phosphates

jose hernandez · Apr 6, 2020

so im having phosphate issues cant seem to raise them up tank is fairly new i have 10 fish a couple of frags and a clam parameters
alk 8.6
cal 500
mag 1450
salinity 1.025
nitrates are between 2 and 5 using salifert test kit
phosphates 0 using hanna checker
filtration one marine pure media block 8x8x4
2 bags of carbon have them in media cups i also have 2 filter socks
i have a skimmer but turned it off ive tried neophos, reef roids , phyto feast feeding heavy as well and still have 0 phosphates i had red cyano on my sandbed and some parts of my rock i siphoned out all on the sand bed now i have alot of brown algae its getting on the sand bed as well what im i doing wrong

Braves Fan · Apr 6, 2020

I just wanted to get you a answer until the Pro's wake up and give you better advice

your doing nothing wrong for the most part ,, you just have a new tank

jose hernandez · Apr 6, 2020

so just leave it alone?

Braves Fan · Apr 6, 2020

Having the skimmer off will increase Nitrates and Phosphates ,, the brown on the sand bed I would think will go away at some point ,, I am thinking just a new tank ,, the Cayno ,, I am not to sure about this ,, my answer to this was always to increase flow ,, the Pros need to chime in here and give you better advice ,, watch some videos on BRS about setting up a new tank

Randy Holmes-Farley · Apr 6, 2020

Dosing phosphate is a fine plan, but it takes way more than you'd calculate due to the bulk of it binding to rock and sand.

jose hernandez · Apr 6, 2020

could the brown algae be consuming what I’m adding as far as flow I have 4 mp40 2 on each side running at 50% and my vectra l2 at 50% as well I had then running higher but lowered due to the sand being blown all ovwr the place so. It sure what to do

Jimmyneptune · Apr 6, 2020

jose hernandez said:
so im having phosphate issues cant seem to raise them up tank is fairly new i have 10 fish a couple of frags and a clam parameters
alk 8.6
cal 500
mag 1450
salinity 1.025
nitrates are between 2 and 5 using salifert test kit
phosphates 0 using hanna checker
filtration one marine pure media block 8x8x4
2 bags of carbon have them in media cups i also have 2 filter socks
i have a skimmer but turned it off ive tried neophos, reef roids , phyto feast feeding heavy as well and still have 0 phosphates i had red cyano on my sandbed and some parts of my rock i siphoned out all on the sand bed now i have alot of brown algae its getting on the sand bed as well what im i doing wrong

Could you describe your tank a little more?
Size of tank and sump
What kind of fish
How old is tank, 2 months or 2 years could be newish

Randy Holmes-Farley · Apr 6, 2020

jose hernandez said:
could the brown algae be consuming what I’m adding as far as flow I have 4 mp40 2 on each side running at 50% and my vectra l2 at 50% as well I had then running higher but lowered due to the sand being blown all ovwr the place so. It sure what to do

Any growing photosynthetic organism will use some, but rock and sand can take up massive amounts (up to many ppm) depending on how much available surface area is present.

jose hernandez · Apr 6, 2020

tank is a red sea 750xxl main display 160 gallons sump 40 gallons
tank is about 5 months old
i used dry marco rock 120lbs used fritz live bacteria 160lbs live sand
fish heres what i got
1 yellow tang
1 unicorn tang
4 wrasses
1 yellow foxface
3 disbar anthias
i cycled the tank with the lights off
light schedule is on at 12 off at 8 i have 4 xr30w g4 pros using the ab+ program 40% intensity lights are 12' above the water

hobbyreefer · May 12, 2020

Did you ever work out a way to raise your phosphate? I have a similar tank and similar issue. My phosphates drop to 0 very easily. I was dosing Neophos but I am going through a bottle every week or two. This seem expensive. Reefroids appear to raise phosphate a bit but I have to dump about a tablespoon per day. Again expensive. If I forget then the phosphate drops back to zero. Is there a natural way to raise phosphate? Will adding more fish or feeding more work? I feel like my tank is already heavily stocked on fish and feeding...

Marc2952 · May 12, 2020

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Any growing photosynthetic organism will use some, but rock and sand can take up massive amounts (up to many ppm) depending on how much available surface area is present.

Agree, when i was dealing with dinos it took me multiple bottles of neophos to bring phosphate to redable. I was amazed at how much phosphate binds to the rocks and sand. Atleast once its stable they act as a buffer of sort.