Phosphate Troubles

[Glott3133]

I’ve been reading for about 8 months and have been on this thread for about the same amount of time. All the posts I’ve read about water levels, I never saw anyone post their phosphate level. Or just wasn’t paying close enough attention. My LFS asked if they should check my phosphates after I said I was seeing some issues with some of my coral. My phosphates were 2.5. I didn’t know how bad that was until I started doing some research.

I am now using Phosguard and bought a Hanna Phosphate test kit. My levels are coming down. They’re now at .27 as of yesterday. Unfortunately, a few of my coals aren’t looking too good.

The curious side of me is wondering if my phosphates went up when I started using Reefroids, about 2 weeks ago, or if they have been creeping up since I started my tank.

Let me know your thoughts!

 

[Glott3133]

Reefing, not reading

 

[Hydrored]

Hello,

Did you cycle the rock for your tank? Is it new dry rock? The rock it self can leech phosphates and reefroids adds a ton of phosphates. Do not drop them too fast

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

My phosphates were 2.5.

Assuming you mean 2.5 ppm.

Food definitely does drive up phosphates. The foods we feed contain significant phosphates and most of the phosphate is excreted in the waste of fish and other animals in our tanks. Dry rock is often another source of phosphates.

I would caution you to not drive phosphates too low too fast. Historically the opinion has been "the lower, the better" with regards to phosphates. More recently many aquarists are finding that is not the case. Many reefers are seeing better success between 100 and 300 ppb phosphate than they did at the often recommended 30 ppb.

 

[Glott3133]

Yes they were 2.5ppm. I am trying to achieve .03ppm. Which I believe is the recommended level. I used live rock when I started my tank. I’m also trying to bring the phosphate level down slowly, based on the dose on the Phosguard container.

Things are starting to look more stable in my tank, just worried some coral may not recover.

 

[reefdude101]

It can be a number of things, but imo if your tank has been looking good since you started it without testing po4 then your probably looking at reef roofs as the culprit as I’m guessing algae has started popping up recently.

it could also be from dry rock leaching po4 into the water.

it could be to heavily stocked etc etc.

Once you narrow down what’s causing it you can start to look at nutrient import vs export & adjust accordingly to have something that’s scalable but will keep your levels optimal.

Nutrient export can be a really hard thing to get right, we all want a pristine system with corals growing like weeds, but not only that fat & healthy fish.

watch your feeding, don’t over feed.
Keep your system clean, if you see something that needs cleaning do it.
Watch out for dead zones in your display or sump & clean those areas.
Water change every week without fail.
Keep an eye on your system if you see unusual growth test po4 & no3.
Never skip on maintenance.

nutrient export,
I’ve tried lots of methods myself,
Chaeto reactor, algae turf scrubber, carbon dosing, gfo, lanthanum chloride.

I found algae scrubbers awesome but imo for someone newer once you’re past the point of what it can handle without having experience & being confident with what the other tools at your disposal can actually do to aid the scrubber it’s kind of a crutch & you’ll end up in trouble.

chaeto reactors are awesome to run on a reverse lighting cycle as they suck up no3 & po4 as well as stabilise ph at night time.

carbon dosing is my preferred choice as it allows you to fine tune your parameters around your bioload/feeding habits but sometimes you’ll have excess po4 which is fine just run some gfo.

Gfo is great stuff just be careful not to run too much & drop everything to zero as you’ll have more problems then, but bare in mind if your running gfo & your water is testing zero With algae growing bump it up because those nutrients are still there just bound up in algae, being used faster then you can remove once the algae turns white & disappears adjust dosage.

lanthanum chloride is a great tool just go slow & dose into your skimmer pump intake/neck or a fine filter sock, also general rule of thumb I like to check my alk afterwards because if for some reason you put too much in it will chew up your alk.

bare in mind it might not be the fact you have done anything wrong it could be simply your bioload/normal waste has increased as fish do grow.

hopefully this will help you get an idea of what you can do once sorted & things are on track .. I’d suggest carbon dosing & gfo
With a chaeto reactor for reverse light cycle, this will get you well on your way mate & good luck.

 

[Glott3133]

Thanks for the great input. I have had an out of control algae issue, but it is starting to clear up since my phosphates have started coming down. I guess I will have to a little more diligent with my maintenance.

 

[Randomwhiteguy89]

Out of curiosity are you using rodi water when you do your water changes and if so have you tested that to make sure it is indeed at zero tds

 

[Glott3133]

I am using RODI water, but I have not check it. I've had the system for about 6 months, and my DI filters have almost completely changed their color.

 

[MightyMO]

My phosphates are currently super high at .9 ppm... I am trying to pull this number down with little success. But my corals are growing and thriving... I'm confused about it all personally... Whatever the corals and fish are happy with, so am I... lol

 

[PatW]

Yes they were 2.5ppm. I am trying to achieve .03ppm. Which I believe is the recommended level. I used live rock when I started my tank. I’m also trying to bring the phosphate level down slowly, based on the dose on the Phosguard container.

Things are starting to look more stable in my tank, just worried some coral may not recover.

That is a good level for an low nutrient SPS system. But Adam of Battlecorals who sells high end acropora corals says that you don’t need to get too low with phosphates. Also it depends on the corals you have. If you have LPS and easy SPS, you can go higher. Another thing to look out for is just run a stable system. Marine systems do not change much so fluctuation really hits hard.

 

[Luckyduck]

I’ve been reading for about 8 months and have been on this thread for about the same amount of time. All the posts I’ve read about water levels, I never saw anyone post their phosphate level. Or just wasn’t paying close enough attention. My LFS asked if they should check my phosphates after I said I was seeing some issues with some of my coral. My phosphates were 2.5. I didn’t know how bad that was until I started doing some research.

I am now using Phosguard and bought a Hanna Phosphate test kit. My levels are coming down. They’re now at .27 as of yesterday. Unfortunately, a few of my coals aren’t looking too good.

The curious side of me is wondering if my phosphates went up when I started using Reefroids, about 2 weeks ago, or if they have been creeping up since I started my tank.

Let me know your thoughts!

#1 what hydrored & reefdude said are true. A small handful of reasons could have been the result of the outbreak. Leaching from dry rock, livestock or the Reef Roids. I use reef Roids and have dry rock and had an outbreak myself but got it tamed back down in a week. Mine came as a result of overfeeding my corals. Went from 0.05 to 0.68 and back to 0.06 a week later. Usually you will start to see an algae outbreak when phosphates especially if you dose iron. I used a combination of products from Brightwell Aquatics as I love them. PO4 cubes and Phosphat-E. Phosphat-E will immediately start to remove them and the PO4 cubes will help to steadily reduce. I have actually ran into the problem now that I stripped all of the Phosphates from my water so I removed 2 of the 3 cubes I was using in my 20 gallon Nano. You want to keep them around 0.05 as macro algae and corals need phosphates to thrive. 2.5 is very high. Your corals probably started to acclimate to the high phosphates and you reduced them too fast. It actually says right on the bottle of Phosphat-E to reduce slowly for that exact reason. Hopefully you can get it under control and no more corals suffer. Good luck my friend.

 

[Randomwhiteguy89]

I am using RODI water, but I have not check it. I've had the system for about 6 months, and my DI filters have almost completely changed their color.

there’s a good possibility that could be your problem

 

[amazongb]

If I read your post correctly, you're pretty new at this. I can only offer one very important piece of advice, go slow! Don't bring your phosphates down to .03 from 2.5 fast or you will have an entirely new set of problems. If I was in your situation, I would be trying to get down to .15 in like two to three weeks then assess from there..

 

[Crashnt24]

I use ReefRoids pretty consistently and never have experienced PO4 spikes. My guess would be from rock/sand. They hold phosphates and if you have a relatively new tank, haven't had enough water changes to bring it down. Start running a small amount of GFO and start testing daily to monitor your PO4 levels to get the GFO amount right. Also start doing weekly 15-20% water changes. Once you reach your target of 0.03 PO4, stop running GFO and keep testing daily to see if it start creeping back up.

Good luck!

 

[Luckyduck]

I would not use GFO. I would use a phosphate removing or neutralizing media. GFO removes more than just phosphates. This is just my personal opinion but I would never use GFO in my aquarium with all of the other products out there to remove phosphate.

 

[Crashnt24]

I would not use GFO. I would use a phosphate removing or neutralizing media. GFO removes more than just phosphates. This is just my personal opinion but I would never use GFO in my aquarium with all of the other products out there to remove phosphate.

I was unaware GFO removed anything except phosphates and silicates? Both of which are undesirables. After this post I went searching and I can't find any evidence that it removes more. Are you sure you aren't thinking of GAC? I might be wrong, so i'm open to anything you present.

Edit: found municipalities use it in water mains to remove arsenic also.

Edit 2: https://www.simplicityaquatics.com/blog/what-is-gfo/ They dont get scientific, but can be something to keep in mind. GFO is still my choice for phosphate removal coupled with water changes. Which can replace those trace elements that could be getting stripped out according to the article.

 

[Shanker Vasudevan]

My PO4 super high, 4.0 ppm. Guess due to reefroids and tank's still new. The corals and fish doing great and infact the zoas are blooming. Using PO4 cubes and 10% SW change every fortnight. Still it hovers around that mark. Maybe reefroids causes the spike.

 

[Luckyduck]

My PO4 super high, 4.0 ppm. Guess due to reefroids and tank's still new. The corals and fish doing great and infact the zoas are blooming. Using PO4 cubes and 10% SW change every fortnight. Still it hovers around that mark. Maybe reefroids causes the spike.

Possibly. Any algae problems? I use Reef Roids and don't have an issue. I also use Phosphat-E by Brightwell Aquatics which is incredibly effective at removing phosphates. If you do want to get them down give it a try. Do it slow though! All Reapers will tell you keeping phosphates around 0.06 parts per million is a target number and will help coral growth.

 

[Luckyduck]

I was unaware GFO removed anything except phosphates and silicates? Both of which are undesirables. After this post I went searching and I can't find any evidence that it removes more. Are you sure you aren't thinking of GAC? I might be wrong, so i'm open to anything you present.

Edit: found municipalities use it in water mains to remove arsenic also.

Edit 2: https://www.simplicityaquatics.com/blog/what-is-gfo/ They dont get scientific, but can be something to keep in mind. GFO is still my choice for phosphate removal coupled with water changes. Which can replace those trace elements that could be getting stripped out according to the article.

Let me see if I can find it. I could be wrong too! Lol I'm pretty sure I heard it on an episode of BRS TV. I'll dig around and see if I can come up with it friend.