2 year struggle with phos.

[mmorrison55]

I’m kind of in the same boat. Phos (.4) and nitrate (26) high, but tank looks great and everything has been stable, ie, no coral die off or fish deaths in 6-8 months. I too would like to get both down. I think if I could ge them down, it might help with pesky cyano outbreaks I’m seeing.

But other than the few spots of cyano I keep vacuuming, everything else seems better than ever.

I do feed a lot, auto fish feeder runs a minute every few hours, but I have a school of lyre tails that need constant feeding.

honestly I stopped checking phos and nitrate as frequently as I used to. I only check it now, every 6 weeks or so. And when I send out icp tests every few months.

 

[Thumbster]

I'm in no position to offer advice but I'm following along to see if you accomplish your goal. It sounds like a lot of people (me included) are hoping someone will chime in here and crack the code.
How much TDO are you feeding? Is that the only source of PO4 that you're adding to the tank?

 

[BryanM]

I'm in no position to offer advice but I'm following along to see if you accomplish your goal. It sounds like a lot of people (me included) are hoping someone will chime in here and crack the code.
How much TDO are you feeding? Is that the only source of PO4 that you're adding to the tank?

Feed 3x a day, I spot feed mysis occasionally.

 

[56longroof]

How often are you changing out the gfo? With it that high its likely reached its saturation point before changing out again.

 

[fish_collector]

Regardless of what is typically recommended by the "experts", high phosphate doesn't cause any issues in my experience. My sps tank runs at 0.5 or higher most of the time. I quit trying to hit that 0.07 number a long time ago and in fact letting the phosphate go as high as it has, my corals and tank's general health have improved. I have no nuisance algae at all.

When I managed to keep my phosphate less than 0.1 I continuously had problems with bleaching, stn and no growth. I then stopped using the filter sock and added a few more fish and like the flip of a switch the corals took off. These days I hardly ever test for nutrients, I can look at the corals and tell if something is not right.

 

[Lasse]

From your build thread

Currently only feeding TDO Chromoboost, but maybe that will change w/Nutramars food for a year giveaway!

It seems that Chromeboost is very rich in phosphate - reef track report that it contains 1.5 % P

Your tank looks very good - maybe your PO4 concentrations is not the problem.

I have a rather mature reef too and have fight high PO4 (above 1 mg/L) in many years (all time high1.26 - 1.5 years ago - Oceamo) Its now get down to around 0.15 mg/L. I did that with first bring it down to around 0.4 with La - after that I start to use GFO in a reactor. Most GFO reactors have the flow from the bottom and up. I changed the flow to be from the top to the bottom and ad some filter wadding as a prefilter in order to minimize the bacteria build up as film around the grains of the GFO. I change the wadding every 4-6 days and the GFO is rather clean and active for a prolonged period because is lesser bacteria film that inhibit the absorption of the phosphate on the GFO

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/lasses-dream-build.246188/page-173#post-14267975

I have also just pressed the pipes together with thread tape wrapped around the male part of the conection and make it safe with cable tie. Its safe and easy to take apart

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Dan_P]

I’ve had elevated phosphates for two years now. Dosed lc, done gfo in a reactor.

Last phos test with gfo about 2-3 weeks ago, .17.

Removed gfo, today .41.

I know this is a hard thing to fix, I’m not terribly worried about it either.

Only reason I’m trying to control it is bjd with torches and hammers.

Wonder what folks would do.

I have a very oversized ats (rain 8), and it has brought nitrates down to 5 or less where I’m dosing sodium nitrate about once a week.

But my “normal” phos 3x I’ve stopped gfo or lc goes right back to .4x

After two years, this situation seems to be a matter of high input of phosphate. What are the sources of phosphate? How much phosphate in these sources is being added to the aquarium?

 

[areefer01]

I believe RHF noted above about adding iron and try to let the macro algae lower it naturally if you can. That is if it is the right macro algae. I believe some are better at removing phosphates than others but will let others answer that specifically.

It was also mentioned earlier that due to GFO use and exhaustion rate it is not the most cost efficient. Not to mention the manual effort it takes. So I sort of toss this out the window. There was an ebay seller who offered 10 lb packages for 99 usd, so if you go that route maybe look there if cost is a concern.

While I do not think your phosphate numbers are scary I can understand, and respect, why you want them trending lower and steady. You don't want a larger problem later with rock and substrate holding it. Fair point. So this gets me back to liking RHF option of adding iron. For this very reason I use ESV Transition Elements which adds iron, manganese, and zinc. There are other products so I am not pushing one over the other - just what I use. I can't say if it helps one way or the other but I feel it is adding the targeted trace elements it says so good with it.

Lastly, there are a few of us who have very high nutrients and keep mixed reefs. We do not recommend it but at the same time we admit it is what it is. Here are my test results from earlier in the week. And yes, these numbers are correct.

TL; DR - since your display looks fine, outside a few bjd possibilities, is working on the macro algae a possibility? Less time, manual effort, and maybe lower cost?

 

[smitten with ocean life]

this is also something that my tank has trouble with. i, too, am tired of doing the whole rowa-phos in the reactor thing. im not sure at what point you just let the tank do its thing ver. do something about it