How do I lower PO4 without a reactor?

[xtian]

My RO filter has never been replaced because I don't have one. Unfortunately, I have to do it the old school way. Drive to my lfs which lucky for me is WWC and lug 5 gal jugs back to my house an hour away. I am trusting that their water quality (fresh and salt are ok). Maybe that's my problem.

May be worth buying a $15 handheld TDS meter to check their water and not take their word for it. In my current place I don’t really have a spot for a perm ro/di install so I was buying “fresh” water from a LFS. Few weeks ago I decided to buy one and check the water(visual tank reasons) which read 338 TDS! I thought it was off. Purchased a filter - out of the membrane it read below 10 and 0 after di with both an inline TDS meter and the handheld meter. Pretty much same number for source water also. I had some trust in this store also, not anymore.

This is the one I purchased and seems to work fine for me.
Digital TDS-Meter, Accurate and Reliable, HoneForest TDS, EC & Temp Meter 3 in 1, 0-9990ppm, Ideal Water-Tester-PPM-Meter(Green)

 

[saullman]

May be worth buying a $15 handheld TDS meter to check their water and not take their word for it. In my current place I don’t really have a spot for a perm ro/di install so I was buying “fresh” water from a LFS. Few weeks ago I decided to buy one and check the water(visual tank reasons) which read 338 TDS! I thought it was off. Purchased a filter - out of the membrane it read below 10 and 0 after di with both an inline TDS meter and the handheld meter. Pretty much same number for source water also. I had some trust in this store also, not anymore.

This is the one I purchased and seems to work fine for me.
Digital TDS-Meter, Accurate and Reliable, HoneForest TDS, EC & Temp Meter 3 in 1, 0-9990ppm, Ideal Water-Tester-PPM-Meter(Green)

Thanks. I think I will try that. Something like this work ok in your opinion?

 

[xtian]

Can’t really speak for something I haven’t tried. But it looks like the exact same one I have just dressed different and a lower price tag. I’m sure it’ll work.

 

[SCReef'n]

Without a way to test tds your at the mercy of whoever makes it. If your not going to buy your own rodi unit anytime soon I’d definitely buy a tds meter you can rely on. Source water is the foundation for everything else and if you can’t verify it’s purity you everything else is guesswork. Ask you lfs if they can show you 0 tds in the water. Explain your issue and ask for peace of mind. I would expect any reputable lfs to easily be able to do that. Once you know it’s 0 or close to 0. Then I’d do as big of a water change as you can. And then next week I’d do another. Just watch you. Nutrients all the while as running that rowa and doing huge wc will drive you nutrients down even further and you want them down but not gone.

 

[saullman]

Without a way to test tds your at the mercy of whoever makes it. If your not going to buy your own rodi unit anytime soon I’d definitely buy a tds meter you can rely on. Source water is the foundation for everything else and if you can’t verify it’s purity you everything else is guesswork. Ask you lfs if they can show you 0 tds in the water. Explain your issue and ask for peace of mind. I would expect any reputable lfs to easily be able to do that. Once you know it’s 0 or close to 0. Then I’d do as big of a water change as you can. And then next week I’d do another. Just watch you. Nutrients all the while as running that rowa and doing huge wc will drive you nutrients down even further and you want them down but not gone.

I just purchased a tds meter. Should be here in a day or two. Just another tool in my tool belt.
I'll have to wait a few days for the water change until my next day off.
Just curious if saltwater can go bad if sitting around for too long?
I also need to clean my saltwater jugs. Don't know if that has anything to do with my problem.

 

[Frais]

Just an idea, if the only thing you are losing is inverts, I would recommend checking copper.

 

[131696]

If your levels are good,get a More clean up crew ,no chemicals,scrub the rock if your can with a tooth brush. lots of people talking about clean up crew get that I agree..lol

 

[131696]

Lower phosphates without a reactor do what I do ,no fish ,then you got to dose phosphates and nitrates.lol,you need to balance the tank feed less ,water changes more often.its fun chemisty is fun.Listen to the tank.clean up,crew is better then chemicals

 

[esther]

My CUC is non existent. Everything died on me, but 2 nassarius snails. I went to my lfs yesterday to get some more snails and the owner of the lfs recommended I bring down the PO4 before I buy anything. I thought that was nice. He could have easily sold me a new CUC.

I don’t think your issue is PO4. Our tank has PO4 of .26 currently and it’s been consistent for months. Have great coral growth, all CUC still alive and all fish are healthy and happy. .10 really isn’t high.

 

[Gordonm]

This. Lowering you numbers is a risk and doesn't explain why your CUC died.

My first thought with dead snail is dinos. This would also explain the ongoing algae battle. Dropping NO3 and PO4 if those are dinos would make things worse.


1. Urgent- rule out dinos (get a cheap microscope if you dont have on a post a pic of that stuff on you sand bed in the dino thread. They also have a coffee filter method to confirm if it is dinos - but not species specific.


2. Look up the rip clean/sand bed rinse thread. You pull the rocks out, scrub them, spray them with hydrogen peroixde rinse and return. You remove the sand bed rinse until clean and return. But don't do these until you first rule out dinos

3. Whether or not it's dinos, focus on your microfauana, phyto& zoo plankton, bacteria, pods, worms, coraline. these are IMO are part of the CUC. Often, trying to rid a tank of algae can throw these out of balance and make the algae problem worse and even terrible by opening the door for dinos to take over

Put in a CUC. Your nutrient level is not what's killing them.

 

[saullman]

Everyone is telling me to add a CUC, (don't get me wrong I want to) but why would I add a CUC for the algae issue when I have other issues going on in the tank also.

1- Everytime I do buy a CUC they die within a few weeks. A month tops.
2- my rocks are turning white (have a separate thread for that one)
3- just about all my corals are dead. I have 2 left. A paly and a Duncan.

I know a CUC is important, but I want to get my water parameters in check first. I am going to start by doing a big water change or at least several smaller changes. I'm running rowaphos now so that should help and I'm about to start dosing 2 part to get my levels where they need to be. If there is anything that I have learned in this hobby its to go slow. I'm not going to just throw a CUC in my tank to watch them all die and see my hard earned money go right out the door. I do however appreciate everyone's input and willingness to want to help me out.

 

[Aqua Man]

Everyone is telling me to add a CUC, (don't get me wrong I want to) but why would I add a CUC for the algae issue when I have other issues going on in the tank also.

What other issue? Nobody said your water parameters were off. Why do you need 2 part dosing?

That algae on your rocks looks like turf algae, hard to get rid of.

Sand bed doesn’t look like it’s seen a vacuum hose in awhile

 

[saullman]

What other issue? Nobody said your water parameters were off. Why do you need 2 part dosing?

That algae on your rocks looks like turf algae, hard to get rid of.

Sand bed doesn’t look like it’s seen a vacuum hose in awhile

1- Coraline algae is turning white on rocks.
2- Everytime I buy a snail, it dies within days. 1 month at most.
3- have had an on going algae issue since start of tank 2.5 yrs ago

 

[saullman]

Without a way to test tds your at the mercy of whoever makes it. If your not going to buy your own rodi unit anytime soon I’d definitely buy a tds meter you can rely on. Source water is the foundation for everything else and if you can’t verify it’s purity you everything else is guesswork. Ask you lfs if they can show you 0 tds in the water. Explain your issue and ask for peace of mind. I would expect any reputable lfs to easily be able to do that. Once you know it’s 0 or close to 0. Then I’d do as big of a water change as you can. And then next week I’d do another. Just watch you. Nutrients all the while as running that rowa and doing huge wc will drive you nutrients down even further and you want them down but not gone.

Got my tds meter today. Here are the results. I know it's not great, but is that too high.

 

[saullman]

May be worth buying a $15 handheld TDS meter to check their water and not take their word for it. In my current place I don’t really have a spot for a perm ro/di install so I was buying “fresh” water from a LFS. Few weeks ago I decided to buy one and check the water(visual tank reasons) which read 338 TDS! I thought it was off. Purchased a filter - out of the membrane it read below 10 and 0 after di with both an inline TDS meter and the handheld meter. Pretty much same number for source water also. I had some trust in this store also, not anymore.

This is the one I purchased and seems to work fine for me.
Digital TDS-Meter, Accurate and Reliable, HoneForest TDS, EC & Temp Meter 3 in 1, 0-9990ppm, Ideal Water-Tester-PPM-Meter(Green)

Just wanted to thank you. I ended up buying the same TDS meter as you have. I tested the water from one lfs and it was 15ppm. Then I tested some RODI that I purchased from WWC and it came up 8 ppm. I'm wondering if this could be causing my algae issues.

 

[Erink]

Buy an urchin or 2

 

[Aqua Man]

8 and 15 ppm of what though? The reason we strive for 0 TDS is to eliminate that variable. Even though at 0 some things can still slip through.
So it may or may not be fueling your algae. Sometimes algae just grows.

 

[saullman]

8 and 15 ppm of what though? The reason we strive for 0 TDS is to eliminate that variable. Even though at 0 some things can still slip through.
So it may or may not be fueling your algae. Sometimes algae just grows.

I'm not sure what the 8 and 15 are. How would anyone ever know unless someone spent the time and money to get a water analysis. I'm just looking for advice and trying to eliminate possibilities. I guess the thought process there was to make sure that the number wasn't off the charts high.

 

[saullman]

Buy an urchin or 2

It pointless buying any kind of CUC right now when the inverts in my tank usually die after a few days/weeks. I need to figure out what's going on first. CUC after.

 

[Frais]

It pointless buying any kind of CUC right now when the inverts in my tank usually die after a few days/weeks. I need to figure out what's going on first. CUC after.

So in an attempt to help you get to the bottom of this is ask my lfs guy his thoughts he mention that stray electrical current could be what's killing you CUC.