Phosphate question

Gwitness · Feb 19, 2015

Is it possible to have high phosphates but have no algae outbreaks??? I tested my phosphates on my Hannah checker and it read .30....well I thought it was a mistake so I did it 3 more times and every time it read .30 ....I did a 15 gallon water change on my 180 gallon tank, which I do every single week, and then it read
.25 ??? I have no algae outbreaks at all...I mean none!! The only thing I can think of is about a 2 weeks ago I changed my sand out to a bigger grain of sand so I took most of my old sand out and added new...I'm not sure if that did something or not.....any thoughts??

JimWelsh · Feb 19, 2015

Richard Ross spoke at MACNA last year about his tank with extremely elevated phosphate and no algae problems. You can read more about this here: Reefs Magazine - Skeptical Reefkeeping IX: Test Kits, Chasing Numbers and Phosphate

Randy Holmes-Farley · Feb 19, 2015

Yes, as Jim stated, it is. As long as something is limiting the algae, you can have no problems with the algae. Other things include nitrogen, iron, light, and herbivores.

That said, keeping phosphate low can be among the easier ways to accomplish this requirements.

Gwitness · Feb 19, 2015

I will definitely check the article out...thanks! Quickest way on Removing phosphates is water changes, some media like phosguard and stuff and feeding less right?

Reefing Madness · Feb 19, 2015

Phosguard
GFO
Lanthanum
Feeding less with water changes. But feeding less will not get rid of phosphates itself.

Gwitness · Feb 19, 2015

Got it.... Thanks!

Gwitness · Feb 26, 2015

An update with my Super High Phosphates......So after doing some water changes and running phosguard on my tank, I got my phosphates down to .15 ......So I was feeling good about it and then I checked 2 days later and it went up to .19??? I figured maybe my phosguard needed to be changed, so I changed out the phosguard and I checked 3 days later and now it is reading .20????? How in the world can it slowly be going up again, when I have barely been feeding my fish to get this under control and now I am just super confused!! Any thoughts??

stunreefer · Feb 26, 2015

If you're not having any algae issues and your corals are thriving, why are you concerned with elevated phosphate levels? Personally I think people worry too much about phosphate levels in general.

Gwitness said:
when I have barely been feeding my fish to get this under control and now I am just super confused!! Any thoughts??

Feed your fishes! In nature most eat all day long until it's time to sleep. Starving fishes to lower phosphate levels in not good. If you're really worried about the levels you can try a more aggressive means of reducing phosphate such as lanthanum chloride or increase water changes, etc. Don't let them starve, increase nutrient export :thumb:

Gwitness · Feb 26, 2015

Because I am having issues with coral and that's the only parameter that is horrible....and I feed them once a day just not as much as I'd like

Gwitness · Feb 26, 2015

Guess I used a poor choice of words when i said barely feeding my fish haha

Gwitness · Feb 26, 2015

I've heard of live rock leaking phosphates back into the water...is that even true, if so how do you eventually win that battle?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Feb 27, 2015

It binds an equilibrium amount of phosphate. So if it has less on the surface than is in balance with the amount in the water, phosphate moves onto the surface. If it has more, then phosphate moves off the surface. It just acts as a "buffer" against rises and falls in phosphate, and if you are trying to drive levels down, you will have to export enough to account for this effect.

Gwitness · Feb 27, 2015

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
It binds an equilibrium amount of phosphate. So if it has less on the surface than is in balance with the amount in the water, phosphate moves onto the surface. If it has more, then phosphate moves off the surface. It just acts as a "buffer" against rises and falls in phosphate, and if you are trying to drive levels down, you will have to export enough to account for this effect.

Okay that makes sense....so do I just keep doing what I have been doing..weekly water changes, changing out phosguard and not over feed until the phosphates are gone or super low?? Or do I attack it differently than that?