Need some help with phosphate

[estebanb450]

50 gallon total water volume
Tank has been up 2 years
5 fish ,shrimps
Mixed reef with a clam.
12”x11”x12” deep packed with chaeto about 8” deep

1.025 salinity
7.8 -8-3 alk Hanna / Red Sea
420 cal Red Sea
1600 mag. Letting it drop with time. (Overdosed)
Nitrate very very slight pink Red Sea
65ppb Hanna checker ultra. covered to ppm I think it’s .19ppm

Had a hard time registering nitrates so I did some heavy feeding for about 2/3 weeks than decided to dose potassium nitrate to bring them up cut back on feeding now they register finally got my Hanna checker checked yesterday and they where at .19 ppm phosphate. Wondering if anyone can recommend something to drop the phosphates. I developed a bit of cyano. Looks purple/black when I started feeding more heavy.


I have looked into

lanthanum chloride ( read story’s about problems with fish and clams)

GFO , could take longer to get the levels down also the gfo could get exhausted faster change more frequently. Leach iron into the system have a large fuge I think.

Also read that kalk can lower phos. I use 2 part but could cut down the 2 part or start with minimal kalk.

Phosgaurd, could leach metals into take seachem did research on it only leaching if ph was 5.3 or lower or something like that

Kent phosphate sponge

Brightwell liquod phosphate remover

Or maybe a phosphate pad


Don’t want to lower them to quickly maybe over the course of 3/4 weeks or sooner as long as I don’t shock my system can anyone tell me the best way they lowered them don’t want to harm any of my inhabitants.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Regular granular ferric oxide GFO, just use small amounts.
Lantanum cloride , phosphateRX
http://www.melevsreef.com/product/phosphate-rx

But honestly , there’s a lot more that feeds cyano than Po4. I’d look elsewhere first especially if the corals are doing well.
Foods, organic carbon sources found in a lot of coral foods, detritus build up , etc.

 

[estebanb450]

Everything I have shows great polyp extension looks healthy. Did notice that my corals are growing slower than usually. I suspect it is due to the nitrates lowering to undetectable levels due to a different light in the fuge and over feeding making the phosphate rising. With out testing. Some of my corals have a slight brown tint to them

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

0.19 ppm phosphate is not a huge problem, but there are lots of good ways to reduce it if you want to.

Seachem's comments are wrong, but Phosguard and other aluminum oxide products (Kent phosphate sponge, etc.) are usually OK to use. If you use them and leather corals close up, switch to a different method.

I would not rely on limewater (kalkwasser) or a two part to have substantial effects.

I don't think there's much problem with GFO, but you need to be careful to not drive phosphate too low. Iron release is not a drawback (IMO). Many people dose it.


This has more:

Phosphate In The Reef Aquarium
https://www.reef2reef.com/blog/?p=3184

 

[BigJohnny]

Do not have a knee jerk reaction to that number. It's not that high and it might not even be accurate.

 

[estebanb450]

Thanks for all the input. I might give the phosgaurd or Kent’s phosphate sponge a try.

 

[BigJohnny]

Thanks for all the input. I might give the phosgaurd or Kent’s phosphate sponge a try.

Just know that any aluminum based phosphate remover removes phosphates faster than gfo. Whatever you use, start slow with smaller amounts and monitor your corals closely.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Just know that any aluminum based phosphate remover removes phosphates faster than gfo. Whatever you use, start slow with smaller amounts and monitor your corals closely.

Why do you think those are “faster”?

 

[BigJohnny]

Why do you think those are “faster”?

Just my experience, I should have said that, sorry.

Doesn't my experience = universal truth? ; )

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Just my experience, I should have said that, sorry.

Doesn't my experience = universal truth? ; )

I just question it because so many more people seem to have overdone phosphate lowering with GFO than seem to do it with Al2O3. Maybe that's because they use GFO in reactors. In any case, I think the speed is a function of how you use it more than the material.

 

[BigJohnny]

Yeah I think it's the reactors that people mostly run into problems with. For me I ran both passively in a bag at 1/4th the recommended amounts and experienced a much quicker reduction with phosguard. Now, of course that assumes my test kit is accurate and nothing else happened in the tank to reduce phosphate lol. Gram for gram I have no idea how they perform but recommended dosages phosguard was faster for me.

I personally have trouble using either and never do. Three seperate times I used 1/4th recommended amount in a bag and corals starting paling. Pulled it and they returned. One time my test even said .3ppm before I started, so it's not like I was low to begin with, although I think the test may have been bad even though I have no proof (coincidentally used Hanna ulr) and that's why I cautioned the OP not to react quickly just because it's supposedly above where he wants it.

If the corals look healthy and the tanks doing well, I wouldn't do anything. I know he said slightly slower growth and some corals have a little brown tint but there could be many reasons for that. I also normally only get cyano when I have very low nitrates or once for not changing bulbs soon enough. Many people get it from high nutrients too supposedly. I usually let it run its course though because the last thing I want to do is adjust anything in my system if the corals are doing well and the cyano has never been near them or bothered them in anyway.

Now that I think about it, OP said slower growth, browner corals, and cyano. All could be from old bulbs, just a thought. Could all be unrelated as well. Boy, who doesn't love reefing!

 

[Epicreefster]

Are those levels I would check bulb age for the tank and refugium, change if necessary. Then continue dosing nitrates and run the refugium 24/7, and maybe reduce/turn off tank light cycle to reduce cyano growth. You can reduce feeding and keep nitrates up manually and phosphate will drop with the refugium, make sure to remove some cheato so it's full but not packed. if it's packed then it has no where to grow/the bottom dies as the top grows. I literally have a cubic yard of gfo available to me and I won't touch the stuff, I have a naturalistic approach, but a quarter cup in a media bag in high flow could help you out. Just make sure to rinse the dust out. Stay away from the liquids/lanthum, they are for giant tanks or drastic measures and really need supplemental equipment to do it right.

 

[estebanb450]

Lights are led in fuge and main DT In the fuge amazon grow light I turned the bottom and it’s all green the bottom of the fuge is dark green while the top is light green. Cyano only appeared after feeding more heavily. And it’s not a lot only grows on the rocks were I I think the flow is lower. Everything seems happy just want a bit more color loose some of the brown tint they have.

 

[estebanb450]

One of my corals I think it’s a stag started to loose the brown tint than i started to feed more and the brown tint came back. I got some phosgaurd today. I think I will run it in a reactor with GAC over night pull it offline in the morning test than resume over night again

 

[Proteus Meep]

Double post

 

[Proteus Meep]

Phosguard and "phos pads" make my Organ Pipe corals close up within half an hour of it going into the system seems they are very sensitive to aluminium based removers... in my nano they are always the ones to react first and tell me if anything is off

Just wish rowaphos worked better when used bagged