Phosphate reactor stunt zoa growth?

[reefguy40gal]

I was researching online and a website that sells high end zoas said that a phosphate reactor (to help remove phosphates with GFO or other media) helps the growth of zoas.

I then found another thread on either this or another reef forum (I forget) and they said that the act of setting up a phosphate reactor in your sump, rapidly removes phosphates and the zoas suffer because of it. Some guy suggested to put a timer on it.

I have a phosphate reactor, just have not set it up yet.

Is there any truth to this? I found a few more online forums that said something similar.

There is conflicting information out there (on the internet) on this subject.

 

[UK_Pete]

Drive phosphates too low and corals and I guess by extension zoas suffer. Also drive phosphates down too fast and corals definitely suffer. If you know your phosphate level accurately already then you can monitor it as it drops. Putting GFO on a timer didnt work for me at least, due to various issues, IMO putting a small amount of GFO in initially and increasing the amount slowly is better, but I dont know what others will think about that one. Do check you actually need the GFO though, I realised I had it on my tank for ages and it was working too well which really hurt the few frags I had at the time (little food going in + GFO = absolute zero phosphate = slowly declining corals). Unless you have a high amount of food going in though, carbon dosing might be better as it reduces nitrates and phosphates at the same time, although many people here seem to use a combination of the two (but still not very aggressive ie large amounts of GFO unless they are feeding hugely).

 

[reefguy40gal]

Drive phosphates too low and corals and I guess by extension zoas suffer. Also drive phosphates down too fast and corals definitely suffer. If you know your phosphate level accurately already then you can monitor it as it drops. Putting GFO on a timer didnt work for me at least, due to various issues, IMO putting a small amount of GFO in initially and increasing the amount slowly is better, but I dont know what others will think about that one. Do check you actually need the GFO though, I realised I had it on my tank for ages and it was working too well which really hurt the few frags I had at the time (little food going in + GFO = absolute zero phosphate = slowly declining corals). Unless you have a high amount of food going in though, carbon dosing might be better as it reduces nitrates and phosphates at the same time, although many people here seem to use a combination of the two (but still not very aggressive ie large amounts of GFO unless they are feeding hugely).

I feed once in the morning (frozen mysis/spirulina cube) and once in the afternoon (frozen....it's a frozen cube that breaks down in the water into very small particles....and this is what the fish picture below eats).

I have a skimmer that is over-sized and it pulls out a ton of junk on a daily basis. An ATO keeps the skimmer working 24/7 (due to it keeping the water levels the same).

When you say "use a little GFO"....can you be more specific? I have that ROWA black granules that I want to use....just not sure how much to use. 1/4 of a bottle designed for a 50gal tank?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I don't know whether zoos suffer from a rapid drop in phosphate, but they will suffer if it is too low.

If you want to reduce it slowly, a timer can work, but I'd prefer slower flow or less material in the reactor since you don't want it to become stagnant when unstirred.

 

[reefguy40gal]

I don't know whether zoos suffer from a rapid drop in phosphate, but they will suffer if it is too low.

If you want to reduce it slowly, a timer can work, but I'd prefer slower flow or less material in the reactor since you don't want it to become stagnant when unstirred.

When you say "slower flow", you mean slower flow of water that comes out of the reactor? I have a small pump and a valve that I can control the flow....but the pump makes a god-awful noise (like a dying military tank) when I put the valve on it.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Yes. Slower water flow. Try a timer then.

 

[reefguy40gal]

Yes. Slower water flow. Try a timer then.

Ok, thank you.

How often should I increase the flow? Every week?

I have the Hannah Egg (green one) that I can use to look at phosphates.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

What is the current tank reading?

 

[reefguy40gal]

What is the current tank reading?

Will look and report back to you when I get home around 4pm PST.

I ran the reactor for about a month and a half....then early December I took it down. I sleep on my couch (too lazy to climb stairs up to bedroom at night) and the pump that ran the reactor sounded like death at that hour of the night. The pump got really loud once I added the valve to control flow.

 

[UK_Pete]

You could add 2 valves, one to bypass the flow back to the tank, so the back pressure on the pump stays the same but the flow to the reactor goes down.

 

[that Reef Guy]

Good Thread.

 

[mike007]

When you say "slower flow", you mean slower flow of water that comes out of the reactor? I have a small pump and a valve that I can control the flow....but the pump makes a god-awful noise (like a dying military tank) when I put the valve on it.

A lot of pumps will be noisy when they have back pressure on them . The cobalt mj pumps will not be noisy. The original mj pumps are noisy but can be modified by putting a small amount of glue on the propeller so that it works as one unit.

 

[reefguy40gal]

You could add 2 valves, one to bypass the flow back to the tank, so the back pressure on the pump stays the same but the flow to the reactor goes down.

That's an interesting concept....how would that work? Are you suggesting I add another valve to the output hose of the reactor?

If I have more flow going in, than coming out....won't pressure build up inside the reactor?

Conversely, less flow going in and more coming out....the water will eventually drain from inside the reactor?

 

[reefguy40gal]

What is the current tank reading?

Using the Hannah green egg....

.26 Phosphates


However:

1. I was not able to get all the white granules in the package into the test tube. I got a few "sprinkles" that spilled out onto the floor.
2. After I added the white powder to the test tube, I began to shake for 2 minutes. The Hannah egg turned itself off....(had this happen to me several times). So I grabbed the 2nd test tube and took another sample of water (from the same spot in the tank I grabbed the first sample of water) and used that for the 1st step of the process. After the egg told me to add the test tube with solution in it, I added the first one.

Not sure if that skewered the test?

 

[Triggreef]

Using the Hannah green egg....

.26 Phosphates


However:

1. I was not able to get all the white granules in the package into the test tube. I got a few "sprinkles" that spilled out onto the floor.
2. After I added the white powder to the test tube, I began to shake for 2 minutes. The Hannah egg turned itself off....(had this happen to me several times). So I grabbed the 2nd test tube and took another sample of water (from the same spot in the tank I grabbed the first sample of water) and used that for the 1st step of the process. After the egg told me to add the test tube with solution in it, I added the first one.

Not sure if that skewered the test?

I usually get both tubes ready prior to turning on the hanna.

 

[UK_Pete]

Re the two valves thing, Im not sure your setup, but with a reactor fed by a pump, you need a pipe T, and then the "input" to the T goes to your pump, one "output" from the T goes to a valve which just lets water go back into the tank / sump (wherever the feed pump is), lets call this valve 1, and the other "output" from the T goes to the reactor. You can put another valve in this pipe from the T to the reactor to allow better control too, call this valve 2 (this is the one you already have, and it can be before or after the reactor, it just has to be inline with the reactor somewhere in its flow path, but I would put it before the reactor so your reactor pressure is not high = it might pop the lid off from the pressure etc).

To adjust it, you open valve 1 fully at first, and then close it until you get the right flow through the reactor. With valve 1 fully open, most of the flow goes from the pump, into the T, through valve 1, and back to where the pump is (IE tank or sump). If you cant get the flow through the reactor slow enough even with valve 1 fully open, then you start to close valve 2 (the one in line with the reactor), until you get the flow you want. This setup does work best with both valves closed a little bit, so the pump does have to pump against a bit of pressure (IE both valves are restricting a bit). Full bore open means the flow tends to change as the reactor gets more clogged with tank detritus etc.

Re the test, I have that one too, and hanna say that it dosent matter if you dont get all the powder to dissolve, so if you spilled some its probably OK.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

It is certainly safe to drop it to 0.1 ppm fairly quickly. Be more careful as you drop from there. It may be harder than you think to drop it due to phosphate bound to rock and sand.

 

[rosshamsandwich]

any updates