Po4 0.33 with nopox

BRS
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Top Shelf Aquatics
www.dinkinsaquaticgardens.com
Are you running a skimmer on this system?
 
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Before doing anything drastic I would get a reference solution to check that your Hana is giving accurate results. You might also want to send off an ICP test. Once you are certain that the test results are accurate then you can address the issue. You could also get a Red Sea Pro kit and see if that gives the same results as the Hana checker.
 
The Camaro Show said:
I don’t feed the tank that much I feel, how do people keep them so low
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The issue is not that elevated phosphate is a sign of overfeeding, it is just a sign that export is not matching the food and other inputs.

Nearly all of the phosphate in foods ends up in the water. It is not just from “uneaten” food.
 
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The first thing you would need to do is get your RO water below the .12 ppm PO4 that you said it currently sits at. If you are starting out at .12 ppm, that is probably the lowest it will be without a more drastic export method such as running a reactor or putting chaeto in a fuge. Personally, I would try the phosguard because it doesn't require tumbling to be effective. Then, I would find out why your RO water has such a high PO4 reading and fix that. Once the RO problem is solved and the PO4 in the tank is lowered with the phosguard, you should be well on your way to lower PO4 levels.
 
IslandLifeReef said:
The first thing you would need to do is get your RO water below the .12 ppm PO4 that you said it currently sits at. If you are starting out at .12 ppm, that is probably the lowest it will be without a more drastic export method such as running a reactor or putting chaeto in a fuge.
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I don't think your conclusion follows.

If he tops off 1% daily, that 0.12 ppm phosphate in the RO/DI is only adding 0.0012 ppm phosphate per day. That is FAR less than he is adding in foods, and isn't a big driver of the phospahte concentration
 
Deltec
Randy Holmes-Farley said:
I don't think your conclusion follows.

If he tops off 1% daily, that 0.12 ppm phosphate in the RO/DI is only adding 0.0012 ppm phosphate per day. That is FAR less than he is adding in foods, and isn't a big driver of the phospahte concentration
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I agree that the top off isn't the only thing driving up the PO4, but if his RO water is .12 ppm, then his salt water for water changes is at least that high as well (I'm assuming he uses the same RO water to mix his salt). If all of the water he is adding has at least .12 ppm PO4, then his baseline is .12 ppm and feedings only raise it up from there.

If he is shooting for .03 ppm and the "clean" water he is adding has a concentration 4 times higher than that, isn't he making it harder to get to his .03 ppm goal?

If he does only top off 1% a day, my tank requires closer to 2%, and does a 10% water change every week, he is adding .0204 ppm of phosphate every week as an additional input to his feeding. That's 68% of his target number of .03 ppm PO4 being added every week just through water changes and top off. And, as you have stated, food is a much bigger contributor to PO4 than that.
 
How are you testing your nitrates?
 
IslandLifeReef said:
I agree that the top off isn't the only thing driving up the PO4, but if his RO water is .12 ppm, then his salt water for water changes is at least that high as well (I'm assuming he uses the same RO water to mix his salt). If all of the water he is adding has at least .12 ppm PO4, then his baseline is .12 ppm and feedings only raise it up from there.

If he is shooting for .03 ppm and the "clean" water he is adding has a concentration 4 times higher than that, isn't he making it harder to get to his .03 ppm goal?

If he does only top off 1% a day, my tank requires closer to 2%, and does a 10% water change every week, he is adding .0204 ppm of phosphate every week as an additional input to his feeding. That's 68% of his target number of .03 ppm PO4 being added every week just through water changes and top off. And, as you have stated, food is a much bigger contributor to PO4 than that.
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OK, but you still need to do the math to understand that the top off and water changes really are not the primary driving effect unless you are using raw top off water with something more like 5 ppm phosphate in it.

Adding 0.02 ppm of phosphate in a week is just not that important to a normal reef tank, when foods add 10 times that amount every day.

I do not argue that it is not contributing. I am arguing that it is not the main source or "cause". If you spit in the ocean, you are contributing to sea level rise, but that is not the cause. Obviously that is hyperbole, but it points out that contributing and being important are different issues.
 
AS
Randy Holmes-Farley said:
OK, but you still need to do the math to understand that the top off and water changes really are not the primary driving effect unless you are using raw top off water with something more like 5 ppm phosphate in it.

Adding 0.02 ppm of phosphate in a week is just not that important to a normal reef tank, when foods add 10 times that amount every day.

I do not argue that it is not contributing. I am arguing that it is not the main source or "cause". If you spit in the ocean, you are contributing to sea level rise, but that is not the cause. Obviously that is hyperbole, but it points out that contributing and being important are different issues.
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I agree with you and I didn't realize that food added .2ppm of PO4 per day. I always thought that it was more in the range of .015 ppm per feeding, depending on the amount and many other factors of course.

With my thought of food only contributing .015 ppm of PO4, his water additions would be about 15-20% of his PO4 source, with the food being the rest. If food contributes .2ppm per day, then the water would only be a little over 1% of his PO4 source. Not quite spitting in the ocean, but close. I'll have to read your article again where you posted the amount of PO4 in food from another study. I must have misread something.
 
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IslandLifeReef said:
I agree with you and I didn't realize that food added .2ppm of PO4 per day. I always thought that it was more in the range of .015 ppm per feeding, depending on the amount and many other factors of course.

With my thought of food only contributing .015 ppm of PO4, his water additions would be about 15-20% of his PO4 source, with the food being the rest. If food contributes .2ppm per day, then the water would only be a little over 1% of his PO4 source. Not quite spitting in the ocean, but close. I'll have to read your article again where you posted the amount of PO4 in food from another study. I must have misread something.
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The amount depends, of course, on the amount you feed to what size tank, and we do not have data on most foods.

0.02 ppm would be (IMO) the low end, with that coming from 1 prime reef cube in 100 gallons water volume. So it isn't outside of teh range of possibility.

The high end would be in the tenths of ppm per day.

The OP says he feeds (to what I think is a 29 gallon tank)

"I feed a half cube of mysis 3 times a week and feed the corals 2x a week and also dose acro power 2x a week"

I can't determine what that means in terms of phosphate, since I'm not sure what exactly is fed or how much (and even if we knew we probably don't have data).

I've seen some folks claim that Acropower boosted the phosphate in their tanks, but I have not seen any actual reliable data on it.
 
In any case, replacing the DI if the RO/DI water is not 0 ppm TDS is a good plan, and he can see what effect it might have on his tank phosphate levels over time. :)
 
BRS

IF YOU HAD TO TAKE A REEFING EXAM, WOULD YOU PASS?

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