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Still trying to fix phosphate issue

I’m thinking it’s the ro water. Going to set up another membrane to hopefully help. My tds reads 0 on the water coming out. So idk. My tank looks like trash. Anyone else in NJ run two membranes
 

amado

Dal
Staff member
Board of Directors
NJRC Member
I run 3 I have the BRS 7 stage.
you don’t need it. Zero tds is zero so you are not going to get better.
Public water in nj is not bad compare to other states.
My TDS is 150 from the tap.
It drops to 3-6 before the 1st di after that it’s 0
your tank looks like trash because of something else.
 

diana a

Staff member
NJRC Member
Moderator
How old is your tank?
Tank size, # fish, how often do you feed and quantity of food?
What are your nitrates?
How often do you do a water change?
Could you take a photo and post here?
 
Others sources could be the rocks leeching phosphates or the type of food your feeding.
I would be happy to be corrected but I don’t believe I am yet to see any credible evidence. Of Rock “leaching” phosphates. I have seen people post it dozens of times as a possibility. And have seen it Theorized. But that’s it. Let me know if anybody has seen differently
 
Randy-Homes has this article on calcium and mentioned that phosphates can bind onto aragonite surfaces, so if your using rock/dead coral from another tank that had a high phosphate concentration, that could be a source. (tank crash or someone got out of hobby and sold the rock) This probably doesn't occur as often as people claim, but from my understanding, its a possibility.
Food is likely more of a contribution, silver sides particular are high in them and have noticed my phosphates weren't raising as quickly when i started to use shrimp and squid as food more often. There could be different factors, but it was a trend I picked up.
 
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Randy-Homes has this article on calcium and mentioned that phosphates can bind onto aragonite surfaces, so if your using rock/dead coral from another tank that had a high phosphate concentration, that could be a source. (tank crash or someone got out of hobby and sold the rock) This probably doesn't occur as often as people claim, but from my understanding, its a possibility.
Food is likely more of a contribution, silver sides particular are high in them and have noticed my phosphates weren't raising as quickly when i started to use shrimp and quid as food more often. There could be different factors, but it was a trend I picked up.
Awesome. Do you have Randy’s article.
 
Sure!
"Other processes that inhibit crystal growth in reef tanks involve both phosphate and organics that get onto the growing crystal, inhibiting it just as magnesium does. Here’s a link to some data on the binding of phosphate to aragonite surfaces. These processes presumably happen in natural seawater as well, but since the concentrations of both organics and phosphate may be higher in tanks, their effect may be enhanced. There is an extensive discussion of these issues in “Captive Seawater Fishes” by Stephen Spotte (1992). '

Sadly the link to the more in depth data doesn't work, but there are probably other sources that go more in depth.
 
Sure!
"Other processes that inhibit crystal growth in reef tanks involve both phosphate and organics that get onto the growing crystal, inhibiting it just as magnesium does. Here’s a link to some data on the binding of phosphate to aragonite surfaces. These processes presumably happen in natural seawater as well, but since the concentrations of both organics and phosphate may be higher in tanks, their effect may be enhanced. There is an extensive discussion of these issues in “Captive Seawater Fishes” by Stephen Spotte (1992). '

Sadly the link to the more in depth data doesn't work, but there are probably other sources that go more in depth.
This is awesome. Thank you. I look forward to reading.
 
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