How to lower phosphate

[ZaneTer]

From https://www.thespruce.com/phosphates-in-your-saltwater-aquarium-2924576
"The optimal phosphate level, especially for reef tanks, is an immeasurable one, or zero, with 0.05 ppm-mg/l being acceptable, and an upper level of 0.1 ppm cited as well."

As Randy stated take their advise with some caution.
I disagree entirely with their comment of zero phosphate being preferred. In my, and many others, experience zero phosphate will lead to coral death.

Chaetomorpha is a fantastic natural approach to removing nutrients but even then it is possible to strip the water of too much. You can easily end up in the scenario of removing too much nitrate while still having a surplus of PO4. Regular monitoring is required.

 

[Jam]

Have you tested the distilled water before adding it? I've seen high phosphates in store bought water. Almost as high as tap both distilled and ro/di water

No I have not good idea

 

[Mike Reef Addict]

No I have not good idea

I'd start there back when I had doing a lot of "nano" reefs before 40 galloms were consided a "nano" I used bottled water because I didn't need an RO/DI now getting back into the hobby with multiple tabks and spending way too much per gallon I orderd a Aquitic life 50gpd ro/di from Chewy.com 65 bucks best investment I've ever made great customer support.

 

[jda]

Verify that reading. 4.5 to 5 is really high. If it is correct, then I would do these things over a long period of time...

• Start with 25% weekly water changes, or something in the range that is manageable. Just use a good, cheap salt like Instant Ocean - dry mix it first.
• Every week, replace about 10-20% of your visible sand... siphon the old out and replace it with really well washed new stuff. Go slow. Do not move the rocks to do this, just get the sand out in the open.
• Add a second skimmer, if you can. At least make sure that yours is working at 100%. A second skimmer can really get people moving in the right direction fast.

Take measure after a few months when you are done with this. You should be significantly lower.

When you are more around 1.0, then I would start with some GFO. It will take a lot. I would go really slow and not let your levels get anywhere near zero - what happens is that the GFO can strip your tank water before the aragonite has had a chance to unbind more phosphate and the corals will be looking for building blocks and not have them. Low tank water can be bad, so use a small amount and go slow. A day after your GFO is exhausted, the tank water level will be back up very near to where you began as the aragonite unbinds to the new, slightly lower "equilibrium." You rinse, lather and repeat this... a lot. Eventually, it will start going down.

Go slow on the sand replacement and GFO.

One you are at 1.0, or so, you should see improvement with some coral.

Lastly, having low phosphates is no issue at all, but it depends on how they are low. If the tank is doing it naturally, then .005-.01 p is fine since you are driving an equilibrium with input and output that is in balance and everything has enough to use as building blocks. If you are doing it with media and chemicals, then you can get dangerously low since they can scavenge too much and starve coral. This is not an issue until you get below .1, or so, but the nuance matters here.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

So what would you recommend running a skimmer?

For what? Phosphate, or metals?

There are lots of good ways to reduce phosphate. I detail them in the article that was linked earlier in this thread. I used GFO, skimming, organic carbon dosing, GAC, and growing macroalgae on my system.

 

[Jeff Cahill]

my phosphate levels are always high I have a 30 gallon tank with only 3 fish lots of crabs and 3 big snails my coals are always struggling how can I lower levels and keep them low?

Buy some rowaphos and get a better test kit . API are rubbish

 

[40B Knasty]

Buy a bottle of Phosguard. A bag that will hold Phosguard. Rinse the bag when there is Phosguard is in the bag. Buy one of these Tetra 10 filters and place that in your tank. You will reduce phosphates down to nothing pretty much. You can fit 2 bags in there. I do either Phosguard & Purigen or Purigen & ROX.08 Carbon or all 3. Just make smaller bags. It is slow enough to not grind up the ingredients. I pull the plastic green screen out that comes with the filter. It slides right out.
https://goo.gl/images/WFT5jM

 

[Mike Reef Addict]

Buy a bottle of Phosguard. A bag that will hold Phosguard. Rinse the bag when there is Phosguard is in the bag. Buy one of these Tetra 10 filters and place that in your tank. You will reduce phosphates down to nothing pretty much. You can fit 2 bags in there. I do either Phosguard & Purigen or Purigen & ROX.08 Carbon or all 3. Just make smaller bags.
https://goo.gl/images/WFT5jM

Phosgaurd workes wonders but purigen raised my nitrates way way up I gave a bad review on Chewy and they refunded my #

 

[40B Knasty]

Phosgaurd workes wonders but purigen raised my nitrates way way up I gave a bad review on Chewy and they refunded my #

I don't see how that could raise nitrates up. It is to reduce nitrates and ammonia. It is not nitrogen. Something might have died in your tank.
Either way. The suggestion was for a quick cheap fix. $9 filter, $5 for some small micron bags, and a $20 bottle of Phosguard that the OP could make new bags with when the phosphates to start to rise up. Probably get about 5 good uses out of the bottle of Phosguard which should last about 6 months. Also saying there is plenty of space to put another bag of her choice in with suggestions that I use.

 

[Mike Reef Addict]

I don't see how that could raise nitrates up. It is to reduce nitrates and ammonia. It is not nitrogen. Something might have died in your tank.

Nope removed it an they dropped like they were punched by Mike Tyson... I was doing 10% a week water changes too only thing Indid was toss outbthe Purigen an it went to undetectable in about a week.

 

[40B Knasty]

Nope removed it an they dropped like they were punched by Mike Tyson... I was doing 10% a week water changes too only thing Indid was toss outbthe Purigen an it went to undetectable in about a week.

It might have just exhausted quick. Idk maybe Randy would know. I haven't seen a nitrate or phosphate since I added the Phosguard, ROX.08, and Purigen. Maybe a little trace of phosphate, but that's fine. My corals enjoy it.

 

[Mike Reef Addict]

It might have just exhausted quick. Idk maybe Randy would know. I haven't seen a nitrate or phosphate since I added the Phosguard, ROX.08, and Purigen. Maybe a little trace of phosphate, but that's fine. My corals enjoy it.

That could be true but seachem claims that it doesn't leach it back out into the water so I don't know right now after removing the substrate and going bare bottom both my No3 and Po4 are immeasurable. Went back to the Berlin method I was taught 25 years ago an my reef an I couldn't be happier. JM2C

 

[jda]

If the phosphate level in your tank water drops, Aluminum Oxide will release phosphate back into the water. You will want to take the media off of the tank before you change water.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Nope removed it an they dropped like they were punched by Mike Tyson... I was doing 10% a week water changes too only thing Indid was toss outbthe Purigen an it went to undetectable in about a week.

Purigen should not have any direct nitrate raising effect. I'm not sure why you observed what you did.

I suppose you may have bound so much organic matter that you decreased denitrification elsewhere in the tank, but I think coincidence is even more likely.

 

[Mike Reef Addict]

Purigen should not have any direct nitrate raising effect. I'm not sure why you observed what you did.

I suppose you may have bound so much organic matter that you decreased denitrification elsewhere in the tank, but I think coincidence is even more likely.

After reading the "specs" on the seachem site thats what I was thinking myself Randy. That ot just got exhausted fast and then something went out of wack I was using bottled water before I bought am RO/DI unit an stuff started to raise come to find out the water I was buying was high in phosphate 1ppm ish and Nitrates 30ppm maybe higher. Bought the RO/DI an did a few large water changes going good now. Close to 7 months in now.

 

[Arthurfarris]

There are steps to lower phosphate in a reef tank that you should know. First, you can do frequent water changes to help lower the phosphate levels in your aquarium, or you can also avoid overfeeding your fish to prevent phosphate levels from rising. The next step is to use a high-quality protein separator at all times that will remove the organics before breaking down the phosphates. If you still have space, adding a natural filter to your aquarium is also effective in reducing phosphate levels. Chetamorpha is the most common macroalgae, but there are other options such as Caulerpa and Gracilaria.