Best phosphate removal media

[Raphael Dalmeida]

Hi guys,

Ive currently got 0.45ppm phosphate and 20ppm nitrate tank is mixed reef with quite a few acros and a decent bioload.

I need to choose the best way to manage my nutrients.

I have a large refugium in the tank but I don't think will be enough, Ive been overfeeding intentionally as I got a juv emperor angel.

Was thinking of adding either GFO or this Fauna Marin Ultra Phos 0.04.

What would you guys recommend?
I know a lot of people run GFO here, if I were to run GFO is there a risk of my phosphate going zero?

I could also add vinegar dosing on top of GFO to keep the nitrate balance. I don't want to mess up too much as I prefer stability but I foresee my phosphate climbing.

 

[ReefQuestCorals]

Honestly I feel your nutrient levels arent really that high. You could easily drop them some with a water change, little less feeding or increasing light cycle on the refugium if your not running 24/7

Be careful with GFO if you do plan to go that route, could easily strip your nutrients fast. Iv seen it happen to others many times, I personally would rather take more of a natural approach and take my time with lowering them.

 

[Raphael Dalmeida]

Honestly I feel your nutrient levels arent really that high. You could easily drop them some with a water change, little less feeding or increasing light cycle on the refugium if your not running 24/7

Be careful with GFO if you do plan to go that route, could easily strip your nutrients fast. Iv seen it happen to others many times, I personally would rather take more of a natural approach and take my time with lowering them.

Yeah I know they are not that high but I know they will climb.

Feeding less is not an option, as feeding frequently is one of the requirements of keeping a not reef safe angelfish successfully.

 

[ReefQuestCorals]

Yeah I know they are not that high but I know they will climb.

Feeding less is not an option, as feeding frequently is one of the requirements of keeping a not reef safe angelfish successfully.

So whats your light cycle on the refugium? I would rather go carbon dosing before GFO imo, also watch out for frozen foods that are preserved in phosphates. What foods you currently feeding?

 

[Raphael Dalmeida]

So whats your light cycle on the refugium? I would rather go carbon dosing before GFO imo, also watch out for frozen foods that are preserved in phosphates. What foods you currently feeding?

Light schedule on refugium is 8pm On, 10am Off. I have chaeto and I'm trialing some red macro (as Ive read they do soak up more phosphate).

Regarding the carbon dosing, in my experience it reduces a lot more nitrates than phosphate and could cause my refugium which is chaeto predominant to be more ineffective

Food I feed 2 times day ocean marine formula one pellets and 1 time a day I put a little cube of my own homemade food (mix of shrimp, and two types of fish plus garlic). I wash the fish I use for the mix to ensure it removes any potential phosphate preservatives they put from the supermarket.

 

[VintageReefer]

Hi guys,

Ive currently got 0.45ppm phosphate and 20ppm nitrate tank is mixed reef with quite a few acros and a decent bioload.

I need to choose the best way to manage my nutrients.

I have a large refugium in the tank but I don't think will be enough, Ive been overfeeding intentionally as I got a juv emperor angel.

Was thinking of adding either GFO or this Fauna Marin Ultra Phos 0.04.

What would you guys recommend?
I know a lot of people run GFO here, if I were to run GFO is there a risk of my phosphate going zero?

I could also add vinegar dosing on top of GFO to keep the nitrate balance. I don't want to mess up too much as I prefer stability but I foresee my phosphate climbing.

I don’t see any issue with those numbers, and see those numbers on my own reef frequently. However, it they are trending upwards continuously, and not forming a plateau, or coming back down, then I would run Phosguard in a reactor.

I prefer it over gfo, it doesn’t clump, it doesn’t need the perfect amount of flow through it, it’s “beads” instead of dust/powder, and is cleaner and easier to use and work with.

Change / replace it every 4 days until phosphate starts to decline

 

[ReefQuestCorals]

Light schedule on refugium is 8pm On, 10am Off. I have chaeto and I'm trialing some red macro (as Ive read they do soak up more phosphate).

Regarding the carbon dosing, in my experience it reduces a lot more nitrates than phosphate and could cause my refugium which is chaeto predominant to be more ineffective

Food I feed 2 times day ocean marine formula one pellets and 1 time a day I put a little cube of my own homemade food (mix of shrimp, and two types of fish plus garlic). I wash the fish I use for the mix to ensure it removes any potential phosphate preservatives they put from the supermarket.

Might experiment with refugium and increase the light cycle by 2-3 hours and see how that affects nutrients? Would be the easiest way, keep increasing until you see your nutrients hold at the desired level. Then if more export is needed start looking at other options.

The formula one pellets do have small amounts of phosphates as well, Id suggest looking at something like new life spectrum for pellet feeding.

 

[VintageReefer]

Run the fuge for 18 hours a day for a week and see if it impacts the numbers. Don’t worry about zeroing out. Your rock and sand is probably bound up with tons of phosphates. As your levels lower, they will release bound phosphate and the levels will jump back up. It will be a zig zag pattern until a new equilibrium is reached. It can take weeks to months to get phosphate to go down and stay down

 

[Raphael Dalmeida]

Run the fuge for 18 hours a day for a week and see if it impacts the numbers. Don’t worry about zeroing out. Your rock and sand is probably bound up with tons of phosphates. As your levels lower, they will release bound phosphate and the levels will jump back up. It will be a zig zag pattern until a new equilibrium is reached. It can take weeks to months to get phosphate to go down and stay down

I will do that. Would increasing the light intensity on the refugium also help?

I suppose I will have to harvest more frequently to notice the difference.

Might experiment with refugium and increase the light cycle by 2-3 hours and see how that affects nutrients? Would be the easiest way, keep increasing until you see your nutrients hold at the desired level. Then if more export is needed start looking at other options.

The formula one pellets do have small amounts of phosphates as well, Id suggest looking at something like new life spectrum for pellet feeding.

That's interesting, do the new life spectrum are known to have less phosphates ?

If I could I would go with just feeding prepped fresh seafood, but I know one day I will have to travel and I want to be able to leave an auto feeder with pellets on top of someone to keep an eye on it.

 

[ReefQuestCorals]

I will do that. Would increasing the light intensity on the refugium also help?

I suppose I will have to harvest more frequently to notice the difference.


That's interesting, do the new life spectrum are known to have less phosphates ?

If I could I would go with just feeding prepped fresh seafood, but I know one day I will have to travel and I want to be able to leave an auto feeder with pellets on top of someone to keep an eye on it.

By my understanding they still include small amounts of phosphate but also include some type of pro botics to help reduce phosphate. They are a high quality pellet that are great to feed

 

[VintageReefer]

Anything resulting into faster / more growth should have an impact. Harvesting more is important also, this is physically removing phosphate and nitrate from the system.

Longer light cycle. More intense lighting. Both can have the same results.

 

[VintageReefer]

benereef makes a pellet food that supposedly lowers phosphates for certain people/situations. Worst case is…at least it doesn’t raise them.

 

[bobnicaragua]

I have zeroed out my nitrates using my refugium and still had high phosphates. I just mix GFO and carbon in a bag and throw it in the sump.

 

[Raphael Dalmeida]

I have zeroed out my nitrates using my refugium and still had high phosphates. I just mix GFO and carbon in a bag and throw it in the sump.

How long does your GFO last ? And how you tell it's already saturated ?

 

[bobnicaragua]

I have 2 bags of carbon and GFO in my sump. I change 1 bag every 2 weeks. So each bag gets changed once a month.

If phosphates get above .1, I use more GFO in the mix.

Nitrates run 2-3 with one tunze light. I tried running 3 lights in an attempt to get phosphates down. My nitrates tested 0 and acros paled with phosphates still increasing. I’ve been using GFO ever since.

 

[Raphael Dalmeida]

I have 2 bags of carbon and GFO in my sump. I change 1 bag every 2 weeks. So each bag gets changed once a month.

If phosphates get above .1, I use more GFO in the mix.

Nitrates run 2-3 with one tunze light. I tried running 3 lights in an attempt to get phosphates down. My nitrates tested 0 and acros paled with phosphates still increasing. I’ve been using GFO ever since.

Thanks for the info and good looking tank.

What brand of GFO you buy? Is there any way to bulk buy it for cheaper price?

Anything else you do for the phosphates ?

My idea is to have something like you did, so it's a routine and stable change every 2 weeks, same feeding.

Do you test your phosphate every time you change your GFO?


Cheers,

 

[Idech]

I use Rowaphos at the moment and it is working slowly but surely. It’s in the sump, in a bag. I also tried Phosguard but you need lots of it and it doesn’t work as well. Rowasphos is budget friendly and efficient.

 

[56longroof]

I carbon dose and in my experience it does nothing to lower phosphate. I feed extremely heavy so I ended up using Rowaphos in a reactor to get it to acceptable levels. I can keep it around .04-.06 until the media is exhausted. When phosphate gets to .1 I change it out.

 

[bobnicaragua]

Thanks for the info and good looking tank.

What brand of GFO you buy? Is there any way to bulk buy it for cheaper price?

Anything else you do for the phosphates ?

My idea is to have something like you did, so it's a routine and stable change every 2 weeks, same feeding.

Do you test your phosphate every time you change your GFO?


Cheers,

I’ll use any GFO, but Rowaphos is my favorite. Just be sure to mix it with carbon if you are using a filter bag. That keeps it from clumping

In your situation, I would test every time before changing GFO until you get it stable.
Try to place it in a spot where it will get good flow. I put it between the baffles in my sump.

I test phosphates every 1 to 3 months. As long as you keep up the same routine with feeding and GFO, phosphates will stay pretty stable.

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

Anything resulting into faster / more growth should have an impact. Harvesting more is important also, this is physically removing phosphate and nitrate from the system.

Longer light cycle. More intense lighting. Both can have the same results.

Definitely harvest more.

I don’t have any actual data to back it up, but it seems like macros-algae growth slows down once it reaches a certain density.