Phosphate shmosphate

[rebecky45]

Okay...another question for you pros out there. I have detectable phosphate levels in my tank, and I'm worried about cyano. I have a little of it, but not much, but I have noticed that its growing a little. I have phos guard (only had it in for a few days). I'm not sure where the phosphate is coming from. I feed PE mysis, although I'm nearly certain that I'm not over feeding, I actually think I'm underfeeding. Could this be the cause? I use RO water for top offs, and I buy premixed salt water from the LFS, which is great. Any thoughts? I'm not sure how long it takes the phos guard to kick in. My phosphate levels this morning were about 0.20. Nitrate is about 10, nitrite 0 and ammonia 0. Temp is around 77. I'm also using eight.four to bump up my KH and PH (7 and 8.0 respectively).

Thanks a ton, folks!

 

[ritter6788]

Have you checked the source water? Are you using RO/DI water or just RO water? What is the TDS of the RO water?

 

[Elysium]

Have you checked the source water? Are you using RO/DI water or just RO water? What is the TDS of the RO water?

This. I made the mistake of thinking that my RO filter (API) was removing the phosphates. Turns out it wasn't. Caribsea's Phosbuster Pro is a good stop gap to knock it down right away to see if the Phosguard can keep up long term.

 

[rebecky45]

I get the RO water at the LFS, as well, and it is RO/DI water. Sorry for the lack of info. But yes, I am going to check the levels of the RO and SW water from the store.

 

[Trex]

Some, but not all LFSs, do not maintain their RO/DI makers properly, and in turn the water is suspect. Many many many years ago I used to get my RO/DI water from an LFS, and yet still had algae issues (( this was before phosphate tests were common )), so I finally tested the TDS of that RO/DI water -- it was near 100 (( in the Chicago area, the tap is around 150-160 )). The next day I ordered my own RO/DI maker, in about a month my algae issues were solved. A side effect, I didn't have to worry about going to the LFS to get water, I always had some on hand.

 

[GeoHawk]

Have you checked the source water? Are you using RO/DI water or just RO water? What is the TDS of the RO water?

Just curious but is DI necessary to remove phosphates? I only have RO.

 

[ritter6788]

Just curious but is DI necessary to remove phosphates? I only have RO.

If you can check the TDS right out of the RO unit then you can see if there are any solids in the water. DI really polishes the RO water and gets it down to 0 TDS. What the solids in the water are depends on your tap water but no matter what's in it I always shoot for the cleanest water possible when making RO/DI. Anything above 0 TDS is too much for me.

 

[tinkerman]

The DI removes nitrates and phosphates so if your using just RO water whatever is in your source water for phosphates and nitrates you still have in your water.

 

[shellynjason]

I am going to tag along and follow this thread, as I too can't seem to get my phosphates to 0.0 even using a newer RO/DI system for all water needs.

I want to see what if the phos guard ends up helper or what you find that finally helps. It's a frustrating problem I know.

 

[rebecky45]

shellynjason, I have an update! I talked to some folks at the LFS, and they suggested leaving the light over my refugium on 24 hours a day ( I had been leaving it on just at night). They said the chaeto in there would absorb more of the phosphate if the light was on longer. Combined with the Phos guard, I'm down to zero! My cyano problem has started to diminish as well. I did test both the premixed SW and the RO/DI water from the LFS, and both read zero phosphates. I hope that helps with your situation! I do have a very low bio load right now, as well, so I cut back to feeding every other day (I have more pods in my tank than I'll ever know - so I think mysis I'm feeding is more of a supplement).