Looking for some advice to lower my phosphates

[Paulie069]

My phosphates have been high lately everything else is fine all my numbers and parameters pretty much where they should be except for phosphates I was told of this chemical sponge type stuff that you would put into a mesh filter bag and then add that to your sub which would absorb phosphates out of your water this is what I was told I did that and two days later my phosphates went from 43 to 33 which I still believe is too high for what I’m told do you want zero so is there any other chemical-based treatment that works quicker and is safe to use I really need the r2r Community to reach out and then give me some advice all my corals are doing extremely well everything I’ve put in there has doubled or tripled in size and I have had no losses at all

 

[GoVols]

My phosphates have been high lately everything else is fine all my numbers and parameters pretty much where they should be except for phosphates I was told of this chemical sponge type stuff that you would put into a mesh filter bag and then add that to your sub which would absorb phosphates out of your water this is what I was told I did that and two days later my phosphates went from 43 to 33 which I still believe is too high for what I’m told do you want zero so is there any other chemical-based treatment that works quicker and is safe to use I really need the r2r Community to reach out and then give me some advice all my corals are doing extremely well everything I’ve put in there has doubled or tripled in size and I have had no losses at all

Stop thinking fast, corals do not like that, and you could shock them.

Buy a dedicated reactor and tumble GFO inside it. Love Rowaphos over here.

Start off with 1/3 the recommend dose to bring it down, nice and slow.

Do not shoot for zero, .05 ppm would be optimal, but up to .1ppm would be okay, as well.

 

[Paulie069]

Stop thinking fast, corals do not like that, and you could shock them.

Buy a dedicated reactor and tumble GFO inside it. Love Rowaphos over here.

Start off with 1/3 the recommend dose to bring it down, nice and slow.

Do not shoot for zero, .05 ppm would be optimal, but up to .1ppm would be okay, as well.

Ok I’ll try anything because 33 is to high no matter how you look at it. Was 43 two days ago so maybe the stuff I have in there is working, I thought it was a fast acting solution but many not could be a slow thing. Thank you for advice totally appreciated

 

[Larry L]

What are you measuring phosphates with that you are getting numbers like "43"? Usually phosphate numbers look like 0.1 ppm or 0.03 ppm.

 

[KrisReef]

43 ppm, or 43 ppb? Mine have been over 43 ppb for a while and I've been using Granular Ferric Oxide (GFO) = Rowaphos for some time. My wife over feeds the tank to keep her fish happy and I've been trying to keep up to get ahead but she wont stop over feeding the fish. My P was over 120 ppb when I started. It's not good for corals that high but zero P will harm the coral quick so be careful if you start trying to lower the number.

P settles onto the substrate so you can remove a lot for a while and not get numbers lowered as you remove it because the P comes off the rock and will keep the test numbers high until the settled reserve is exhausted. Then a small addition of GFO can drive the number to zero quickly and your numbers will be "good" but your coral will be dead.

Be careful with GFO.

You said your coral looks good now, so go slow and keep it happy as you slowly lower the P measurement on your test kit. The ultimate test is not a number but the health of your tank and the corals in it. "Looks good" is where you want it!
Sorry for the long post, HTH.