Phosphates

[erics210]

HIGH PHOSPHATES
I have had this system up for a few years now and am happy with the overall tank but I definitely have slow growth, and almost non existent Coraline algae spread. What is there is alive, just no spread.

With that said, I have a Red Sea s500 liter tank tied into a 35 gallon frag tank with 150 total gallons of volume. 12 fish in Main Display including a few tangs plus 3 clowns small tang and wrasse in the 35.
Run AI Hydra 26 over both.
I have been slowly working on tank parameters.
Temp 78 and Salinity 1.025

Alk 9.0
Calcium 450
Magnesium 1350
(Dose BRS 2-part for above)

Nitrates 35
Phosphates 1.12
Just started focusing on nitrates and Phosphates.
They WERE 1.62 and in about 3 weeks lowered to 1.12. used a lesser dose of NOPOX.
Both tanks are bare bottom and I do siphon detritus during me weekly(or so) water changes. Have anthias so feed a handful of times a day. But only what they eat. Also run a good side Reef Octopus skimmer, and change my filter socks regularly.

Lost $800 worth of jawbreakers....so looking for advice. Also had some other softies just melt away.

I believe lowering the phosphates should be a goal as it will probably help the overall health of the tank.

Is there an ideal level to reduce it by monthly?

I currently do have cheato added, and BIOBAK bacterial pellets(enough for a 50 gallon system).
Cheato did grow a little and shared some with a local reefer.

From my understanding, all of the phosphate eliminates use bonding to remove the phosphates. With many of these products you can get a very quick drop. Add in the necessary volume of product and use fine mesh filter socks for a.few hour and bamm. Phosphates 1.0 less.
BUT!!!
Before I just in with Phosguard, Phosban, GFO, NoPox, or others...wanted to gain some insight.
Should I continue down this cheato path for a while and see how it pans out, or something else? AND GRADUAL decrease seems like the way to go.
Lastly,
I have all of the above mentioned products and probably a bunch more, so just a matter of going with one.

Main system tank picture attached.
Purchased an ICP test and will probably be doing that right after the new year.

 

[Jamie S]

Your tank looks great! I know Marc C has some Dragons Breath Macro, that helps sucks up nitrates naturally. Put that with the cheato and you may start to see it come down some. I added some in the summer and my PO4 has stayed steady between .04 and .07

 

[NJTaxMan]

I HATE GFO. I tried it once and sucked out all of my phosphates. Wonderful dino bloom that I am still fighting. I HIGHLY suggest Cheato with a longer photo period. Should take care of it soon. I have a very small ball of Cheato and I actually have to dose nitrates and phosphates to keep minimal levels.

 

[erics210]

I HATE GFO. I tried it once and sucked out all of my phosphates. Wonderful dino bloom that I am still fighting. I HIGHLY suggest Cheato with a longer photo period. Should take care of it soon. I have a very small ball of Cheato and I actually have to dose nitrates and phosphates to keep minimal levels.

Sounds like we are at opposite extremes...lol

 

[erics210]

Your tank looks great! I know Marc C has some Dragons Breath Macro, that helps sucks up nitrates naturally. Put that with the cheato and you may start to see it come down some. I added some in the summer and my PO4 has stayed steady between .04 and .07

Thank you.
I currently have my frag tank plumbed directly into the Red Sea system.
When I first ran the drainline fromt he frag tank the water would go into the overflows and it just drained into the same shared sump.
NOW I have a 5 gallon tank resting in the sump area it drains into that houses my cheato with a light attached.
I have a little space between the frag tank and stand nd main display, was thinking of doing a drain from the top of the main tank down into a bin, bucket tote of some type and have that also drin back into the sump. Will see how that goes.

 

[DangerDave]

short term to get it down in a controlled manner you can use lanthanum chloride.

When I use it, I decide my dosage and dilute it with RO, then dose it directly into my skimmer body slowly through the day. No worries about the tiny precipitate that is formed in the reaction, it’s skimmed out. If you don’t manage the precipitate, it can aggravate and/or kill some fish. This is usually seen when dosing undiluted with no filter of any sort.

Long term, a healthy fuge has brought me the best results, allowing me to feed as much as I want (with very little management).

 

[MadReefer]

How about phosguard or phosban.

 

[ericrodriguez]

Good luck with everything buddy. Doing changes almost always hit us some how.

 

[captain donato]

I have same exact tank. I struggled with zero phos and nitrate for a while. I was running both an algae scrubber and chaeto at same time. I did away with chaeto and just kept algae scrubber going but cut screen a bit smaller. I too have antheas and feed heavy and also use reef energy every couple days. I started dosing nitrates and got that up to 5. My phosphates jumped up to 0.21 so I put a phosban reactor online and have that down to .010. Hope that helps you

 

[Rjmul]

Don't waste your time with any form of gfo. It's gonna get expensive, and I think it's a pain in the ass.
Carbon dosing will help once things get more manageable and at a better ratio, but I would try lanthinum chloride first.


Very very slowly. I have no evidence that phosphate binds to rock (I'm not a rock so I don't know), BUT I think it does bind to rock. The lanthinum from my experience will pull it out of the water column then the rock will leach back.
If you go this route it might feel like you're fighting a losing battle but keep at it and go slow.

or do what Richard Ross did for a while and do nothing

 

[Goodair]

Coraline can grow with high phosphates, not sure why yours hasn't spread.

 

[erics210]

Coraline can grow with high phosphates, not sure why yours hasn't spread.

Can't explain it.