Phosphate level question

[Reef.]

My Level or the OP's?

My Nitrates were at about 40ppm.

yours...40 is not a lot for you to be dosing, 1 50% water change will get that to 20, I would only dose as a last resort.

 

[DarkReefer]

yours...40 is not a lot for you to be dosing, 1 50% water change will get that to 20, I would only dose as a last resort.

Oh really?
I went half dose for the first one I did last night, will test when I get home tonight and see how it's going.
The LFS did say would need to at least do 100L water change after this total system is about 262L I think? (not sure if that includes the ATO or not) but I do 50L WC every week.

 

[Don_Jorge]

My chemipure has done the trick, no more algae

 

[attiland]

First it is a new tank nitrate and phosphate is not your biggest concern but I would advise not using any chemicals at this stage. You easily button out your phosphates and nitrates and get an open invitation for Dinos.
if anything get an algae reactor or scrubber and deal with your phosphates that way.

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

What is your magnesium level? It has been proven that high mag levels limits algae growth. Someone on this forum did this on their tanks that had algae problems, they raised mag to 1500 and algae was almost eliminated. Some people may say this is hogwash but I run my mag close to 1500, around 1330 for several years and now 1440. I do see less algae growth now, but I never really ever had an algae problem maybe because I run my mag high. I have a clam that has been growing for over a year now as well as mixed corals, I have not seen any problems with high mag levels.

mine is hight like around 1450-1500 according to salifert mag test , do you notice any problems with your snails ive read a few things saying they will slow down and i kinda feel like that maybe they are slow mo snails but then at night they seem just fine and speed back up.

 

[attiland]

mine is hight like around 1450-1500 according to salifert mag test , do you notice any problems with your snails ive read a few things saying they will slow down and i kinda feel like that maybe they are slow mo snails but then at night they seem just fine and speed back up.

High magnesium levels known to act as kind of Anesthetic for snails and eventually starve them and kill them. You will see them fall from the glass like they are drunk and forget to try to stick to the glass.

 

[anthonygf]

mine is hight like around 1450-1500 according to salifert mag test , do you notice any problems with your snails ive read a few things saying they will slow down and i kinda feel like that maybe they are slow mo snails but then at night they seem just fine and speed back up.

My snails are laying eggs everywhere, bunch of white eggs all over the back glass. I have about 300 snails in my 75. Most are small about 1/8 of an inch, have many larger ones including 3 or 4 fighting conchs that are all over the sand bed eating algae. No problems at all.

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

High magnesium levels known to act as kind of Anesthetic for snails and eventually starve them and kill them. You will see them fall from the glass like they are drunk and forget to try to stick to the glass.

that's is spot on ive lost 3 big ones recently to exactly what you have described, then one other big 3" one looked the

same but i put him on some algae and it was like he was saved, he ate a whole bunch for a day or two and cleaned the

back glass, but now its like he stays in that same area not venturing out very far. he also puts some of his feet in the air

when attached to a surface, like its not using its whole foot to attach to the glass. i think that these are spot on

descriptions and if this many people are experiencing this with high levels it does cause a little concern.

i am currently FOWLR dosing only soda ash for alk and water changes weekly with instant ocean reef crystals (im blaming the crystals for high mag),

i just did my first water change with red sea blue bucket, im changing to this to try and lower magnesium for a while

i am worried about the prolonged high mag level with only fish and a few inverts.


thanks for your input, i appreciate the feedback

 

[anthonygf]

High magnesium levels known to act as kind of Anesthetic for snails and eventually starve them and kill them. You will see them fall from the glass like they are drunk and forget to try to stick to the glass.

So what level is too high? I think it has to be over 1500.

 

[anthonygf]

that's is spot on ive lost 3 big ones recently to exactly what you have described, then one other big 3" one looked the

same but i put him on some algae and it was like he was saved, he ate a whole bunch for a day or two and cleaned the

back glass, but now its like he stays in that same area not venturing out very far. he also puts some of his feet in the air

when attached to a surface, like its not using its whole foot to attach to the glass. i think that these are spot on

descriptions and if this many people are experiencing this with high levels it does cause a little concern.

i am currently FOWLR dosing only soda ash for alk and water changes weekly with instant ocean reef crystals (im blaming the crystals for high mag),

i just did my first water change with red sea blue bucket, im changing to this to try and lower magnesium for a while

i am worried about the prolonged high mag level with only fish and a few inverts.


thanks for your input, i appreciate the feedback

Send a sample to ICP tester and compare, Salifert may be reading lower than actual amount. Or could be something else bothering your snails.

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

Send a sample to ICP tester and compare, Salifert may be reading lower than actual amount. Or could be something else bothering your snails.

ICP scares me id rather go to the dentist...might be, but for my situation I have my plan of attack figured out with water changes. I was just commenting on the subject of high magnesium and thanks 4 the reply happy reefing

 

[attiland]

So what level is too high? I think it has to be over 1500.

Mine was above 1500 when turbo snails started to show these symptoms. I don’t remember the exact measurements now.
I have read somewhere here in R2R that somebody managed to save their snails simply putting them in a QT where the parameters were correct.

 

[tc3driver]

sorry but that is not true, many tanks run with low PO4 without using GFO.

This 100%

My tank is a few months old at this point... just starting to shake the brown uglies (yay), moving on to the green uglies (meh). Personally I am controlling my phosphate and nitrates with a fuge. Nitrates are a tiny bit high somewhere between 5 and 7 ppm (according to the Nyos test), and phosphate at .08 ppm (hanna ULR Phosphate test) again a tiny bit high... nothing that I am too worried about. Just some Cheto and a Kessel H80 about 2 inches above it.