phosphates. home ro units also!

[Vi3tKid420]

well, i was at my lfs, and after 2 weeks of having tests all i really needed was only one real simple test, and it was phosphates. my phosphates are high, its over 1 most likely, and i found the causes of high phosphates

# uneaten food

# plant decay

# dying algae

# fish feces

# dead fish

# carbon filter media

# aquarium salts

# pH buffers

# kH buffers

# water itself

 

now the worse problem i am having is ph too, my ph isnt high enough, so how can i raise ph and have low phosphates if ph buffers are the cause of it. also for top offs, ive been using the r.o units that are found under the kitchen sink for drinking water, i was wondering if those might contain phosphates also

[er1c_the_reefer]

ro units kept under the sink, if its not kept up to date on the changing the filters, etc. can leech phosphates. also check for coconut carbon filters, i think they do too sometimes.

[Vi3tKid420]

hmm alright... ill probably just start buying r.o. water from my lfs. kinda have a feeling catalina water is starting to go bad now (from the ocean), anybody have any clue about the ph problem? its at 8.2 with lights on, i still think its kinda low, so what can i do to make it go higher since ph buffers is a problem with phosphates?

[Phixion]

hmm alright... ill probably just start buying r.o. water from my lfs. kinda have a feeling catalina water is starting to go bad now (from the ocean), anybody have any clue about the ph problem? its at 8.2 with lights on, i still think its kinda low, so what can i do to make it go higher since ph buffers is a problem with phosphates?

 

Since when is a pH of 8.2 low?? 8.2 is right where you want it at and about where the ocean is at. Don't attempt to raise it from there as your pH level is perfect. If you start getting to 8.0 by day and lower, than I'd start to worry. As for phosphates, test your RO water from right out of the filter, that will tell you if that's the culprate or not. BTW, depending on your LFS, some fellow reefers here in So. Cali tested the water of various LFSs around and found statrtling results. Not one tested BELOW 50 TDS on their RO water. So I'd honestly be very hesitant of using LFS RO water, that's just my personal opinion though.

[redfishsc]

An interesting solution (or part of a solution) to the pH AND the phosphate problem is to carefully drip kalkwasser (buy pickling lime at the grocery store, same thing at 1/10th the price).

 

 

However, PLEASE DO A GOOGLE SEARCH and learn how to do this.

 

I suggest kalk because it has a high pH and also has a fringe benefit of precipitating phosphate out of solution. Meaning, it reacts with phosphate, binding it into a solid and dropping it harmlessly to your tank/filter bottom.

 

Now as mentioned above, 8.2 is dead-nuts perfect pH. Don't bother raising it.

 

My pH stays around 8.2 and I dose kalk, but I also know what I'm doing. It's easy to overdo kalk, but also easy to do right. Just research it. Hard to find such a useful product that lasts for over a year for a nano and cost $3 a box.

[Vi3tKid420]

so kalk raises ph, without raising phosphates? and i use pickling lime which is that lemon bottle or what? can anybody provide a link to explain?

[pismo_reefer]

nope

[Vi3tKid420]

nope what? or are you just tryna raise your posts up?