Phosphate Troubles

[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.

Yes. GFO strips trace elements as well. It can also reduce alkalinity and PH. There is an episode on BRS TV where they talk about it as well. I would never use GFO because you don't know what trace elements it's stripping along with the phosphates. I would much rather use a proven phosphates only remover. Phosphat-E by Brightwell Aquatics is very effective at doing this. I have had grest experiences with it. There are a couple other brands of phosphate removers that work as well but I'm a Brightwell guy so that's all I use. I mean you can certainly use GFO if you take precautions and test and dose trace elements regularly but why create all that extra work for yourself when you can simply dose some Phosphat-E and be done with it?

 

[Glott3133]

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.

I was definitely having algae issues. I was cleaning the glass twice a day. I thought I was going through the uglies again. It was very bad. Since my phosphates are around .25 now, the algae has come under control and my tank is clear. I have also cut back on the reef roids, as I know I was feeding very heavily.

 

[Mark Bradley]

Phosphates have been quite a learning curve for me. I set up the tank with a pellet reactor but still was getting higher measurements than I wanted. Transpired I might have not been feeding enough to Encourage the bacteria to break down the pellets! Also, my skimmer wasn’t as good as I had been led to believe. I’ve stopped with the reactor, have changed the skimmer to Redsea, added some Rowa and my phosphates have steadily being reducing.

 

[92Miata]

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!

Reefroids is basically liquid phosphate and nitrate once it goes into the tank. It's almost certainly his issue.

Your tank being able to process it doesn't mean his will be able to.

 

[Big_Mclargehuge]

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

My phosphates are reading 0 and my corals are not doing well. So yeah don't get them too low lol

 

[Poseidon03]

Reefroids will spike your phosphates for sure. I had mine spike from 48 phosporus to 147 from one broadcast use, and that is with an oversized skimmer and changing out my filter floss the day after.

 

[MartinWaite]

Reef roids is well known for raising phosphates I will only used at max 1/4 level teaspoon once a week and it's enough for my 450 litre reef tank I mix it with Quantum Bio-Enhance and the corals love it.
One of the best phosphate removers is Quantum Phosphate remover it has a good name in the UK and quite a few people dose it to keep their phosphate under control.
To be honest I thaw all my frozen fish food in tank water and prefer to use that to feed corals.

 

[MightyMO]

I have stopped using my reef roids... Corals seem ok with it...