Phosphates bottoming out, remove carbon?

[dsouth1103]

My phosphate levels keep dropping to 0.00 on my Hanna ULR phosphate tester. I’ve been dosing NeoPhos and it will go up to the desired level for a day or so but then it drops down to 0.00. Some of my acros have paled out and it’s getting really frustrating. The tank is a IM 30 gallon long AIO, i’ve been running a bag of ChemiPure blue nano, matrix media, sponges, and a filter sock on the other side (weekly water changes with Red Sea coral pro salt). Four small fish being fed daily with pellets and mysis shrimp interchangeably and i’ve been adding Red Sea AB+ every day. With all of these nutrients going in and all of them going out, i’m considering taking out my Chemipure carbon. I think it’s working too well and I don’t see any reason why I can’t maintain nutrients. Nitrates are doing the same thing but not to the same extent. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Alk- 8.176dkh
Cal- 423ppm
Mag- 1300ppm
PH- 8.3
Sal- 1.025
PO4- 0.00ppm
NO3- 5.3ppm

 

[TheBear78]

I'm a complete newb so bare with me...
I'm about 6 weeks into reef tank ownership (RSR 425 XL) and while monitoring nutrient levels I have seen my PO4 drop to the point where it is now undetectable with my Red Sea test kit. Typically diatoms have been a bit of an issue so following advice on here I have increased feeding and changed my skimmer from 24/7 to 12 hours a day. After just a couple of days I am seeing an increase in nitrate and while
PO4 Is not notably increasing yet I can see a massive shift in nuisance algae growth.
I consider this a mild win and wonder if you need to filter a bit less and let the nutrients build up a little?

 

[Reffetsevla]

Carbon shouldn't drop your PO4, GFO would though.

Do you have the ability to check with another test or reagent batch? I battled 0 PO4 for 3 weeks while dosing before I got a new tester and realized my PO4 was actually 0.84. That's always my first thing to check, false readings on a test kit lol

 

[Mjenks100]

My phosphate levels keep dropping to 0.00 on my Hanna ULR phosphate tester. I’ve been dosing NeoPhos and it will go up to the desired level for a day or so but then it drops down to 0.00. Some of my acros have paled out and it’s getting really frustrating. The tank is a IM 30 gallon long AIO, i’ve been running a bag of ChemiPure blue nano, matrix media, sponges, and a filter sock on the other side (weekly water changes with Red Sea coral pro salt). Four small fish being fed daily with pellets and mysis shrimp interchangeably and i’ve been adding Red Sea AB+ every day. With all of these nutrients going in and all of them going out, i’m considering taking out my Chemipure carbon. I think it’s working too well and I don’t see any reason why I can’t maintain nutrients. Nitrates are doing the same thing but not to the same extent. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
Alk- 8.176dkh
Cal- 423ppm
Mag- 1300ppm
PH- 8.3
Sal- 1.025
PO4- 0.00ppm
NO3- 5.3ppm

I would take out the chemipure blue. It's not the carbon in it but the resin that absorbs/exchanges out the phosphates. Hanna checkers have a +'- for accuracy so there's more than likely some in there. IMO I would stop the red sea ab+ my corals did better before dosing it but that just my anecdotal proof so I stopped. 1 or 2 small target feedings of reef roids will help nutrient levels but not many and don't go overboard. Then just keep testing and don't make any drastic changes take it slow.

 

[dsouth1103]

Carbon shouldn't drop your PO4, GFO would though.

Do you have the ability to check with another test or reagent batch? I battled 0 PO4 for 3 weeks while dosing before I got a new tester and realized my PO4 was actually 0.84. That's always my first thing to check, false readings on a test kit lol

I checked it with a titration style kit numerous times and it kept saying zero, that’s why I bought the Hanna ULR phosphate checker. I’ve seen it get up to 0.06 the day after dosing from 0.03. But after a few days it’s back to zero. And Chemipure blue has stuff in it that’s designed to remove nitrates and phosphates, it’s like carbon/gfo combined.

 

[youcallmenny1]

Start feeding some reef roids. It's a PO4 generator for sure.

 

[sixty_reefer]

You need to stop using the chemi pure

 

[dsouth1103]

You need to stop using the chemi pure

I’ve never not used carbon, is there any carbon that’s less potent that you recommend?

 

[sixty_reefer]

I’ve never not used carbon, is there any carbon that’s less potent that you recommend?

Any granular activated carbon it’s good. The resin mixed with carbon in the chemi pure that’s removing the po4, save it for a later date once po4 is back on track.

 

[dsouth1103]

Any granular activated carbon it’s good. The resin mixed with carbon in the chemi pure that’s removing the po4, save it for a later date once po4 is back on track.

Would that not strip all the nutrients out of the water again?

 

[sixty_reefer]

Would that not strip all the nutrients out of the water again?

It will be useful to save it in the event we’re phosphate raise to high, you can put it in and den remove at desired level.

 

[Reffetsevla]

Ah I didn't realize you were running the combination carbon, yea JUST an activated carbon is all you want right now. Anything pulling out PO4 you shouldn't need consistently yet. I am just to the point I run Fluval Clearmax with activated carbon, but I had issues with my PO4 SUPER high because of testing kit issues. I'm consistently 0.07-0.12 on PO4 now and 6-13 on NO3, which is within my target ranges for both.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Hey, I'm just asking this partly out of curiosity...did you use live rock or dry rock to start? The reason I ask is because I've heard rock absorbs phosphate and then leaches some back out into the water slowly so if you started with live rock I'd expect phosphates to be leaching out at some low level. Again I'm primarily just curious...

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Activated carbon is not the cause of low phosphate.

 

[dsouth1103]

Hey, I'm just asking this partly out of curiosity...did you use live rock or dry rock to start? The reason I ask is because I've heard rock absorbs phosphate and then leaches some back out into the water slowly so if you started with live rock I'd expect phosphates to be leaching out at some low level. Again I'm primarily just curious...

It was seeded rock. It comes dry but it has all the microbial life that love rock has, it just has to get wet for it to come out of dormancy.

 

[dsouth1103]

Activated carbon is not the cause of low phosphate.

Its not just carbon. Chemipure blue has stuff that eats up phosphates too.

 

[Reffetsevla]

Its not just carbon. Chemipure blue has stuff that eats up phosphates too.

I'd definitely remove it. While out, I would test very regularly, if not daily. Once you start seeing it elevate, you can add it back in. If you can add smaller bags/amounts that would be ideal. You may need to "dial in" how much to keep in your system constantly. It's going to be a constant "react and respond" but eventually it'll level off and you won't have to worry so much. Just takes time.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Its not just carbon. Chemipure blue has stuff that eats up phosphates too.

I do not believe that is true. Chemipure elite has GFO, but Chemipure blue does not seem to claim any GFO in it, and the other materials (activated carbon and organic polymers) will not bind phosphate directly frm seawater and is not a cause for excessively low phosphate in a reef tank.

Chemi-pure Blue - Chemi-pure Advanced Aquarist Products

chemi-pure.com

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I'd definitely remove it. While out, I would test very regularly, if not daily. Once you start seeing it elevate, you can add it back in. If you can add smaller bags/amounts that would be ideal. You may need to "dial in" how much to keep in your system constantly. It's going to be a constant "react and respond" but eventually it'll level off and you won't have to worry so much. Just takes time.

Why remove it? it's not the cause of low phosphate.

The minor effects on phosphate by binding organic matter is not a major contributor to excessively low phosphate.

 

[sixty_reefer]

Why remove it? it's not the cause of low phosphate.

The minor effects on phosphate by binding organic matter is not a major contributor to excessively low phosphate.

according to link it does remove phosphate