Phosphate issues

[JOKER]

Ok so lately I have added Dr tim pearls, only running 1/3 of what I require for my tank. My nitrates are almost undetectable but my phosphate is .45. I added a diy ats which measures 5" x 6" with about 300 gph flow about 4 weeks ago. It is growing like crazy, the tank was also growing algae like crazy. I removed as much as possible and went lights out for 3 days. The tank is looking much better but the phosphates aren't coming down yet. I clean the screen about once a week. It is a 40 cube with a 20 sump. I have changed about 60 gallons in the last 2 weeks which brought phosphate down from .6. What else could I do to lower phosphate??

 

[.AcroKiller.]

Let the scrubber nature is gonna take about 3 to 4 month for it to take over the algae and the phosphates

 

[JOKER]

Ok I just wonder where my phosphate is coming from. Especially since I did so much water change and saw very little drop. I only feed about 1/4 cube frozen food a day. I know my cuc needs replenished and plan to order in next week. The dr tim did a great job lowering nitrate as I couldn't keep it under 20 before but phosphate went up when started running the pearls. The pearls have been running about 3 -4 weeks, should I wait to add the next 1/3 or go ahead and add?

 

[.AcroKiller.]

I say just let it be for now the phosphates could be many different things but don't worry about it for now just wait it out give it about 2 more month and siphon out as much algae as you can from the DT

 

[JOKER]

Ok thanks. My 90 is running about .06 phosphate and .2 nitrate, and it has the 3 anthias ant the platinum clowns. I feed it 1/2 cube twice a day. Only running filter sock and skimmer on it. Although it has the lifereef 36 on it. I think I need a new skimmer for the 40. Maybe that would help

 

[Reefing Madness]

Make a bigger scrubber, its obvious that your isn't big enough to suck out whats needed at its size. And .06 is pretty good, close to the .03 your looking for. But the bigger you can make it the cleaner your system is going to be. They work, but its like running a Fuge, its gotta be proportionate to your DT.

 

[.AcroKiller.]

Make a bigger scrubber, its obvious that your isn't big enough to suck out whats needed at its size. And .06 is pretty good, close to the .03 your looking for. But the bigger you can make it the cleaner your system is going to be. They work, but its like running a Fuge, its gotta be proportionate to your DT.

A scrubber ain't magically just gonna take all your hair algae and phosphates in a month it takes longer than that I think he just needs to wait it out and let it do it's thing this issue happened to me when I first started my tank and now my tank does not have any hair algae and I only have an l2 scrubber which the screen is only 4 by 6 inches

 

[.AcroKiller.]

I also had 23 fish on my 185 and now I have 19 fish on a 130 with 3 of them being big tangs

 

[Reefing Madness]

A scrubber ain't magically just gonna take all your hair algae and phosphates in a month it takes longer than that I think he just needs to wait it out and let it do it's thing this issue happened to me when I first started my tank and now my tank does not have any hair algae and I only have an l2 scrubber which the screen is only 4 by 6 inches

If it was big enough, it would magically bring those numbers down vastly. Because the bigger the foot print, the more your growing, the more nutrients it takes to grow it.

 

[.AcroKiller.]

If it was big enough, it would magically bring those numbers down vastly. Because the bigger the foot print, the more your growing, the more nutrients it takes to grow it.

Bro it takes time. It's not gonna happen in a month sorry bro but it does not work like that I been dealing with scrubbers now for a while

 

[.AcroKiller.]

Ok thanks. My 90 is running about .06 phosphate and .2 nitrate, and it has the 3 anthias ant the platinum clowns. I feed it 1/2 cube twice a day. Only running filter sock and skimmer on it. Although it has the lifereef 36 on it. I think I need a new skimmer for the 40. Maybe that would help

Also do you use rodi water

 

[ronnie]

Stop feeding frozen food (or stop feeding it daily). That is where the nutrients are coming from.

 

[JOKER]

I use rodi in both tanks. Have always fed frozen. Maybe i should rethink my food but i thought the frozen was healthier.

 

[NanaReefer]

I was feeding frozen 3-4x daily (Scooter dragonet) and PO4 never went above .02
Personally I think a bag of PhosGuard would work wonders for you. I keep a small bag in the high flow area of my HOB fuge.

Definitely works faster then an ATS

 

[.AcroKiller.]

I only feed my tank LRS frozen food and NLS pellets I won't feed anything else

 

[pickupman66]

so, there are alot of good suggestions i have read here... I recently looked into dosing Lanthanum Chloride. this is a pool phosphate remover that causes the phosphate to precipitate out of solution. it works EXTREMELY fast. you can see it precip out if you put it in the display. YOu need to doejust a small amount at a time into a 5 micron sock or your skimmer. to give you an idea, my phosphates were .18 recently. no matter what I did, i could not get them down. My ATS is not mature yet and 1200ml of Biopellets wasnt cutting it. I bought some Ultralife Phosphate remover and followed the directions. it calls for .25ml for every 8 gallons of water. I used 1/2 of that and dosed initially into my skimmer section. it clouded my tank up pretty good so I started just dosing about .75ml daily into my skimmer body for 3 or 4 days. my phosphates dropped WAY down and show up at .2 or .3 on my hanna now. I am monitoring it every 2 days and havent dosed in about 6. no changes and im feeding frozen.

 

[Tomoko Schum]

Are you using Lanthanum chloride along with your biopellets?

I am considering the use of biopellets since my phosphate is rising and my GFO is spent within 15 days. After reading your post, I have to think things over...

 

[cee]

These are pretty high levels. Something is not right. LR can add PO4 to the water. An undersized skimmer doesn't help. Have you confirmed these numbers with another test kit? I just find it a bit hard to believe they are that high. My last test I measured 0.006 and don't do anything special other than some gfo.

 

[.AcroKiller.]

These are pretty high levels. Something is not right. LR can add PO4 to the water. An undersized skimmer doesn't help. Have you confirmed these numbers with another test kit? I just find it a bit hard to believe they are that high. My last test I measured 0.006 and don't do anything special other than some gfo.

This all depends on the system you might not have a heavy bio load. It all depends on the bio load and how you feed plus bacteria is a big one too when it comes to the amount of rock in the system. So long story short you can't base someone else's system in yours. For example I have a 130 with about 80 pounds of rock 19 fish 3 of them being tangs and my phosphates are 0.03 as if a few days ago. But I do have about 150 pounds or more of rock on my sump and I run a skimmer, bio pellets and algae scrubber. I do agree with you that his skimmer might be undersized.

 

[pickupman66]

Man, just when i think I have it licked, I am surprised by my numbers yet again. my phosphates creeped back up to .14 on my hannah. Somewhere I am adding it back into my system as well. I thaw my frozen food in water then dump 95% of it out before putting food in the tank. My fish have it GONE in about a minute. I am really getting some burnt tips on most of my Acros. My alk is 8.2, but I did notice my Calcium is 500 and my mag was at the top of the Salifert chart. nitrates were 15. I have cleaned my scrubber 3 times now. it is producing some nice dark algaes. some hair is starting to grow on it as well.