Aquarium parameters, high phosphates

[Mattc123]

Hi all. I finally bit the bullet and bought all the Hanna checkers I could buy. I was wondering if you all could give me some advice on the parameters they're giving me now. The salinity reader is reading 1.023, along with a steady temp of 77.5. I'm slowly raising the salinity by putting in hypersaline water ounce by ounce and I think it should be ok by later tomorrow. The LR nitrate reader is giving me a reading of 2.20 which I think is pretty much right where it should be. The PH reader is giving me 8.3-8.4 now as I've been dosing eight.four additive which seems to do a really great job which leads to my next parameter. My dkh is reading at 13.5, down from 13.6 yesterday. I know this is definitely a little high but can I expect it to do down now soon now that I'm letting up on the eight.four dosing? Finally my phosphates are my biggest problem. I put in chaeto and a JBJ nano light into my tank last night (32gal biocube with the intank fuge basket), and as of last night my phosphates were .26, and as of today they are .21. can I expect my chaeto to take this down enough or should I maybe add another bag of chempure blue? My filter media is in an intank basket and I have floss on the top rack, purigen and chemipure blue on the second, then biomax in a mesh bag at the bottom. I'm also running a icecap nano skimmer in chamber 3 along with an ATO, And just recently tuned the skimmer in just right which I know also may reduce the phosphates. Any tips and advice is appreciated! Thanks guys

 

[blaxsun]

If you're still dosing alkalinity I'd stop until it gets back down under 11. As for the phosphates, I find the quickest solution is Two Little Fishies PhosBan. Make sure you read the instructions to dilute and go with half the recommended dosage.

 

[Mattc123]

If you're still dosing alkalinity I'd stop until it gets back down under 11. As for the phosphates, I find the quickest solution is Two Little Fishies PhosBan. Make sure you read the instructions to dilute and go with half the recommended dosage.

I'm thinking I'll do a water change tonight and see what that does to my parameters including lowering the alk and the phosphates. Phosban isn't an option for me right now as I don't have a reactor and I don't think I quite have the space for one. I do have kolar GFO and thought about putting that into the media basket, but I've heard that's mostly pointless as it isn't tumbling.

 

[jassermd]

Try not to do too many things at once... the more you do the harder it will be to determine what is working and what is not working.
Phosphat-e is a good option given your circumstances. Be sure to use 1/2 the dose. There is a good website for how much you need to add: http://larryl.emailplus.org/fish/dosing-instructions-phosphate-removers.html
As for the alk, I agree with blaxsun. Stop dosing if you're dosing. You may also want to stop dosing the 8.4 additive as that will likely increase your alk along with your pH.
Hope that helps.

 

[Mattc123]

So far everything looks to be falling into place! My calcium is at 433 ppm now
My pH is stable between 8.1-8.3
My dkh has come down to 12.6
I've upped my salinity to 1.024
My temps are steady between 77-78
My phosphates are .11 now and I'm bringing them down with phosphate-e and my refugium with chaeto seems to be doing well
And my nitrates are 3.97 now because I had a shrimp die while I was gone, not sure why but I suspect the low salinity sadly.
Hopefully I can get the salinity, dkh and phosphates in check now as that seems about all I have left! I have the trace elements test kit from red Sea now and I'll soon start to test those and get those parameters in check with the ABC treatments.

 

[arking_mark]

Aquavitro eight.four is an alkalinity supplement and not intended for adjusting pH. The pH boost it provides is just a perk.

 

[Mattc123]

Aquavitro eight.four is an alkalinity supplement and not intended for adjusting pH. The pH boost it provides is just a perk.

Glad I found that out before I kept adding it every other day to keep the Ph up the dkh is slowly coming down now and I imagine I'll probably dose when the dkh gets to about 8 and keep it around 9

 

[arking_mark]

Glad I found that out before I kept adding it every other day to keep the Ph up the dkh is slowly coming down now and I imagine I'll probably dose when the dkh gets to about 8 and keep it around 9

You may want to consider keeping your Alk more stable and not dosing to go from 8 to 9 dKH. A general rule of thumb is not to raise dKH by more than .25 in a single dose or by more than 1 in a 24hr period. If you're just keeping fish...then just don't worry about dKH.

 

[arking_mark]

You may want to consider keeping your Alk more stable and not dosing to go from 8 to 9 dKH. A general rule of thumb is not to raise dKH by more than .25 in a single dose or by more than 1 in a 24hr period. If you're just keeping fish...then just don't worry about dKH.

You should also look to keep your parameters in line with your salt mix. That way larger water changes don't impact your stability.