Phosphates Up for Almost a Year

[Jamon]

Hi,

I have a 175 gallon established tank. About 7 fish (wrasses, clowns and chromis) and a few LPSs. I'm fighting phosphates with no luck and I'm, frankly exhausted and stumped. Here is what I have done.

Use GFO high capacity. I change it WEEKLY to get PO4 down to about 0.05. I'm told I shouldn't be changing often. But if I don't, it's at 0.15 or higher.

I checked my sources of water with an ultra meter. Everything is 0.01 from the Rodi to the holding tank to the moment it goes in the aquarium.

I feed ONE frozen cube per day. I have no idea how my fish survive, but it has not helped the PO4 issue.

I do have a lot of live rock. I use gyres to blow stuff off them all day long.

I truly don't know what to try anymore. Any advice you can recommend would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Please don't hold back from feeding the fish, that never helps with anything.
My phosphate is at .1 to .15, so its not bad

How old is the tank? Did you start with dry rock? That is often a source of phosphate, it will leach from the rocks, you need to keep using gfo to absorb it. Put a rock in a bucket of new salt water and see if the phosphate level rises, then you will know.

It took me 2 years to get it out of my system, I was doubling and tripling the amount of gfo to use and changed it every week, it cost me a fortune in gfo, but one day it was finally over.

 

[dwest]

My phosphate levels are about 0.4 ppm. I replace a small amount of GFO every 2 weeks. I agree to feed your fish more. When I had wrasses I fed 3-4 times per day.

Latest FTS

 

[ingchr1]

What's the reason for fighting and exhausting yourself to get phosphate less than 0.15? Do you observe negative effects when it gets to those levels?

 

[Pistondog]

As others have said, reset your po4 level target. The accepted level seems to be moving up.

 

[Cycleguy0623]

I agree with the feed your fish more as well. I have a copper band and a school of anthais so I feed hourly 10-9 as well as frozen twice. My P04 runs around .4. I was running higher till my macro reactor got installed but never used gfo. I found the macro to just strip p04 very quickly.

 

[Jamon]

Please don't hold back from feeding the fish, that never helps with anything.
My phosphate is at .1 to .15, so its not bad

How old is the tank? Did you start with dry rock? That is often a source of phosphate, it will leach from the rocks, you need to keep using gfo to absorb it. Put a rock in a bucket of new salt water and see if the phosphate level rises, then you will know.

It took me 2 years to get it out of my system, I was doubling and tripling the amount of gfo to use and changed it every week, it cost me a fortune in gfo, but one day it was finally over.

The tank is over 2 years old. I bought new live rock at that time. If thats what is driving this issue I guess I am in for a long fight.

 

[Jamon]

My phosphate levels are about 0.4 ppm. I replace a small amount of GFO every 2 weeks. I agree to feed your fish more. When I had wrasses I fed 3-4 times per day.

Latest FTS

Thank you, will definitely feed more.

 

[Jamon]

What's the reason for fighting and exhausting yourself to get phosphate less than 0.15? Do you observe negative effects when it gets to those levels?

More algae, I seem to be cleaning glass every three days now, and sand is more dirty. Overall, I just thought it mainly affects coral growth.

 

[bkwonnn]

Also question your measuring device and technique. I changed my 10 ml Hanna cuvette and the results were drastically different. Also my turkey paster and siringes I use for collecting water samples are heavily contaminated. Clean these with rodi water!! Try different brand of testing.

 

[randomfishdude]

More algae, I seem to be cleaning glass every three days now, and sand is more dirty. Overall, I just thought it mainly affects coral growth.

It acually does not affect it. I clean my glass every 2 days. If your sandbed is dirty just get some more sand cuc.

I run my phos at .22

 

[exnisstech]

PO4 0.9 last Sunday

 

[exnisstech]

I changed my 10 ml Hanna cuvette and the results were drastically different.

I found out years ago the marks vary and just started using a 10ml syringe. I use the same syringe for all test.

 

[george9]

Anecdotal, but I have run into FAR more issues running phosphate below 0.1 than I have above 0.1

Actually, I can't say I've ever run into an issue that was caused by high PO4 and I've gone as high as 0.3PPM. I can't believe 10 years ago we thought phosphate in our tanks was the devil. My glass actually stays cleaner for longer as long as my PO4 and NO3 are in balance. If one get's low, that's when I start seeing issues with algae and general tank appearance.

.15 seems like a perfect target to me. If everything looks good don't stress. Anything below .05 on a Hanna checker and you're at risk of bottoming out which only leads to more issues. I start seeing tiny patches of dinos pop up in a couple of my tanks when PO4 starts consistently hitting .05 and below. Anecdotal, but just giving some examples to reduce any anxiety about trying to maintain a magically low phosphate concentration.

 

[bkwonnn]

I found out years ago the marks vary and just started using a 10ml syringe. I use the same syringe for all test.

I noticed the same this week. Good advice

 

[LeDart]

Don't chase numbers, whenever I do, my tank looks so much worse, I had .3 phosphate for a year, and my tank looked good, but as soon as I took measures to change it, my tank took a turn for the worse.

 

[Jamon]

Everyone, THANK YOU VERY much for your help. My worries are no longer now that I understand your experiences with PO4. I will keep it higher, feed more and see where it takes me. What a great community.

 

[Uncle99]

Hi,

I have a 175 gallon established tank. About 7 fish (wrasses, clowns and chromis) and a few LPSs. I'm fighting phosphates with no luck and I'm, frankly exhausted and stumped. Here is what I have done.

Use GFO high capacity. I change it WEEKLY to get PO4 down to about 0.05. I'm told I shouldn't be changing often. But if I don't, it's at 0.15 or higher.

I checked my sources of water with an ultra meter. Everything is 0.01 from the Rodi to the holding tank to the moment it goes in the aquarium.

I feed ONE frozen cube per day. I have no idea how my fish survive, but it has not helped the PO4 issue.

I do have a lot of live rock. I use gyres to blow stuff off them all day long.

I truly don't know what to try anymore. Any advice you can recommend would be greatly appreciated.

My phosphate 0.2ppm for many years.
I rather have stability than low numbers.