Best way to lower and maintain Phosphates

[JumpingFlea]

What would you say is the best way to lower and maintain Phosphates? My phosphates were up to .31ppm in November, but it has been lowering when I added a phosphate remover media bag. It is now at .13ppm and is stuck there and now because of the eel, I'm afraid it will be harder to maintain. If this helps my nitrates are at 2.5ppm. Any suggestions?

 

[shandoee]

I used gfo when my po4 was at 0.27. Now it’s holding steady at 0.07

 

[JumpingFlea]

I think my lfs has a gfo. Do they come in a certain size or is one size fits all kind of deal? Do I put the media that is in my bag in there or something else?

 

[DrMMI]

Just be careful with gfo. Start at half the recommended dose and slowly titrate up from there. I bottomed out my nutrients from overusing gfo and ended up with dinos.

 

[JumpingFlea]

Does it also remove nitrate or does it only remove phosphate? I kind of have a hard time keeping up my nitates above 1ppm.

 

[BroccoliFarmer]

I once started with GFO...my nutrients bottomed out and I was stuck fighting dino's for months. I now have a relatively efficient fuge with cheato and I dose back in my preferred levels of nitrates and phosphates.

 

[DrMMI]

Does it also remove nitrate or does it only remove phosphate? I kind of have a hard time keeping up my nitates above 1ppm.

It only removes phosphate (and silica). For what it's worth, I'm probably going to go back to gfo since my phosphates are always high now. I just know now to start low and go slow and keep track of my phosphates.
ToAnother thing to consider is if your nitrates are too low, your phosphates will tend to be high as there isn't enough nitrate for algae and other organisms to utilize (the nitrate to phosphate balance is off) so the phosphate just sits there and rises and rises.

 

[Screwgunner]

Algea turf scrubber. Been running 40 watt red leds that took everything close to 0's then dinos. Went to a 28 watt red led and so far so good .04 phosphates at 4 nitrates hopefully it stays there.

 

[Billys_reef]

Lanthanum chloride works very well for me. When ever my PO4 creeps up to 0.2ppm I'll dose a certain amount and it lowers to 0.1ppm instantly. I do this every month or so

 

[Spare time]

I think my lfs has a gfo. Do they come in a certain size or is one size fits all kind of deal? Do I put the media that is in my bag in there or something else?

You can mix it in a fine bag with carbon (1/3 gfo) if you don't have a reactor.

 

[Spare time]

You can also just put a small amount of gfo into a fine mesh bag and place it in the filter for a couple of days.

 

[JumpingFlea]

I took the gfo in mesh bag option and dosed Red Sea Algae Management. Sorry I didn’t update this thread.

The two parameters:

Nitate: .2 - almost undetectable which might be a problem

Phosphate: .07ppm

My Sps corals seem to be doing really good with new Sps growth and bright color. My LPS on the other hand are a bit mad. No growth but they are open. Also lobos are losing color and turning white. Soft corals are just fine. I increased fish feeding to raise nitrates.

 

[Spare time]

I would not use nopox. That lowers far more nitrate than phosphate.

You can dose aminos to feed corals and not raise phosphate.

 

[JumpingFlea]

I only used the red sea once and I just stayed on using gfo in a bag. I think the gfo in bag has helped a lot in maintaining phosphates. I used to dose aminos but ran out and was too lazy to replace. Guess I’ll do that again. Thanks

 

[JumpingFlea]

This is a bit out of the blue but I am making some changes to my aquarium and I’m wondering if I should move my refugium from the second chamber to the first. The only problem is that it would be in the same chamber as my fleece roller. Thoughts?

 

[Ntvper]

This is a bit out of the blue but I am making some changes to my aquarium and I’m wondering if I should move my refugium from the second chamber to the first. The only problem is that it would be in the same chamber as my fleece roller. Thoughts?

Don’t….. why would you think changing that would be beneficial?

 

[JumpingFlea]

I’ve heard that the skimmer can remove the nutrients before it can get to the refugium making the refugium not work at its best.

 

[lelolai15]

It only removes phosphate (and silica). For what it's worth, I'm probably going to go back to gfo since my phosphates are always high now. I just know now to start low and go slow and keep track of my phosphates.
ToAnother thing to consider is if your nitrates are too low, your phosphates will tend to be high as there isn't enough nitrate for algae and other organisms to utilize (the nitrate to phosphate balance is off) so the phosphate just sits there and rises and rises.

Hi, very interesting read here as I am combating similar issues with high phosphate levels. Any recommendations in better understanding the relationship between nitrate and phosphate (e.g articles, videos, charts, etc)?

 

[Ntvper]

I’ve heard that the skimmer can remove the nutrients before it can get to the refugium making the refugium not work at its best.

True true my tank isn’t near ‘full’ enough to run my skimmer 24/7 especially with the fuge doing it job

 

[JumpingFlea]

Do you think I should have my skimmer on a timer? Maybe on during the day and off a night? Thats when my refugium lights turn on.