 24/7 to reduce to 0. I get dizzy trying to maintain all these numbers...LOL. (My old tank was 100% jammed full with 150 huge SPS, 80 LPS and like 40 fish in a 225, with only a Ca Reactor and Skimmer....zero testing except occasional Ca (back then we thought Ca was super important not Alk...lol)......and everything grew like weeds. The good old days). Thank you for your expert help, trying to get this all right. ‼

Did you mean to say .03 PO4? 0.3 (as posted) is high. Basically anything below 0.1 is the goal (which is in line with many of the professional coral farms).

 

[theMeat]

Have a 220 with 55 gal fuge, 30 gal sump. Have not needed a water change from high nitrates or phosphates in about 6 years. When tank was newish ran an ats as well. Took it off about 4 years ago

 

[Shooter6]

To the person using lanthium chloride, and dosing directly to the refugeum. Instead of that, mix it with rodi water and drip it directly into your skimmer. A drop every couple seconds works well, and you will pull out the binded phosphate, instead of it settling in the sandbed where it will leach back out. Dripping it into a 5 micron filter sock works even better, even if you just clip it to your sump and run a temporary pump , running water through it.

 

[Jordan Prather]

I have around 4-500 gallon system. I started dosing quantum phosphate remover amd it works awesome. I bought the 1 liter bottle and it took me from .99 to .09 in about 2-3 weeks. I was dosing down the neck of my skimmer which then flows into a filter sock I never got any precipitation that way either.

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

To the person using lanthium chloride, and dosing directly to the refugeum. Instead of that, mix it with rodi water and drip it directly into your skimmer. A drop every couple seconds works well, and you will pull out the binded phosphate, instead of it settling in the sandbed where it will leach back out. Dripping it into a 5 micron filter sock works even better, even if you just clip it to your sump and run a temporary pump , running water through it.

How much dilution do you recommend? What ratio to RODI?

 

[Jordan Prather]

How much dilution do you recommend? What ratio to RODI?

I never diluted mine just put 30 ml straight down the neck of the skimmer and it worked great

 

[Daniel@R2R Verified Admin]

I never diluted mine just put 30 ml straight down the neck of the skimmer and it worked great

30 ml of straight lanthanum chloride??

EDIT: I just saw perhaps why. Your system is 4-500 gallons, so maybe a dose that large is what was needed? Still seems like a lot.

 

[Jordan Prather]

30 ml of straight lanthanum chloride??

EDIT: I just saw perhaps why. Your system is 4-500 gallons, so maybe a dose that large is what was needed? Still seems like a lot.

Yea I had extremely high levels and in a tank that size that's what I needed at the time I eventually worked my way down to about 10 before my external pump got wet due to a "slight leak and made my skimmer quit working

 

[Shooter6]

How much dilution do you recommend? What ratio to RODI?

Well your currently using a capfull? Use the same amount but diluted with whatever your daily average top off is, then drip it into the skimmers neck or into the 5micron felt sock. If you do the sock pump water into it also so it can mix with your tank water and filter out the phosphate. If you do the skimmer, you will see a whitish tan skimmate form. That is the phosphate. If the capful isnt enough move up on the concentration to 2 capfulls test and correct accordingly

 

[coralbeauties]

Lanthanum chloride for me. I have a 350 gallon total volume system and I dose like @csb123 does. Determine my total daily increase of phos, then dose the amount of LC to maintain my levels. I dilute 5ml of LC into a quart of water and have my doser add say 2ml per hour into my skimmer. It has worked great for years and one bottle of it has lasted that long. Cant beat the price vs gfo. $25 for several years worth of phos control. started to dose into a filter sock but was a major pain so I run a tube into the bottom of my skimmer and believe the precipitate is removed via skimming.
Jeff

 

[scabbedwings616]

They have all sorts of corals and fish in these massive tanks. How do they keep their phosphates low? My tank is about 300 gallons, and I’m dosing seaklear pool phosphate. About a capful next to my skimmer. It clouds the water for about an hour or two but I’m still getting an algae film.

I bet those big tanks don’t get that many water changes. I get about 75% water change once a month with NSW. That’s all I will spend with

I have the same size of tank and use Seaclear as well. I find GFO doesn’t give me consistent results over time, hard to get the volume correct, and very expensive. I tested PO4 daily for a month and came to a daily dose of 1.7 ml. With this small volume it doesn’t cloud the water.

can you post a link to which one you use? And how to figure it out for a 90g tank with 20g refugium. The calculator that you used to keep it in check. Mine are at about .07 and I’m using gfo. Every month changing it out. I would like to get off using gfo

 

[csb123]

To the person using lanthium chloride, and dosing directly to the refugeum. Instead of that, mix it with rodi water and drip it directly into your skimmer. A drop every couple seconds works well, and you will pull out the binded phosphate, instead of it settling in the sandbed where it will leach back out. Dripping it into a 5 micron filter sock works even better, even if you just clip it to your sump and run a temporary pump , running water through it.

Great idea. I just set up my LaCl dripper (iv bag) to go into my skimmer. My only concern is if the precipitate binds to the workings of the needle wheel, which I will be monitoring.

 

[schooncw]

A very interesting thread. Following.

 

[n21benson]

Great discussion!

Agree and following!

 

[coralbeauties]

Great idea. I just set up my LaCl dripper (iv bag) to go into my skimmer. My only concern is if the precipitate binds to the workings of the needle wheel, which I will be monitoring.

Unless you are running a re circulation skimmer you shouldnt have any issues with the skimmer pump. I used the iv bag with a needle control valve for quite awhile but long term found it a pain to regulate the drip. I bought an inexpensive dosing pump and have it pump directly into my skimmer. Currently adding about 24 ml of diluted lc per day. No more filling iv bags daily. I make up a 2 quarts of solution once a month or so and thats it. After your learn your system and how much is required you only need to test when things dont look right with your corals. I kind of judge by my p/e and color. If the phos is high I just increase the daily dosage amount. Recently I noticed my corals have seemed faded some upon checking I felt the tank was low on phos so I decreased the daily dosage. I dont see how this method of phos control can be much simpler.

Jeff

 

[Williamson’s Reef]

Lanthanum chloride for me. I have a 350 gallon total volume system and I dose like @csb123 does. Determine my total daily increase of phos, then dose the amount of LC to maintain my levels. I dilute 5ml of LC into a quart of water and have my doser add say 2ml per hour into my skimmer. It has worked great for years and one bottle of it has lasted that long. Cant beat the price vs gfo. $25 for several years worth of phos control. started to dose into a filter sock but was a major pain so I run a tube into the bottom of my skimmer and believe the precipitate is removed via skimming.
Jeff

What brand are you using? Best place to buy? My GFO use and expense is out of hand.