An idea popped into my head…

[Fishy888]

I’ve been trying to get my phosphates down using LaCl. I drip it into a 5 micron sock that gets a slow but steady flow of phosphate laden water. That idea was given to me by someone on R2R but I can’t remember offhand.

Anyway I get 0 phosphate readings from Salifert. I have done about 12 doses of Lanthanum Chloride and today I saw GHA starting to take over the sand bed. I have bristle worms and micro brittle stars in the sand bed. I don’t ever want to go bare bottom in my DT. The sump is bare bottom however.

My idea to get a valid reading is to take some rock, weigh it, and put it in a 5 gallon bucket with tank water. The amount of rock and tank water would be in a 1:1 ratio. I would leave the bucket closed tightly. Is this a sound idea? Can one rock hold more phosphate than another assuming they’re all calcium carbonate? Also would tank water give a more accurate reading or should I use new saltwater?

Thank you for your help. It’s much appreciated.

 

[Fishy888]

I should add that I’ve been dosing just enough lanthanum to bring phosphates down by 0.08 ppm a day. I’m being extremely cautious with dosing. At this point I should have 1 ppm less phosphates than I did before. I intend to stop dosing until I can get an accurate reading.

 

[Spare time]

How do you know its a phosphate issue and not a predation issue?

 

[Fishy888]

I still have had algae which is starting to spread over the sand bed. For a long time I had issues keeping nitrates above zero. At that time I tested for phosphates since there was almost no algae. I was at 1 ppm or greater phosphate at the time. Once I dosed nitrates (because dinos, which I battled for about 6 months, showed signs of coming back) I ended up with algae of all kinds. That test is the basis on which I started the LaCl dosing.

 

[Fishy888]

That should have said, “I have GHA starting to spread”. Unfortunately I can’t edit the above post. I didn’t catch that until now.

 

[ilikefish69]

Try throwing in 1-2 tuxedo urchins they will make quick work of GHA and most other types

 

[sfin52]

Are we sure it's gha.

 

[Fishy888]

Here’s a picture of it. The hair has grown a bit since yesterday.

 

[Sean Clark]

Looks like cyano to me.

 

[Fishy888]

It does look that way a little but I’ve never seen cyano that color.

 

[Fishy888]

I’ve officially stopped dosing Phosphate-e. It does look like cyano so I’ll treat it as such. It certainly can’t hurt. It also means I don’t have to dose anymore LaCl. Less is more in this situation. Thank you everyone. I appreciate it.

 

[ilikefish69]

Try more flow

 

[mdb_talon]

It does look that way a little but I’ve never seen cyano that color.

Ya usually it is red in our tanks...technically it is called a "blue-green algae"....even though it's considered a bacteria and not algae and in our case as reefers it is normally but not always a reddish color.

 

[Fishy888]

Ya usually it is red in our tanks...technically it is called a "blue-green algae"....even though it's considered a bacteria and not algae and in our case as reefers it is normally but not always a reddish color.

I knew it occurred in freshwater in a true cyano color but this stuff is nuclear green. Maybe I should name it and sell it for 20 bucks a strand. It’s like the greenest green there can be!

I’m glad I asked before going any further. I have dosed enough to where I should at least end up with a good balance with the foods I now feed, and chaeto to take up whatever my animals don’t.

 

[Fishy888]

Try more flow

I have intentions of improving flow. I have two 3300 gph circulation pumps that provide turbulent flow. I might try moving them further down. It’s like like a hurricane when I get it too close though but maybe it would be good.

 

[Fishy888]

I forgot to mention I’m going to upgrade the return pump. Right now I have a 1200 gph return pump that’s got 5 feet of head and goes through 2 90 degree elbows. It’s a cheap pump but it’s still going strong. I probably get 200ish gph out. Thank you all again.

 

[Fishy888]

Try throwing in 1-2 tuxedo urchins they will make quick work of GHA and most other types

I’ve been wanting a tuxedo urchin. Will they eat cyano and be ok?

 

[ilikefish69]

I’ve been wanting a tuxedo urchin. Will they eat cyano and be ok?

Flow is important both with the amount and type, I have a nice strong surge from return and long skinny gyre type pumps on either side. If 4 ft or less length a single gyre works. Set it up to the sine wave function and tune the frequency until you see opposite side of tank’s water level move up and down an inch or so in a rhythmic pattern, will create a rocking movement in the tank and keep stuff from settling on the bottom. That algae looks like if you can get enough horizontal flow close to bottom of tank without picking up sand, it will keep the algae from being able to form. Jebao makes a nice cheap gyre and I believe icecap is if you want to get quality and spend the money for it. Also looked at build thread, do you have more live rock in your sump? It does not look like there’s enough live rock possibly in ratio to water volume. Just trying to recommend things other people haven’t yet, I know how frustrating it is to set something up and it not meet expectations

 

[ilikefish69]

I’ve been wanting a tuxedo urchin. Will they eat cyano and be ok?

I’ve not had tuxedos and cyano at the same time yet, but they have eaten all types of algae in my tank , and made quick work of it

 

[Dan_P]

I’ve been trying to get my phosphates down using LaCl. I drip it into a 5 micron sock that gets a slow but steady flow of phosphate laden water. That idea was given to me by someone on R2R but I can’t remember offhand.

Anyway I get 0 phosphate readings from Salifert. I have done about 12 doses of Lanthanum Chloride and today I saw GHA starting to take over the sand bed. I have bristle worms and micro brittle stars in the sand bed. I don’t ever want to go bare bottom in my DT. The sump is bare bottom however.

My idea to get a valid reading is to take some rock, weigh it, and put it in a 5 gallon bucket with tank water. The amount of rock and tank water would be in a 1:1 ratio. I would leave the bucket closed tightly. Is this a sound idea? Can one rock hold more phosphate than another assuming they’re all calcium carbonate? Also would tank water give a more accurate reading or should I use new saltwater?

Thank you for your help. It’s much appreciated.

I did not follow the explanation of the purpose of the experiment. Would clarify what you want to learn. Thanks!