phosphates

[jose hernandez]

im still battling phosphates i have hanna checker ulr 736 im getting 0.30 some corals look ok others are so so ive been doin 30 gallon water changes for the past 3 weeks but cant seem to get them down went through a bad case of dinos recently ive tried phosguard and rowaphos in the media cups and nothing i had some chemipure elite that i had in my closet so put that in to see if it helps skimmer runs 24hrs a day its rated for over 500 gallons im feeding 2 cubes of frozen brine shrimp a day tank is a red sea 750xxl what can i do to bring them down slowly i have no space for a reactor

 

[Rp8]

try a lessening your light schedule

 

[Lasse]

Have you verified your readings with another test? The HI 736 reads in ppb P and should be multiplied with 3.06 and divided with 1000 in order to get mg/L (ppm) of PO4.

Dino outbreak usually comes from too low PO4.

Sincerely Lasse

 

[725196]

Have you tried an icp test? You may have other issues than phosphates. While they maybe high I had mine at .6 for 2 months while working it to a more acceptable level. The icp testing revealed other issues.

ultimately what helped me was adding an ATS algae turf scrubber. Once that took off phosphates became an issue of the past.

Next in this addition of Coral magazine there is an article on phosphates and how they are falsely “lowered”. It has to do with the rock work and sand of our tanks.

 

[jose hernandez]

had it at 8 hrs a day now its 6hrs i have 4 radion xr30 pros on 30% don think its the light not much algae on the rocks just a little film on the glass whats on the rocks my yellow blue atlantic khole and foxface go at it

 

[jose hernandez]

no icp test as far as the test kits i took a water sample to my lfs store and he confirmed using the 713 and salifert just dont get it some corals look good and others are ok noticed some purple on the rocks
here are my parameters
alk 9.0
cal 462
mag 1470
nitrates between 5 and 10
salinty 1.025

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

im still battling phosphates i have hanna checker ulr 736 im getting 0.30 some corals look ok others are so so ive been doin 30 gallon water changes for the past 3 weeks but cant seem to get them down went through a bad case of dinos recently ive tried phosguard and rowaphos in the media cups and nothing i had some chemipure elite that i had in my closet so put that in to see if it helps skimmer runs 24hrs a day its rated for over 500 gallons im feeding 2 cubes of frozen brine shrimp a day tank is a red sea 750xxl what can i do to bring them down slowly i have no space for a reactor

I don't think that phosphate level is causing immediate issues, but the things you are doing are the right ones, just likely not enough or changed often enough.

 

[eaglalbo]

dose lanthanum chloride into fleece filter or skimmer. More efficient and less hassle than GFO

 

[jose hernandez]

someone mentioned lithium cholride not sure if im pronouncing it right

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Have you tried an icp test? You may have other issues than phosphates. While they maybe high I had mine at .6 for 2 months while working it to a more acceptable level. The icp testing revealed other issues.

ultimately what helped me was adding an ATS algae turf scrubber. Once that took off phosphates became an issue of the past.

Next in this addition of Coral magazine there is an article on phosphates and how they are falsely “lowered”. It has to do with the rock work and sand of our tanks.

Don't know what that article claims, but there no "false lowering" of phosphate. Maybe that was your interpretation of the accurate idea that much of the available phosphate is bound to the surfaces of calcium carbonate in the tank. That does not make readings false, or have any impact on what is a good target level for phosphate in the water.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

someone mentioned lithium cholride not sure if im pronouncing it right

Nope. lol

Lanthanum is another binder. All of them work when used appropriately. I personally prefer solid binders like GFO.

 

[jose hernandez]

how does the lanthanum chloride work and where do i get it

 

[725196]

no icp test as far as the test kits i took a water sample to my lfs store and he confirmed using the 713 and salifert just dont get it some corals look good and others are ok noticed some purple on the rocks
here are my parameters
alk 9.0
cal 462
mag 1470
nitrates between 5 and 10
salinty 1.025

An ICP test will show many more parameters than the ones that can be tested for or home or at any store. I don’t think your phosphates alone are the issue. While they can cause issues it is more likely, in my opinion, that there is another cause(s) that is making the phosphates an issue.

What brand salt are you using?

Keep doing water changes as even if the ATS not helping the phosphates they are most likely helping whatever other underlying causes there may be.

 

[jose hernandez]

some say gfo strips the tank is not careull but at the same time leaches back in the system i was thinking to add a refugium

 

[jose hernandez]

using tropic marin pro reef salt