Phosphate high, 0 nitrate, what should I do?

[mfield16]

My tank is a 15g column running an AC70 modded into a fuge with Purigen and Chaeto, about 30lbs LR, a few small corals, bunch of hermits, snails, etc,and 2 clowns.

 

Tank has been running for almost 4 months now, I do 20% WC whenever my GSP starts to retract a little, and I test Nitrate and Phosphate (API) every week or so. Nitrate has finally reached 0ppm every test for the past 3 weeks, but phosphate remains between .5 and 2ppm. No algae growth except a brown "dusting" on the glass that builds up if I don't scrape it every other day.

 

What can I do to lower the phosphate, or should I just leave it be since I am not seeing any ill effects? I have a Slim Skim I just purchased that can throw in there, but I didn't want to mess with the tank since I finally have it at what seems like stability.

 

Thanks for the help!

[mohawk]

Granular Ferric Oxide.,.

 

 

Good Luck

[metrokat]

Nitrate Dosing to control Phosphate

[mfield16]

Nitrate Dosing to control Phosphate

 

Unfortunately this seems a bit too intense for me as I still consider myself a newbie to the reef tank world and would be terrified to add nitrate to the tank. Mind you, I once had high tech planted tanks that I dry dosed daily and they did great, but in this game I have heard/read that a little mistake can cost you big.

 

Am I incorrect in my uneasiness to dose nitrate?

 

Granular Ferric Oxide.,.

 

 

Good Luck

 

My only option, if I were to go this route, would be to throw the GFO into a media bag and place it in my fuge. Will this be sufficient? Does GFO do anything else besides lower PO4? Of course I will read up on this as well, but so far I have been unable to find adequate examples of my exact situation...

 

Thanks for the replies so far btw.

[I<3SPS]

Granular Ferric Oxide.,.

 

 

Good Luck

 

^ This

 

In the fuge is probably fine as long as you have enough water flow moving through the media bag.

[mfield16]

GFO really needs to be in a media filter or in a reactor where water is being pushed through it to be effective. The particles are so small that it prevents flow through the media unless water is being pushed through.

 

I was VERY close to purchasing the GFO from BRS before I read this. The video that was posted above says they have a pellet type of GFO that is better in media bags in a HOB filter, but I could't find it anywhere.

 

How often does Phosguard need to be replaced? This may be a dumb question but is an aluminum based product OK for a reef tank?

 

Should I throw a skimmer in there and see if that helps anything first?

[nibor]

Buy a better phosphate test kit.

[uglyfish]

If you don't have a problem with algae or cyano, phosphate levels are probably OK. You could change 4-5 gallons of water and cut your po4 levels in half, if you feel they're a problem. Look at April TOTM - beautiful tank, no dosing, no skimmer, only weekly water changes. You have the added advantage of 30lbs of live rock. Your tank should do very well with water changes alone.

[mpg732]

If you don't have a problem with algae or cyano, phosphate levels are probably OK. You could change 4-5 gallons of water and cut your po4 levels in half, if you feel they're a problem. Look at April TOTM - beautiful tank, no dosing, no skimmer, only weekly water changes. You have the added advantage of 30lbs of live rock. Your tank should do very well with water changes alone.

Before you do a big water change, test the phosphates of your source water. Especially if your not using RO?DI. My city tap water can have as high as 2.ppm of phosphates. So if your source water is high, doing water changes won't help.

[mfield16]

Buy a better phosphate test kit.

 

I appreciate the advice, but could you help me out a little more with recommended test kit?

 

If you don't have a problem with algae or cyano, phosphate levels are probably OK. You could change 4-5 gallons of water and cut your po4 levels in half, if you feel they're a problem. Look at April TOTM - beautiful tank, no dosing, no skimmer, only weekly water changes. You have the added advantage of 30lbs of live rock. Your tank should do very well with water changes alone.

 

This is the concept I based my setup on. Very minimalistic. I have read a few threads where Nitrates reached zero, but phosphate did not, and just kept creeping up. I want to avoid that. I did buy some phosguard and a media bag online, just waiting for it to arrive. I chose this over GFO for the simple fact that GFO works better in a reactor. I may not even use the phosguard and just keep an eye on the phosphate levels with regular water changes.

 

Before you do a big water change, test the phosphates of your source water. Especially if your not using RO?DI. My city tap water can have as high as 2.ppm of phosphates. So if your source water is high, doing water changes won't help.

 

I have yet to do this. Should have been the first thing I did lol. I use RO, but I do not have a DI cartridge on my unit. TDS is 2. Tap is 65 TDS. I will test today though.

[nibor]

I appreciate the advice, but could you help me out a little more with recommended test kit?

Salifert, Elos if the budget will stretch to it.

 

Using the API test for the levels we are concerned with for reef aquariums is like trying to measure your weight using a scale accurate to the nearest ton.

[mfield16]

Salifert, Elos if the budget will stretch to it.

 

Using the API test for the levels we are concerned with for reef aquariums is like trying to measure your weight using a scale accurate to the nearest ton.

 

Makes sense. I am looking for a good deal on the Salifert kit now.

 

I tested my source water (well, the saltwater I use for WC) with the API test kit and it gave me a weird result. Instead of a pale yellow to indicate 0, it was more like a very pale brown/tan. The water temp was probably close to 90, so maybe that has something to do with it?

[mfield16]

Source water is 0 phosphate tested with Salifert kit.

 

Tank water is 1ppm tested with Salifert kit.

 

Phosguard arrived so I will put that in this evening. Should I take the Purigen out?

[jedimasterben]

Source water is 0 phosphate tested with Salifert kit.

 

Tank water is 1ppm tested with Salifert kit.

 

Phosguard arrived so I will put that in this evening. Should I take the Purigen out?

Leave it in, they both do different things.

[mfield16]

Leave it in, they both do different things.

 

OK so my next question is placement. I only have room for 1 media pouch under the chaeto. Can I put the purigen pouch in the section where the impeller is, before my sponge, or is the flow here too weak? I have an AC70 modded btw.

[jedimasterben]

Doesn't matter where it is put, it will filter the water the same. Just keep in mind that if you keep it before any mechanical filtration (I would remove the sponge and use filter floss, it's better at catching fine particles and is dirt cheap, a ginormous bag is like $5-7 at Walmart), it will catch detritus if you don't rinse it out every once in a while, maybe every week or every other week.

[mfield16]

Alrighty then. So nix the sponge filters, get some floss, and make sure I rinse out the Purigen every week or so.

 

I guess I need to rinse with RO water or does that matter?

 

How much Phosguard do I need for a 15g tank?

[jedimasterben]

Alrighty then. So nix the sponge filters, get some floss, and make sure I rinse out the Purigen every week or so.

 

I guess I need to rinse with RO water or does that matter?

 

How much Phosguard do I need for a 15g tank?

Doesn't matter what you rinse it with, particularly. I rinse all of my stuff (that isn't biological media) in tap water, but I have a lot more volume (about 90 gallons or so) so it doesn't matter at all for me, it's so diluted, and it should honestly be the same for you, you'd only be putting drops of the rinsing water in.

 

And I'm not sure how much you'll need, it will probably tell you on the packaging how much to use and how often to change it.

[joeyhatch11]

I use to use SeaChem PhosGuard in my 10G when I had some GHA. I would use just about half of a 250ml bottle in a baggie and place it in the HOB filter. Worked wonders and went away rather quick with no ill side effects of fish or corals. Only had to use it twice in a years time before my latest upgrade to a bigger tank. But I love that stuff and will always use it when I have phosphates.

[jedimasterben]

Looked up on Seachem's website, says to use 250mL (1 cup) per 75 gallons, so I think 1/4 cup would be ok to use.

[mfield16]

Looked up on Seachem's website, says to use 250mL (1 cup) per 75 gallons, so I think 1/4 cup would be ok to use.

 

That is exactly how much I used. After a month with it in the bottom of the AC70 PO4 has decreased from 1 to ~0.5. The directions say to test regularly and when you see PO4 creeping up to replace. I may just replace it now with the same amount.

[jedimasterben]

That is exactly how much I used. After a month with it in the bottom of the AC70 PO4 has decreased from 1 to ~0.5. The directions say to test regularly and when you see PO4 creeping up to replace. I may just replace it now with the same amount.

Good plan. My phosphate made its way up to 0.13ppm. I tossed in 250mL of Phosguard and so far it has dropped noticeably (in the tank, I haven't measured it yet), but I'll probably have to change it out very soon because it had so much to absorb.

[PODPIMP]

IME GFO is much much more effective at removing phosphate.

[metrokat]

IMO, an aluminum based media like Kent Phosphate Sponge or Phosguard, or a combination of the two would be better in this situation. Those products are more effective at removing phosphates and can be placed in the fuge or sump as long as there is high water flow as the media is larger and has more voids between the particles.

 

Kent Phosphate Sponge is good to use for a quick reduction, but it needs to be removed after a day. The Phosguard can be left in a media bag in your sump for as long as needed.

 

GFO really needs to be in a media filter or in a reactor where water is being pushed through it to be effective. The particles are so small that it prevents flow through the media unless water is being pushed through.

+1

[Adrnalnrsh]

Stop doing 20% water changes when you notice something with your GSP.

 

Your only addressing the symptom by adding GFO, try to find the source.

 

Switch to 10% weekly water changes!

Always rinse your frozen food in RO/DI!

Did you get a new Nitrate kit? What are the results?

What is your livestock?

Read up on redfield ratio - use as guideline not the gospel. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redfield_ratio

Add the GFO and start out small. Heard of weird things when adding too much and having SPS corals.

 

Recommended PO4 and NO3 levels are .02 and .2.

 

Bacteria that consumes phosphates and nitrates need carbon to do so in a ratio of C:N:P = 106:16:1

 

With that said, I had 0.00 nitrates and .01 to .04 phosphates and had algae/cyano problems. This was due to an out of balance of phosphates, nitrates and too much carbon (biopellets).

 

In my case I upped my bioload (more fish in order to increase nitrates) and started feeding more as well as pruned tons of chaeto and turned my skimmer off for a week. I also added Microbacter7 to compete for the available carbon to lower my cyano (this worked)

 

I know your not running biopellets, however understanding the above will help you a lot in reef keeping and hopefully prevent you from making all the typical mistakes we all learn the hard way.