Trouble lowering Phosphates

[ASIN28]

Hey all, so my phosphates have been elevated for quite some time now and even though corals seem to be happy with no sign of distress I need to get them down. As of today my PO4 is .45, Nitrates 40, Tested with Hanna then checked with Salifert.
Little back story on my tank I am running a LPS Dominant tank 120 Gallon, which has been running for 3 years now. Sump, Refugium, Skimmer, Marine Pure Block/Balls. Live rock from the start. I do 20% water changes weekly on time, these past few weeks I even did 40% each week but phosphates don’t seem to move.
I will admit I am overstocked with fish.
I do NOT want to go lathanium Chloride route, do not wanna use Phosphate-E I hear horror stories. I’d rather go more for a GFO route possibly w/reactor.
Any advice, Comments, Concerns will be greatly appreciated!! What should be the best course of action?
Thank you

 

[Pistondog]

Water changes not as effective for phosphate lowering due to binding in rocks and substrate. run some gfo in a reactor.
Your nitrates are (also) high enough, you could carbon dose to reduce both.

 

[ptrick21186]

+1 GFO

 

[Reef.]

Gfo in a reactor, with your po4 being so high, the gfo will exhaust within days, so change often, tast water from the reactor as it comes out to know when it’s no longer removing po4.

 

[Mark Bradley]

I manage my phosphates successfully with rowaphos in a reactor. Rowaphos have an online calculator that would help you decide how much to use to get the desired result. I use weekly water changes and high flow with subsequent good skimming to reduce nitrates.

 

[ASIN28]

Gfo in a reactor, with your po4 being so high, the gfo will exhaust within days, so change often, tast water from the reactor as it comes out to know when it’s no longer removing po4.

What do you mean by that test the water within the reactor itself or at the output

 

[Reef.]

What do you mean by that test the water within the reactor itself or at the output

As it exits the reactor, it should read zero or at least much lower than the tank, as it gets near to the tank lvl you know it’s not doing anything so time to change.

 

[ptrick21186]

What do you mean by that test the water within the reactor itself or at the output

Take your sample straight from the output of the reactor

 

[Mark Bradley]

There’s two schools of thought - measuring the output from the reactor will certainly show what it is doing. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean it mirrors the main tank.
My LFS, which propagated its own corals, had one member of staff who preferred measuring the main tank and one who measured the outflow from the reactor.

 

[ASIN28]

Gfo in a reactor, with your po4 being so high, the gfo will exhaust within days, so change often, tast water from the reactor as it comes out to know when it’s no longer removing po4.

I’m looking at the BRS reactor with the Sicce 1.5 pump. Is that sump even good enough

 

[Lavey29]

I just went through this. Once your rocks and sand get so saturated with phosphate the basic methods like GFO don't work. It will come down slightly then right back up and GFO burns out in a day or two.

What worked for me was phosphate RX but I only half dosed it to be safe. Brought my phosphate from .51 now I'm running consistent. 08 again.

 

[doubleshot00]

Rowaphos in a bag in the sump will lower it easily.

But this: “Hey all, so my phosphates have been elevated for quite some time now and even though corals seem to be happy with no sign of distress I need to get them down.”

Why mess with it then? If your tank looks fine then leave it alone.

 

[Lavey29]

Rowaphos in a bag in the sump will lower it easily.

But this: “Hey all, so my phosphates have been elevated for quite some time now and even though corals seem to be happy with no sign of distress I need to get them down.”

Why mess with it then? If your tank looks fine then leave it alone.

I agree but then you wake up one morning and bam.

 

[Reef.]

I’m looking at the BRS reactor with the Sicce 1.5 pump. Is that sump even good enough

That pump should be more than fine.

When you add your gfo/Rowa, if using Rowa give it a rinse first and add some floss at the top to stop any fines getting out, as Rowa is very fine.

 

[Mark Bradley]

Rinse rowaphos, in a sock, with salt water or RO until the ‘dust’ ceases to show. If the calculator says 4tbsp’s I usually do 4 1/2 to allow for the dust. Place in the reactor and slowly increase the pump until you get the desired movement. The slow increase avoids the rowaphos going mad and flying everywhere

 

[Reef.]

Rinse rowaphos, in a sock, with salt water or RO until the ‘dust’ ceases to show. If the calculator says 4tbsp’s I usually do 4 1/2 to allow for the dust. Place in the reactor and slowly increase the pump until you get the desired movement. The slow increase avoids the rowaphos going mad and flying everywhere

Yes but also keep in mind that if you have the flow too low, you could be adding more po4 than the rowa is removing. A piece of floss solves both dust and allows more flow if needed.

 

[ASIN28]

Yes but also keep in mind that if you have the flow too low, you could be adding more po4 than the rowa is removing. A piece of floss solves both dust and allows more flow if needed.

Another question now that I’m reading this, when GFO or Rowa is added into the reactor, how much flow should it have and how do I know when there is enough? @Mark Bradley @Reef.

 

[Boreas_SA]

I would lower it once off with lacl, until it consistently tests below 0.15. You are going to go through a lot of GFO while the sand and rocks leach phosphate back into the water while you are reducing the concentration in the water, it took me a month or 2 of lacl dosing to get phos under control coming from an insanely high number, but then it quickly bottomed out and it is now much easier to maintain lower levels with just gfo.

 

[Boogieman]

Curious why no one has suggested carbon or vodka dosing.

 

[Hats_]

Curious why no one has suggested carbon or vodka dosing.

cuz it may cause bacterial blooms and other problems, gfo is an easier route with more control. carbon dosing also effects no3 more than po4 generally so you may cause more imbalances than you solve