Phosphate control

[saltysailor]

Hello! I have a new tank that is approx 2 months old. It is a IM 25 lagoon that has a kessil a360w and 2 24" t5 bulbs. Everything seems to be going well except the phosphate keeps shooting up every time I feed. I only have one fish in there that I feed approx 6-12 mysis shrimp a day. I bought the 2 media caddies to put in the back which come with activated carbon and gfo. Whenever I feed it shoots up to .3 phos. It goes back down but I would like to avoid that all together. Suggestions?

 

[t5Nitro]

What are you using to test? It also is likely your quick drops are related to sand/rocks absorbing the nutrients as well since it is so new. One way to reduce the amount of phos introduced with frozen foods is to rinse them prior to feeds. Much of what the food is preserved in is loaded with phos.

 

[saltysailor]

What are you using to test? It also is likely your quick drops are related to sand/rocks absorbing the nutrients as well since it is so new. One way to reduce the amount of phos introduced with frozen foods is to rinse them prior to feeds. Much of what the food is preserved in is loaded with phos.

Ok, would rinsing in a strainer under the sink work? I am using a Hanna checker. The tank is now sitting at .25 ppm but will probably be back lower again by tonight.

 

[t5Nitro]

That'll work, and it's what I used in the past, one of those smaller food strainers from target or similar. It's metal mesh so I just made sure to rinse it off well after each use.

 

[saltysailor]

Once it is low what is a good way of maintaining the low phosphate. I have heard mixed reviews as to how long gfo lasts. I was thinking about getting chemi pure blue as I have heard it works well for nano tanks but idk.

 

[t5Nitro]

Chemipure blue does have a phos removing agent. You'll have to trial and error all of the ways to increase and decrease phosphate as needed until the numbers are relatively stable where you want them. For me, I stopped rinsing frozen foods since I need more PO4 in my system that requires daily dosing. However, my system also has a fair amount of GHA, so I think my demand is probably higher with the algae consuming it. Hoping it's more related to yet a relatively young tank (mine is 9mo). There's kind of a tug of war battle between lowering nutrients and starving corals. I chose to keep nutrients up despite the algae so my corals don't starve. Ongoing battle! You'll have to keep testing to see whether you need to rinse foods, use phos removing media, water changes etc to get it in line.

 

[Dom]

I just had a phosphate spike. I feed frozen food and started getting lazy...

Typically, I place my frozen food in a plastic strainer and allow it to thaw in the refrigerator. Then I pour off the liquid and feed. But I started skipping this step and I paid the price in the form of elevated phosphates.

The liquid you pour off is LOADED with phosphates.

To bring it down, I purchased Ferric Oxide from BRS and a media bag. Fill the bag with the recommended quantity and place it in an area of high flow.