Phosphates not coming down

Yorto · Sep 29, 2015

My tank has been running a good three months. Water quality is good. RO/DI water for changes, fish are being fed frozen, once a day.

I continue to see GHA here and there on the glass and some of the live rock. I added a Phosban reactor, and dosed with PhosX to lower it as much as possible. I'm still getting detectable levels. 0.05-0.10.

Not sure what to do. Tank may still be cycling. I started with live rock and live sand. Zero nitrates, and very low ammonia. pH is 8.0, and steady.

Opinions welcomed and appreciated.

-Yorto

Seaguy · Sep 30, 2015

I have a 4 month old tank and my phospate is now reading zero. I had a little GHA a few weeks ago but it is mostly gone. I have a big ball of chaeto in my sump and added Siporax about a month ago (a highly porous ceramic that acts like super live rock encouraging beneficial bacteria). I also have a small amount of bio-pellets (a carbon source). My corals are healthy but colors fading so I have started feeding 4-5 times a day to raise nitrate/phospates.

I suggest one or more of the following:
1) Chaeto (first choice as it all natural with no downside, it just out-competes the GHA for phospates),
2) Siporax or matrix bio-media to increase surface area for beneficial bacteria to grow. It will take a week or two for bacteria to grow.
3) Try some carbon source to speed the growth of bacteria -- like bio-pellets or vodka dosing.
4) Cleanup crew. I added two emerald crabs that immediately started chowing down on the algae. Some people fear they may harm their corals but they have not been a problem for me and many others.

Good luck.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Sep 30, 2015

Yorto said:
My tank has been running a good three months. Water quality is good. RO/DI water for changes, fish are being fed frozen, once a day.

I continue to see GHA here and there on the glass and some of the live rock. I added a Phosban reactor, and dosed with PhosX to lower it as much as possible. I'm still getting detectable levels. 0.05-0.10.

Not sure what to do. Tank may still be cycling. I started with live rock and live sand. Zero nitrates, and very low ammonia. pH is 8.0, and steady.

Opinions welcomed and appreciated.

-Yorto

When did you last change the GFO and how much are you using?

Reefing Madness · Sep 30, 2015

If Phosphates are high, GFO will exhaust quickly, you should test levels everyday, when you see that phosphates have stopped coming down, change GFO out, then resume testing and changing until you get them all the way down. Once you've gotten them to a more normal stage, you won't need to change nearly as much.

Yorto · Sep 30, 2015

GFO is less than two weeks old. Installed with kit. About 1.5 cup of Phosban. Tumbling softly.

How often can you dose PhosX?

Russ265 · Sep 30, 2015

Yorto said:
GFO is less than two weeks old. Installed with kit. About 1.5 cup of Phosban. Tumbling softly.

How often can you dose PhosX?

ive had gfo exhaust 75% in 24 hours.

i cannot recommend or comment on magic bottles removing phosphorus but maybe @Randy Holmes-Farley can comment on how it chemically does so.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Sep 30, 2015

Yes, it is likely exhausted, although you can confirm that by testing the reactor effluent and see if it is a lot lower or not.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Sep 30, 2015

There's not any specific number time you can use lanthanum products to reduce phosphate, but it can have side effects.

Here's a recent thread on using it:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/experience-vodka-dosing-seaklear.215369/