Phosguard issues

[Piranha76]

125 reef gallon tank with 30 gallon sump.

I always had a phosphate problem. Testing it was always above 1.5 ppm. 3 months ago I had a bad Cyano outbreak so I bought and have been using phosguard. I got it down to between .6 and .7 PPM. I Been following the directions and change the phosguard every four days and the lowest I have gotten it is .63 ppm.

My alkalinity has dropped from 8.8 to a scary 2. I have begun dosing with baking soda.

I use RO/DI water. Just bought new filters.

Testing done with Hanna handhelds api quick dips and tritration kits.

Alk 1.8
PO4 .68
NO3 5
NO4 0
Dr Foster and Smith Reef salts
Macro algae in a basket in the sump. Chaeto.
No other dosing Chems but sodium bicarbonate just started today.

Reef tank has polys zoas and anemones and 8 reef friendly fish.

 

[Adamantium]

125 reef gallon tank with 30 gallon sump.

I always had a phosphate problem. Testing it was always above 1.5 ppm. 3 months ago I had a bad Cyano outbreak so I bought and have been using phosguard. I got it down to between .6 and .7 PPM. I Been following the directions and change the phosguard every four days and the lowest I have gotten it is .63 ppm.

My alkalinity has dropped from 8.8 to a scary 2. I have begun dosing with baking soda.

I use RO/DI water. Just bought new filters.

Testing done with Hanna handhelds api quick dips and tritration kits.

Alk 1.8
PO4 .68
NO3 5
NO4 0
Dr Foster and Smith Reef salts
Macro algae in a basket in the sump. Chaeto.
No other dosing Chems but sodium bicarbonate just started today.

Reef tank has polys zoas and anemones and 8 reef friendly fish.

Are you sure your Alk is that low? That’s absurdly low. I didn’t even know it could go that low in a reef.

Also, I wasn’t aware they suggest changing phosguard every 4 days. I thought you just left it in until it gets nice and brown.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Are you sure your Alk is that low? That’s absurdly low. I didn’t even know it could go that low in a reef.

Also, I wasn’t aware they suggest changing phosguard every 4 days. I thought you just left it in until it gets nice and brown.

Not sure what they recommend, but any phosphate binder depletes at a rate dependent on the concentration in the tank. At 1 ppm, many binders will be depleted in an hour if flow is good. At 0.02 ppm it would take far longer.

 

[Piranha76]

purigen is when it gets brown phosguard is every four days until you get a reading of .02. I check the alk twice with Hanna hand held. The test kits are less than 3 months old. I do wonder but it is what I have to check. The quick dips aren’t reliable with because they test hardiness.

 

[PacsAdmin77]

Hi there, I’m also using Phosguard in my Red Sea 170 since finding out that my phosphate’s at 0.98ppm. Four days after first use, PO4 dropped to 0.11. I didn’t know that I was supposed to replace every 4 days so instead, I added extra 40 mL Phosguard to the original 85 mL amount. I expected my PO4 to drop below 0.11 but instead it’s now at 0.17. Guess I should replace with another 85 mL Phosguard, right?

 

[MERKEY]

Each system is different and phos can leach from rocks and sand. You will need to replace phosgaurd when phos starts to climb again until the built up phos is gone.

Over feeding can lead to this as well.

 

[PacsAdmin77]

Hi there, I’m also using Phosguard in my Red Sea 170 since finding out that my phosphate’s at 0.98ppm. Four days after first use, PO4 dropped to 0.11. I didn’t know that I was supposed to replace every 4 days so instead, I added extra 40 mL Phosguard to the original 85 mL amount. I expected my PO4 to drop below 0.11 but instead it’s now at 0.17. Guess I should replace with another 85 mL Phosguard, right?

OK, so I went through the second bag of Phosguard (85 mL) and my phosphate level keeps rising. As of today, it measures out to 0.25 ppm. Four days ago, it was 0.17 ppm. Does anyone have any recommendations?

 

[MERKEY]

Our 32g finally stabilized itself and we no longer need to add phos....this took 3 months to get it from unreadable/.9 on hannah checker to a stable .09.

Our 75g still needs to have phos replaced every week to keep it at .1-.15

I'm sure our 75g is close to finishing its release from the rocks.

I will say we removed the sand which helped in reduction. We only did this as the black sand we were using had metals in it... it was the Hawaiian Caribsea sand....we are as shocked as everyone.

Give your phos some more time but you shouldn't be too far away.

This is also when a lot of people add a reactor to control phos so they can continue to feed heavily or feed corals daily.