Phosphates undetectable

[Shadowspop]

Over the past few months, my tank has been pretty neglected due to some health issues. I've still been doing periodic water changes and everything has actually been pretty healthy and happy. Recently my numbers have been really out of whack. My nitrates are very high (70)despite using a pellet reactor. I think the reason I can't get them down is that my phosphates are undetectable. How can I increase my phos without having to dose with something like Neophos? Overall, everything in the tank looks pretty happy.

My system:

93 gal cube:
No sps(they don't like me)
running carbon reactor with BRS active carbon
biopellets in reactor
Small fuge with a big hunk of health and growing chaeto

Todays test:
Ph-7.8 (working on this too, but can't leave the doors open all day)
Alk -8.0
Mag -1350
Cal - 430
Nit - 70
Phos - 0

I just started dosing NOPOX the other day to bring nitrates down, having very little affect thus far.

 

[BigRedReefer MT]

The only way I have ever brought down NO3 is to string together some water changes in quick succession. I mean a 30% change every two days with lots of sand vacuuming. I have never dosed any PO4 though so I'm sorry I cannot help you there. It is possible though that your cheato is soaking up PO4 just as fast as it is released into your system.
My tank reads a constant 0.03 or less using the nyos testing kit. However the green hair algae that grows like wild fire right now indicates that there is plenty of it to go around. I think my HA is using it up just as fast as it hit the water columb.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Very few ways to bring up Po4 aside from feeding really.

Don’t be too concerned about Po4 dosing. Quite easy.

Fwiw , nopox and bio pellets may not be a good combo. It’s double carbon dosing basically.

 

[Chad_P]

Very few ways to bring up Po4 aside from feeding really.

Don’t be too concerned about Po4 dosing. Quite easy.

Fwiw , nopox and bio pellets may not be a good combo. It’s double carbon dosing basically.

Agreed it’s pretty easy to dose PO4. I’m using bright wells neophos at the moment to battle Dino’s and I think someone mentioned you can get trisodium (?) phosphate online for super cheap.

 

[Shadowspop]

Very few ways to bring up Po4 aside from feeding really.

Don’t be too concerned about Po4 dosing. Quite easy.

Fwiw , nopox and bio pellets may not be a good combo. It’s double carbon dosing basically.

That makes sense. I'll kill the reactor. Up until now, the reactor has done the trick with nitrates, that's why I'm surprised they're so high.

 

[Shadowspop]

Agreed it’s pretty easy to dose PO4. I’m using bright wells neophos at the moment to battle Dino’s and I think someone mentioned you can get trisodium (?) phosphate online for super cheap.

Is trisodium-phosphate the same thing? I've never even heard of that. I just hate adding anything unnatural to the tank, other than mag, alk, and calcium, I hate putting stuff in.

 

[BigRedReefer MT]

Tri sodium phosphate can be picked up at any hardware store. It is commonly used in paint prep to clean surfaces before painting. It is one heck of a degreaser. That said, I'm not sure what purity it would be in the hardware store. I know that they put it in some name brand cereals as it acts as a mildew and mold inhibitor.
But I use it for pressure washing my restaurant kitchen every Monday and the itchy feeling would lead me to believe that it's probably not what you want to add to your tank. JMHO.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Is trisodium-phosphate the same thing? I've never even heard of that. I just hate adding anything unnatural to the tank, other than mag, alk, and calcium, I hate putting stuff in.

A bottle of neo phos or somthing is cheap. And has directions and concentrations.
Fwiw , organic phosphate is organic phosphate from a bottle or fish poo.

 

[Shadowspop]

Tri sodium phosphate can be picked up at any hardware store. It is commonly used in paint prep to clean surfaces before painting. It is one heck of a degreaser. That said, I'm not sure what purity it would be in the hardware store. I know that they put it in some name brand cereals as it acts as a mildew and mold inhibitor.
But I use it for pressure washing my restaurant kitchen every Monday and the itchy feeling would lead me to believe that it's probably not what you want to add to your tank. JMHO.

Nope, not for me!

 

[Chad_P]

Is trisodium-phosphate the same thing? I've never even heard of that. I just hate adding anything unnatural to the tank, other than mag, alk, and calcium, I hate putting stuff in.

I could be wrong on the “trisodium” part so disregard. A bottle of neophos or something similar is pretty cheap, less then $10-$12 at BRS anyways

 

[Shadowspop]

I could be wrong on the “trisodium” part so disregard. A bottle of neophos or something similar is pretty cheap, less then $10-$12 at BRS anyways

Ordered! Thanks

 

[Chad_P]

I went back and checked it’s mono sodium phosphate that can be used for dosing phosphates.

 

[Shadowspop]

I went back and checked it’s mono sodium phosphate that can be used for dosing phosphates.

Ooof, that could have ended badly.

 

[Chad_P]

Ooof, that could have ended badly.

Sorry about that!!!

 

[lapin]

I've still been doing periodic water changes and everything has actually been pretty healthy and happy. Recently my numbers have been really out of whack. Overall, everything in the tank looks pretty happy.
I just started dosing NOPOX the other day to bring nitrates down, having very little affect thus far.

NOPOX will bring down your nitrates over time. Randy uses vinegar. It happens after a few weeks, as it takes time for the bacteria to build up.Water changes will also help.
Our test kits only measure one type of phosphates (inorganic). So you may have phosphate.
Since everything looks good I would do one thing at a time. Since you are reducing N, I would stick with that unless you see your livestock not looking good then you might either stop the NOPOX or dose P.

 

[Shadowspop]

Sorry about that!!!

No worries, appreciate the help

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Is trisodium-phosphate the same thing? I've never even heard of that. I just hate adding anything unnatural to the tank, other than mag, alk, and calcium, I hate putting stuff in.

I'm not sure it is unnatural. lol

Sodium is the second most common ion in seawater (second to chloride) and phosphate is exactly what you want to add. Seems like the perfectly exact thing you want containing the least amount of anything else.