Pulling my hair out with phosphate issue

[Wesus]

What kind of dry rock do you have? I added some bleached dry pukani and my phosphates jumped from 0.03 to 0.16. I had to dose nitrate to keep NO3 around 5 ppm. I have GFO reactor and fuge and after 2 months phosphate is at 0.05 ppm. I used Vibrant to fight algea

 

[Brian W]

Why on earth do some reefers feel like langthum chloride is chemical treatment but GFO isn't? All of you having PO4 trouble do yourself a favor and cross over. It is the only way to fly.

I love phosphate rx

 

[Jsieger89]

Did not read all the comments. But I recently fixed my phosphate issue with a brine shrimp net and rinsing my food with rodi water.

 

[ChrisQ0904]

I started with dry rock from Marco rock. I gave them an acid bath because i had them stored outside for about a month. Then after that i had them in a tub of RO and some LC to hopefully remove all/most the P04. They were in that bath for about a month or two.

 

[Wesus]

I started with dry rock from Marco rock. I gave them an acid bath because i had them stored outside for about a month. Then after that i had them in a tub of RO and some LC to hopefully remove all/most the P04. They were in that bath for about a month or two.

I never had problem with Marco rock releasing phosphate, so maybe is not a problem in your system. Do you have any algae growing on sand?

 

[IanReefer]

You should be a bit careful with the phosphate sponge, those leech the phosphates back out in the water after about 24 hours, so leaving it in for 3 days probably didn't do much good.

The Vibrant liquid aquarium cleaner is about as 'natural' as you can get, since it is bacteria based. There's nothing natural about a mini ocean reef in a glass box in your living room.....

 

[schooncw]

I have always used GFO from one company or another... and it has always worked great. However, I always thought it was a tad bit of a pain in the butt. Inevitably some would sneak past the reactor foam pads and get in my sump etc. I decided to see if there were any newer solutions that would give me the nice subtle removal of phosphates like GFO does. Low and behold I think I have found my favorite product! It doesn't take much and it just sits in my reactor without the potential of any getting in my sump or display... and it seems to last considerably longer than GFO.

http://brightwellaquatics.com/products/xport_po4t.php

I may give this a try.....I have had a Brightwell Xport NO3 dimpled brick in my sump since the end of Feb and I am not seeing any positive results yet. I did NOT seed the brick.

 

[ChrisQ0904]

I never had problem with Marco rock releasing phosphate, so maybe is not a problem in your system. Do you have any algae growing on sand?

I doubt its the rock. The only reason I did all that is because is because i had them outside. I have cyano growing on the sand but the hair algae is only showing on the rock.

 

[EricTheRed]

If you aren't over feeding and it isn't your RODI then, IME, the source is likely your rock/sand leaching...unless someone has another theory as to where it could be coming from. I have seen dry marco leach po4's, not common though. I recently went through this exercise and learned it can take 18 months for the rock to leach it out. I'm going on 1 year with high and fast rising po4's...fingers crossed it will settle soon.

P.S. Lanthum Chloride is safe for sps. To your point, GFO is also "chemical" filtration and I've seen worse affects from GFO fines irritating coral/clams and never saw even a slight coral reaction from the LC. I'm running GFO but need to replace it every 3-4 days, which is very expensive, so I've been supplementing LC to keep them knocked down, plus it is cheaper. Macro will help keep low po4's stable when there isn't an out of control issue...so you will probably not be able to rely exclusively on your chaeto reactor until things get low and stay there...

Good luck

 

[Bunnee911]

I used rock from a neglected FOWLR and it took a year of water changes for my readings to normalize.
In my Biocube, I use pillow floss and discard after blowing up my sand bed. I have been known to use a small powerhead to blow the sand clean.

 

[ROD SCOTT]

does anyone use a diatom filter to clean the sand?

 

[Forsaken77]

One thing that hasn't been mentioned is that if you have problems with algae you will be getting false readings from your test kits as the algea will be consuming the PO4 and the nitrate. So you need to find what is giving you the high and false readings. I would continue with cleaning your sand bed but up to a maximum of 1/3 of the base at a time. Also you don't say how long or what the intensity is of your lights for led reduce red and green down if possible and reduce time down to Max 8 hours per day for all lighting and run your cheato lighting on a reverse cycle to the tank.
Personally I'd stay away from uv if you can they are a pain to set up properly you need to have a pump that pumps at the right gph to suite the size uv and it's not always clear on the uv packaging and then they can't tell the difference between the good and bad bacteria that travel through it they kill all. Good luck

Beneficial bacteria do not travel through the water column on a regular basis. Obviously once the tank is cycled, the rock and sand or Marine Pure, ect... keep the beneficial bacteria within. So you don't run the UV during cycling, that's all.

They're very helpful with algae control, Redox balance, bacteria outbreaks, and to a lesser extent, parasites.

I found a very good ultra high output UV (the TMC Vecton 600) which is 25 watts for $180. That version is 20 inches long and can handle 750 gph at the MAX for level 1 sterilization, which is algae, bacteria and some viruses. This unit is used a lot in Europe, but there's a seller with tons of info on his site that sells them. There's not only Pentair (Emperor) and Aqua UV. Those are the huge ones that are very expensive and do the same job as the TMC (Tropic Marine Centre).

Here's the link:
http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/TMCUVSterilizer.html#vecton6

They give real world flow rates that work, because they're a maintenance company as well, and have a ton of useful info on the site, not just about UV's. It's owned by Carl Strohmeyer.

I'm setting up a 180 and have 2 of these 25 watt units splitting off the return pump (Ecotech Vectra L1) for each of the dual returns. So a total of a 50 watt sterilizer for around $300+ and ALL the water flows through. It's a worthwhile insurance policy to backup your main filtration and stop a lot of problems before they escalate.

But to each his own.

 

[Forsaken77]

does anyone use a diatom filter to clean the sand?

Some people use them on heavy yearly cleanings I've read. I honestly didn't know they still made them anymore. They remind me of the fluidized sand bed filter era like 20 years ago, lol.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Did not read all the comments. But I recently fixed my phosphate issue with a brine shrimp net and rinsing my food with rodi water.

FYI, In general I do not think that useful.

What was the problem that it solved?

 

[Cory]

If your having problems with po4, and dont like the cost of phosphate removers, builf an algae turf scrubber. For less than 80$ your po4 will drop to 0 if you build it big and use 660nm red leds. You wont need po4 remover anymore trust me.

The po4 comes from food, mainly protein. Its then made into various organics and fish directly pee po4 into the water. We cant get rid of all organics, so we need to exsport po4. A large accumulation of organic po4 is in sand and pockets in rock. Uneaten food, fish poop, snail poop dont instantly get magically dissolved and get removed by a skimmer. This is why i dont use sand. Ive sucked out so much organic waste over the years, i feel a sand bed will turn into a sewage plant over time. Bacteria are slowly degrading the organics releasing the po4 continously. Thus algae. Thus bacteria. Algae come after the food is put in, and after bacteria convert it. But fish also pee po4.

Build an ats, it works. I promise.

Also ph 7.7 if real is a concern.

 

[JP79]

I do use filter socks and I clean/change them every week during my WC. Im using the hanna phosphorous checker to check my P04.

Try changing the socks every 3 days. That will make big difference. Bulk reef supply just did a study on filter socks not to long ago. Check it out. Ive always changed mine every 2-3 days and it really helps keep the po4 down. It gets all the crap out of the tank before it has time to break down. Give it a shot.

 

[Jsieger89]

I have said it once but I will say it again! RINSE YOUR FOOD with rodi! I barreled phosphate issues for years and spent thousands on equipment trying to fix the problem.. in the end a 4.99 water dispenser full of rodi I have sitting next to my sink was the solution! Try it you won't be disapointed

 

[Jsieger89]

Here is a pic of my setup. Drop food in brine shrimp net ( bought on Amazon) and rinse 15-20 sec or until you feel all the juice is washed away!

 

[Jsieger89]

FYI, In general I do not think that useful.

What was the problem that it solved?

Phosphates were .05-.1 started rinsing my food and they are solid at .02-.03. why do you not feel rinsing away the moister that frozen food comes with would not reduce phosphates?