Ok for the past few months I have been fighting the battle of phosphates with no end in sight!I have stopped feeding all canned fish food and my phosphates will not stay down! I am changing phos guard every 3 days along with the same for gfo! I cannot figure out what the hell I am doing wrong! The only food the tank gets is fresh brine shrimp,fresh shrimp,once aweek oyster feast and pellets once a week!I haven’t noticed any issues with corals. I have noticed that once I started this battle I have been getting nice pink coralline algee.however its not really spreading too much.the lowest I canseem to get them is .30 and every 3 days its back up to about.50 if not higher!? I don’t know what else to do. Can sombody please help me? Ps tim and paul pleas keep your smart azzz comments to yourselves YahoO
Did you try adding macro algae or adding a refugium? Do you have a sand bed?
[quote=“mortyn02, post:2, topic:4818”]
Did you try adding macro algae or adding a refugium? Do you have a sand bed?[/quote]
Yes to both I do have some marco and a refugium,my sandbed varies in depth from almost6" to about 2
How are you testing for Phos? Are you using RO/DI water for top off and water changes?
[quote=“houndsbayman, post:4, topic:4818”]
How are you testing for Phos? Are you using RO/DI water for top off and water changes?[/quote]
Good question, second one is why do you think you have a phosphate problem? BTW, how you feeling?
I wouldnt consider any thing under 2 ppm a problem with phosphate…but then again there is many with more experence than I.
But if the .3 to .5 is pretty stable, why worry unless your seeing a problem?
[quote=“aonemarine, post:6, topic:4818”]
I wouldnt consider any thing under 2 ppm a problem with phosphate…but then again there is many with more experence than I.
But if the .3 to .5 is pretty stable, why worry unless your seeing a problem?[/quote]
I wouldn’t be worring but I’m only getting 3 days from either product that I’m using! The directions say 3months!
Have you tried riding it out for a week or so? to see how high it spikes up to?
[quote=“beadlocked450r, post:1, topic:4818”]
Ok for the past few months I have been fighting the battle of phosphates with no end in sight!I have stopped feeding all canned fish food EXCUSE ALL CAPS.what is that? can u be specific?? and my phosphates will not stay down! I am changing phos guard every 3 days along with the same for gfo! QUESTION: what’s the flow like through your p’guard?? and how much are you using?? I cannot figure out what the hell I am doing wrong! The only food the tank gets is fresh brine shrimp,fresh shrimp,once aweek oyster feast and pellets once a week! SO EVERY WEEK THEY ARE FED 4 TIMES, right? too much! does 'fresh shrimp" mean you feed people shrimp? I’d replace brine shrimp with mysis immediately. and i’d feed every third day. try that for a week or so I haven’t noticed any issues with corals. I have noticed that once I started this battle I have been getting nice pink coralline algee.however its not really spreading too much.the lowest I canseem to get them is .30 and every 3 days its back up to about.50 if not higher!? SMART AZZZ QUESTION: from what tim said, your bulbs are older than I am. I don’t know what else to do. Can sombody please help me? Ps tim and paul pleas keep your smart azzz comments to yourselves YahoO[/quote]
the problem took a while to develop–i saw the enormous amount of food that went into the tank–so it’s gonna take a while to go away.
however, is it just the number that bugs you, since everything else seems to be ok.
and answer the questions, punk, like john’s what test kit for phosphate??
My opinion Jason. Your tank looks great. No HA and no other problems that you know of beside high readings. Your only thing about it is that your corals are not growing as fast as you want them to, is that correct? Have you check for PH, Alk and MG at all?
Phosphates that high will certainly slow the growth of your corals, but you say they seem fine, so the big question is why are you concerned? If you aren’t battling cyano, hair algae, or other issues I wouldn’t go crazy over the numbers.
How often and what % are you water changes? I know there are many people who are shocked when it’s recommended water is changed more then once a month, so I’ve got to ask.
0ppm tds RODI?
Skimmer?
What type of pellets? Fresh shrimp from the grocery store? You can look at any shrimp as a solid piece of phosphate. Are you adding oyster feast for a particular reason? Have an animal that won’t make it with out? That stuff is PACKED with phosphates and there is a 99% chance your tank with thrive with out it.(may benefit from it’s addition as well, but since it will likely be ok with out it and your battling phosphates cut it)
Here is one thing to keep in mind, you can not feed your fish with out adding phosphates. If you are adding a food that has absoletly 0 phosphates in it you have to wonder how your fish are going to survive as they need phosphate to build their tissues, for their bones, for survival. It’s kind of like saying your going on a 0 calorie die it, but you burn calories just by breathing… You can’t live with 0 calories and fish can’t have a 0 phosphate diet and survive.
Healthy food will have phosphates so you just need to make sure you are only adding what your fish eat. If your fish are eating everything that goes in and aren’t eating too much and your equipment and maintenance aren’t keeping it low… maybe less fish better equipment or more maintenance.
Looks like some good advise so far,
Like nitrate once you have it and alot of it, it takes awhile to get rid of it since it will be in the rocks and substrate. Keep after it and it will come down, keep your water as pure as possible, keep up on your water changes and limit the amount of food to at least every other day and low doses.
i had a reading of 3-4 plus junky test kin i removed a rock and added it to a bucket i tested that and it was through the roof. I used to never test or remove po4 when i started out. i had no coralline algae i used gfo for about 6 months and it finally came down. just keep up on it and it will fall
Ok paul you might be correct,I am looking at the number,I hear you and tim and A saying your phos is like.05 or lower and I am trying toget that low also. Maybe my $problem is I’m unsure of what my phosphates should be?yes things seem to be growing slowly but growing. I don’t have any algee at all so I don’t persay have a problem but just ASSume they should be as low as poss. Yes my tds is 0ppm! No I have never checked my water other then tds. So let me get this right ANY food has phosphates? If I’m not mistaken phos is an additive or perservaitive? So how does fresh food have that?
Look I’m not so concerned that I have po3 but the fact that I am changing my media every 3days,because they go from .30 to atleast .50 in 3 DAYS! That’s starting to get expensive!
check your phosphate right from your reactor output
I wouldnt change it that often. Use gfo not phosguard and replace it monthly. That will be fine it will come down once your rock leaches it out
I’m coming in a little late on this thread, and I’m not familiar with you system, but I’d say that if you’re not seeing any type of HA, cyano, diatoms, etc., you probably don’t have a PO[sub]4[/sub] problem. If you don’t think you’re stoney coral growth is what it should be, make sure your Ca, Mg and Alk are where they should be, along with the proper amount of light.
I’ve tried a number of PO[sub]4[/sub]test kits over the years, both liquid and Hanna, and have found that they will give you different readings, even when you check the same water three times in a row. So, I don’t even check it unless I start to some some evidence of HA, etc. from above.
http://www.phosphatesfacts.org/pdfs/Potable%20Water%20Treatment.pdf
This may give you a better understanding of phosphates and the reaction with caco3, personally i wouldnt be concerned untill you hit 2ppm. Nature will more than likely take over before you hit that point, I would just ride it out…
When I first found out my po3 was high it was testing above 2.5ppm(tim and paul saw it) and I never had an algee problem.that was atleast 6months ago.ca525,ph was8.1,mag1480,alk2.8,kh7.8 trates 25