Crazy Weird Po4 issue - insight needed

[afamousjohnson]

Double post...but since its here -

I do have salt that i am not questioning now (even tho i tested makeup water b4) got a good amount of salt (bucket) from a buddy after breakdown that i was using. Always questioned it may be a prob but tested fine. Using a new bag now of reef crystals see if that makes any dif.

 

[afamousjohnson]

The crazy'r part is that the FT is housing corals fine. I have been moving them over and cutting the bigger ones saving what i can and super glueing the white edge on frags showing issues and others. Been helping me save some pieces. Frags seem to recover so far for the most part loosing 1 here or there.
In fact they are doing great in there thus far which makes no sense.
The lights and the rocks in the tanks are really the only big dif between the 2 and i guess the sb but its all the same water....?
Could my dif in lights on the display be an issue in some way.??. Aquatraders fixture mh/pc

 

[akitareefer]

Well this is a crazy thread.... So at this point we still don't know the source of the phosphates... Since you are blowing through GFO have you considered Lanthium Chloride? Also, how long has that egg crate been in there? you aware it leaches phosphates? Lastly, how old are your bulbs in display? I know old bulbs can cause issues but I doubt anything that bad (a local has a 2 year old MH bulbs flourishing in his SPS tank)

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Here is the sponge product by kent. Gfo i use is bulk reef supply.

That product is aluminum oxide (which will release soluble aluminum, contrary to their claims). They just need to look harder. You'll probably see it if you test your water with the Triton test.

As they note, capacity is lost each time you renew. It is not actually removing any phosphate with a renewal with heat, and if you put "renewed" material into low phosphate seawater or tank water, phosphate will come off. All you are doing is driving off some of the organic matter. This material may be able to be regenerated as GFO is (with high or low pH), but I've not worked out conditions for that.

 

[afamousjohnson]

Ya seemed like a gimic to me - hence stick to the tride n true gfo.lol also noticed the whiting start more heavily among a lot of the pieces when i started using it. But i cant contest that to the product as it could easily be showing from initial stress.

What do you think about using a portion of tank water from a healthy tank to put back into my tank during a wc? Was think8ng this only along the lines of adding dif strains of bacteria into my system to help me.... i dont know but hey.lol

 

[afamousjohnson]

Tested effluent from reactor after 24hrs with the gfo this morning - tested at .53

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Tested effluent from reactor after 24hrs with the gfo this morning - tested at .53

And what is the tank now?

 

[afamousjohnson]

Couldnt get a reading along with 1st test this morning due to using my last reg again - had a reg supposed to be dropped off but they didnt get there b4 i had to go to work. So now i have 1 reg sitting here until my new order gets around - this is getting old I think i will test the effluent with this last 1 now that the comparison test from this morning is void so i can get an idea on how this gfo is holding.
Obviously more to come.lol tank looks good today despite the fact.

 

[afamousjohnson]

tested reactor effluent after 48hrs and got 1.69 coming out. Looks like it will take a daily cup gfo regiment for who knows how long to keep it at bay. I might due one last ditch effort purchase and get another bulk gfo and try this I guess. It will suck if I manage to remove a large amount thru diligence and cost only to find if I dont continue it on a daily basis that it will just raise back up to 2. Used to run gfo for 1 month inbetween changes and always ran .03 or so.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Definitely needs faster replacement if it is that high coming out of it.

You sure the kit is working right?

 

[afamousjohnson]

The hanna? Ya - there have been 3 dif meters and many dif reg used so far in this. Also at the same time with readings almost exact.

I just wonder if i can get it to zero by daily gfo - if i am going to be able to hold that (if something in the tank is leaching) or if at that point i dont do a wc for 1 week.lol it sky rockets back to 2 or 3.?? That there would be considered an un manageable tank imo.

Bought to pull off a large wc.

 

[zemuss]

Why not try a ATS?

 

[afamousjohnson]

Have thought about it. I run a fuge as well on the system.

 

[afamousjohnson]

I want to put up a last set of #'s and some info to finalize this thread and hopefully allow future hobbiests that run into a similar problem some info in searchs for a fix.

Status - getting better
Problem - never figured out source, but figured out helpful info in making better
solution - as follows

I left off after I went back to the 1 cup of gfo on 10-30 which was overly exhausted after 48hrs.(testing was done am 10/30-11/01 48hrs)
on 11-01 added new 1cup gfo
also did 30g wc with 15g water taken from another running system and put into mine for bacterial purpose.
11-2 phos in DT .53 (ran out of phos tests)
changed gfo with new 1 cup - 5g wc - added new carbon 1cup
11-3 change gfo new 1 cup
11-4 change gfo new 1 cup - 5g wc (ran out of gfo)
11-8 (recieved more phos test) DT phos around .3
effluient from gfo reactor phos .2
11-10 display phos .23
11-11 (recieved more gfo) changed gfo new 1cup
11-12 display phos .13
effliuent phos .06

Despite my aggressive tactics for the 1st month trying to fix this problem - as randy stated it wasn't enough. It wasn't until I changed my gfo on a 24hr basis sched that I really started making some head way. At the high #'s of phos the gfo was exhausted crazy fast. WC tho helpful did seem to feed my cyano outbreak during the problems. They are needed it seemed during but showed a rather smaller effect on helping fix the problem. I do believe the introduction of new bacteria was helpful.

The phos sponge by kent was a joke - did nothing in helping me fix my problem with the way I used it. Who knows if I would have used the entire amount only once for a couple hours and than took off and threw away - it may have done what it was supposed to do??? It was still crap - and stunk to cook not to mention it ruined my baking sheet.lol

I saw issues with my fish and corals over this stretch of time. All bad with fish issues but with corals it was a mixed review. Some loved it others not so much and a handfull it was to much for. I am still pulling sps out of the display due to issues and putting in the FT for recovery(on same water). I have gotten amazing results in the FT with both growth and color while the display still struggles. I will put up a pic to show this. I have one millie that has grown more in the FT in 1 month than ever in the DT after 2years-weird. I can also see things getting un happy as I am dropping phos #'s finally.

My guess for the issue is that upon using the putty in the system it created a mass die off(due to something in it-bad batch maybe??) with small organisms in the tank such as bacteria and such. That in turn threw things out of whack and possibly started the phos rise. Noticed at one point (not possitive due to conflicting test results) an amonia spike. Had a couple fish die and 1 of my 2 cleaner shrimps. which I am sure did another # to the phos #'s.
Either that or another form of contaminant getting in there.
there was the possibility of maybe someone poisening my tank due to an unnkown visitor I had over for some coral at the start of things - I dont think this is the case tho.

The issue with things living in the same water thriving in the FT that were showing issues not a week earlier in the display before removed I can not put my finger on.

 

[tigerdragon]

Making progress best i have seen in a while

 

[afamousjohnson]

Here is a pic. 1st pic was taken on 11/1. This was a frag made from the colony of tri color that was pretty much lost to complete die off in the display. Removed the colony and made frag the day before 10/31
The 2nd pic was taken on 11/11. It is the frag in the white box - look at the base growth after 11 days.

 

[tigerdragon]

Wow that is crazy

 

[afamousjohnson]

Making progress best i have seen in a while

Yup - but u can never let ur guard down. Getting to the end here and now the cal rx is acting up and dropping my ph supr low and skyrocketed alk n cal. Always something.lol

 

[afamousjohnson]

tested the phos this morning in the DT and got a .06 reading - haven't changed gfo or done a wc in 9days. Looks like she might be kicking back into gear.

 

[tigerdragon]

So still going for rebuild or?