Phosphate levels in different salt mixes

[Colemansreef]

What have you used in the past to get phosphate down that improves the coral look?

I’ve used aluminum oxide in the past, and recently I’ve just been doing water changes. And both have worked but I was changing like 10 gallons a week easily of water in a 60 gallon system. I just put some seachem Phosguard in my overflow last night and phosphates are back down to about .04 this morning corals are perking up a little I’m hoping to see them looking even better in the morning.

 

[Colemansreef]

They were at .08 and I did a 10 gallon water change that got them down to .06 then I added the Phosguard last night which is an aluminum oxide type removal media.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

May folks don't see such a sharp concentration effect, but if you do, it seems a reasonable plan.

 

[Colemansreef]

May folks don't see such a sharp concentration effect, but if you do, it seems a reasonable plan.

is there anything else it could be I’m monitoring my kh and calcium and I dose alkalinity stuff because it goes down about .4 a day but calcium doesn’t go down as quick so I dose less of that and my magnesium doesn’t get super low either. Calcium stays around 450 it’s at 465 now due to using a lil too much of the part b from esv. Magnesium is around 1330. I do smoke in my house that’s the only thing I keep coming back to. But that would mean the smoking relates to phosphates somehow and idk enough about it to know if that’s possible. I’ve actually gotten to the point that I don’t even really feed the tank anymore.

 

[Colemansreef]

or maybe that the aluminum oxide as well as water changes removes something that is added by me smoking in the house. And it just seems like it’s phosphates. Idk

 

[Colemansreef]

I do tend to lean towards buying higher end harder to keep corals maybe that’s why phosphates make such an effect for me and not some others. I’m truly so confused and have been trying to solve this issue for a while.

 

[Colemansreef]

I’m going to take some pictures of the differences that I am talking about in my coral when phosphates high vs low I know you don’t have all the time in the world to help me figure out what’s wrong with my tank so thank you for your helpz

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

is there anything else it could be I’m monitoring my kh and calcium and I dose alkalinity stuff because it goes down about .4 a day but calcium doesn’t go down as quick so I dose less of that and my magnesium doesn’t get super low either. Calcium stays around 450 it’s at 465 now due to using a lil too much of the part b from esv. Magnesium is around 1330. I do smoke in my house that’s the only thing I keep coming back to. But that would mean the smoking relates to phosphates somehow and idk enough about it to know if that’s possible. I’ve actually gotten to the point that I don’t even really feed the tank anymore.

Less using what for alk and calcium? ESV-B-ionic? Not all two parts are designed for 1:1 dosing.

ESV should not generally cause calcium to rise unless there's some unusual alk depletion going on, such as rising nitrate, or a sulfur denitrator.

 

[Colemansreef]

Less using what for alk and calcium? ESV-B-ionic? Not all two parts are designed for 1:1 dosing.

ESV should not generally cause calcium to rise unless there's some unusual alk depletion going on, such as rising nitrate, or a sulfur denitrator.

Yes using esv 2 part. Generally my alk lowers more than my calcium so if I ad equal parts my calcium will eventually be too high.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Yes using esv 2 part. Generally my alk lowers more than my calcium so if I ad equal parts my calcium will eventually be too high.

In most cases, these are issues relating to dosing pump mismatch or effects of water changes. Unless nitrate is accumulating, alk and calcium demand match pretty well.

 

[Colemansreef]

In most cases, these are issues relating to dosing pump mismatch or effects of water changes. Unless nitrate is accumulating, alk and calcium demand match pretty well.

I was doing a lot of water changes there for a while but I’ve gone back to using the phosphate removal media so I will see if that levels things out.

 

[Colemansreef]

I’m curious do you have anything out there I can read that talks about GHA I’ve struggled with it in every tank I’ve had and I honestly don’t feed my tanks and I keep my white red and green pretty low on my lighting. My nutrients are low and the tanks been setup for over a year it was originally set up for 3-4 months and I had bad algae and lost the coral I had in the tank and I let it sit no lights and one clownfish for months eventually I started it back up and it’s been going with cuc and livestock for 4 months now I’d say and it has coral in it as well but I started to struggle with the algae again about a month ago and it seemed to be letting up there for a moment and now it’s getting bad again. I do manual removal regularly and always remove the algae from the tank when I do it either via water changes or running the water through a filter sock when I clean it. I want to wait it out naturally but I’m worried it’s going to get bad enough to affect the corals if I do. I’ve mainly been keeping it from affecting the coral by manually removing it. Do you suggest letting it go and it may just be the ugly phase or should I try something like vibrant. I wanted to use vibrant but I read that post on her about it actually being algaecide.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I've not written articles on algae, and nutrient reduction is not typically the best plan.

Getting organisms that consume it is usually best.

I would not ever use vibrant. if I wanted to use an algaecide, I'd buy it from a company that does not mislead about the composition.

 

[Colemansreef]

I've not written articles on algae, and nutrient reduction is not typically the best plan.

Getting organisms that consume it is usually best.

I would not ever use vibrant. if I wanted to use an algaecide, I'd buy it from a company that does not mislead about the composition.

I was going to send a message but I guess you get so many you turned it off lol. So I read your article on the two-part dosing where it basically says it with something like ESV if you’re not dosing them equally that could be what’s causing them to be out of whack, but I’ve been dosing. Lots of extra alkalinity in my alkalinity still continues to drop lower than my calcium, and if I put the same amount of part, B in there, my calcium goes up which I am using the Hannah and I’ve read that margin of air is wide enough on those that that could be the whole issue but they seem to give me pretty similar results every time if I do two test in a row they occasionally give me one random that’s off the charts, but generally they’re similar if not the same but I want to get this right I’d rather be both together and be able to figure out a certain amount to dose every day rather than having to test almost every day to keep my alkalinity and calcium where I want it. Using voice to text so please ignore all my grammar errors. For example I tested 2 days ago got an alkalinity of 8.2 cal 458 I dosed 25ml of part a (60gal system) none of part b I didn’t test or dose last night because I went out to dinner and didn’t get to it tested today alk 8.2 cal 468 and that matches the trend because my alk seems to always go down .4 over 24hrs.

 

[Colemansreef]

I came here to say that there must’ve been phosphate bound up all over in my aquarium like suggested, and my phosphates did every time I got them down go right back up pretty quickly, but I used consistent water changes and aluminum type phosphate absorbent over time and now my phosphates are at a point that if I don’t feed the drop down below .05 it took a long time a couple of months or more. But it is doable. Also I still can’t get rid of green hair algae i manually remove it during water changes and sometimes siphoned through a filter sock to the point there’s just little small tufts left that I can’t get all over and I have. Gold ring bristletooth tang and probably 20hermits 15 trochus 20 dwarf trochus 10 astreas 2 turbos(did have 5 but three have died over the last few months 5 bumblebee snails 30 dwarf cerith 3 emerald crabs etc. hope this helps someone and maybe someone can help me too thanks.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I came here to say that there must’ve been phosphate bound up all over in my aquarium like suggested, and my phosphates did every time I got them down go right back up pretty quickly, but I used consistent water changes and aluminum type phosphate absorbent over time and now my phosphates are at a point that if I don’t feed the drop down below .05 it took a long time a couple of months or more. But it is doable. Also I still can’t get rid of green hair algae i manually remove it during water changes and sometimes siphoned through a filter sock to the point there’s just little small tufts left that I can’t get all over and I have. Gold ring bristletooth tang and probably 20hermits 15 trochus 20 dwarf trochus 10 astreas 2 turbos(did have 5 but three have died over the last few months 5 bumblebee snails 30 dwarf cerith 3 emerald crabs etc. hope this helps someone and maybe someone can help me too thanks.

Thanks for the update!

 

[The Opinionated Reefer]

Just stop worrying about phosphate, its not as bad as everyone in this hobby seems to make out. Most corals do better in tanks with relatively high phosphates. The worst thing you can do for growth is strip all the phosphates out the water imo and doing so will kill your Acro's.

 

[Cscultho]

I only feed my tank like a quarter of a cube of frozen food every week maybe 2x a week in a good week and I have had no luck getting them down except with water changes but like you said they go right back up and everyone says using the other methods I mentioned aren’t a good practice or a permanent solution. It’s a 60 gallon system.

You only feed your fish once a week? What type of fish do you keep?