Is my salt causing high PO4?

[Stoatee]

Okay so I have been battling with high PO4 from the beginning. At first I put it down to rock leaching and therefore thought ignored it and thought over water changed I will get it removed. Well we are 6 months in and PO4 is measuring over 0.2. I have done all sorts to figure it out. I changed all the filters in my 5 stage RODI system, bought a brand new 4 stage, added a second DI chamber. Nothing seemed to make a difference I would always test a fresh mix both with Hannah and master tropic and get results around 0.16-0.18. So I thought well maybe it is my water so I got tap water and mixed salt with it and tested and again exact same results. I then thought maybe my water pressure isn’t high enough to run an RODI system so I went to my LFS and bought some from them mixed it tested 0.16 was the result. So I am getting almost identical results no matter what I change with the water the only thing I haven’t changed is the salt which is Red Sea blue bucket. I have gone through probably 3 buckets since the start of all this so it’s not just a bad bucket or I am getting extremely unlucky. I have heard that maybe a synthetic salt might be worth giving a go and one have any recommendation?

Also I no that on a water change with this PO4 wouldnt be that much of a problem if the 90% do water was below 0.1 as it would hardly change the number but because my reef tank is never below 0.15 with a reactor running water changes are increasing my PO4 and then exhausting my media very quickly so I need to be doing water changes using water below 0.1 to tackle the problem.

 

[Nano_Man]

Sorry but have you tested your freshly made salt water for phosphate. If it tests 0 it’s not your salt . I have a product that does the job of phosphate removal but the problem is it needs to be done to the letter It’s called L chloride . I have used it on nano tank s before with no I’ll effect’s in 34 litres of water . Let’s see if we can get @Randy Holmes-Farley he’s the man that knows his stuff. Also there are other products out there that slowly lower phosphate but check your new mix for phosphate

 

[Stoatee]

Sorry but have you tested your freshly made salt water for phosphate. If it tests 0 it’s not your salt . I have a product that does the job of phosphate removal but the problem is it needs to be done to the letter It’s called L chloride . I have used it on nano tank s before with no I’ll effect’s in 34 litres of water . Let’s see if we can get @Randy Holmes-Farley he’s the man that knows his stuff. Also there are other products out there that slowly lower phosphate but check your new mix for phosphate

Yes every time I made a changed I tested the water once mixed with the salt but before it went into the tank and every time its 0.16-0.17. I have so far only tried 2 different media in a reactor for removing PO4 from the display and it works but never below 0.15. This is the same with tap water mixed with salt (not run through either of my RODI systems)

 

[Nano_Man]

Yes every time I made a changed I tested the water once mixed with the salt but before it went into the tank and every time its 0.16-0.17. I have so far only tried 2 different media in a reactor for removing PO4 from the display and it works but never below 0.15. This is the same with tap water mixed with salt (not run through either of my RODI systems)

So if I am right with what your saying you have phosphate in your tap water and when it goes through the rodi you still have phosphate. So if that is the case the rodi has a problem. Trying to think what could be wrong are all your cartridges on your rodi been changed . Let’s see if @vetteguy53081 can help I just don’t understand how the rodi isn’t taking it out of your tap water. We might get vetteguy but it’s the weekend

 

[Stoatee]

So if I am right with what your saying you have phosphate in your tap water and when it goes through the rodi you still have phosphate. So if that is the case the rodi has a problem. Trying to think what could be wrong are all your cartridges on your rodi been changed . Let’s see if @vetteguy53081 can help I just don’t understand how the rodi isn’t taking it out of your tap water. We might get vetteguy but it’s the weekend

So my opinion is it is the salt because we bought RODI water from our LFS and it tested the exact same basically and the only thing that remains the same in each test is the salt. I have changed multiple different things to get the RODI water and nothing changes each time but to do the test I am mixing it with the same salt every time

 

[vetteguy53081]

So my opinion is it is the salt because we bought RODI water from our LFS and it tested the exact same basically and the only thing that remains the same in each test is the salt. I have changed multiple different things to get the RODI water and nothing changes each time but to do the test I am mixing it with the same salt every time

I would look at a different salt mix lower in Phosphate. While false reading is possible, your LFS came up with similar reading.
Often high phosphate comes from overstocking, overfeeding, feeding foods like reef roids to coral, no skimming or undersize skimmer, lack of water changes and decayed food or similar matter.
GFO will bring it down, however be careful not to add too much as this stuff is strong

 

[Stoatee]

I would look at a different salt mix lower in Phosphate. While false reading is possible, your LFS came up with similar reading.
Often high phosphate comes from overstocking, overfeeding, feeding foods like reef roids to coral, no skimming or undersize skimmer, lack of water changes and decayed food or similar matter.
GFO will bring it down, however be careful not to add too much as this stuff is strong

So all the tests are in the water before they go into the display so the reading should be below 0.1. The tank is usually 0.18+ after a water a change then GFO brings it back to 0.15 but I can’t get it lower than that. So I mix the salt and different RODI waters and they always come up 0.16-0.18 so I need to find why the water I go to use for a water change is high is PO4 before it gets added to the tank. I am thinking salt can be the only thing left as it’s the only thing I haven’t changed but wondering if there is a recommendation for an artificial salt.

The other thing to note is I had a tank before and was using RedSea pro and my PO4 in the display was always around 0.5-0.8 but the alk was to high so I changed to blue bucket and never really noticed a change to PO4 on that tank however it will of only been a 10% change of water so even if the PO4 for the fresh water was 0.18 it would make little difference to the display. The new display has always been run on blue bucket and I have always had high PO4

 

[vetteguy53081]

So all the tests are in the water before they go into the display so the reading should be below 0.1. The tank is usually 0.18+ after a water a change then GFO brings it back to 0.15 but I can’t get it lower than that. So I mix the salt and different RODI waters and they always come up 0.16-0.18 so I need to find why the water I go to use for a water change is high is PO4 before it gets added to the tank. I am thinking salt can be the only thing left as it’s the only thing I haven’t changed but wondering if there is a recommendation for an artificial salt.

The other thing to note is I had a tank before and was using RedSea pro and my PO4 in the display was always around 0.5-0.8 but the alk was to high so I changed to blue bucket and never really noticed a change to PO4 on that tank however it will of only been a 10% change of water so even if the PO4 for the fresh water was 0.18 it would make little difference to the display. The new display has always been run on blue bucket and I have always had high PO4

See if you can (before going out and buying new salt bucket ) borrow from a friend/club member a few cups of salt and mix and test it. If its much lower which it should be, see how much it brings down po4 level after 24 hours and then consider a different salt other than blue bucket

 

[Stoatee]

See if you can (before going out and buying new salt bucket ) borrow from a friend/club member a few cups of salt and mix and test it. If its much lower which it should be, see how much it brings down po4 level after 24 hours and then consider a different salt other than blue bucket

Yeah I have never heard of salt containing high PO4 but must admit I can’t see what else it could be. I have double checked test results between Hannah and master tronic and I am out of other ideas. When the LFS RODI tested the same as all the RODI I have made that also tests the same as my tap water mixed with salt there really can’t be much else it can be . I will see what I can get hold of. Its not a batch thing as I have gone through 3 buckets in the last 6 months. But my nano has hair algae that I cant beat and my main tank is full if cyno and loosing corals