Best way to lower Phosphate?

[BillGill239]

Hey everyone, I am looking for some help and hoping someone here has dealt with this before. My tank has been running well overall, but I keep running into a really frustrating problem with my phosphates. They get high enough that I feel like I need to bring them down, but every time I manage to lower them even a little too quickly, the entire system reacts in the worst possible way. I end up with a massive green bloom that covers almost everything. The water clouds up, the rock starts looking like it has a thin green film, and the whole tank basically shifts into this ugly green haze. It has already happened more than once, and I am trying to figure out what balance I am missing.

Right now my phosphates hover way above where I want them. I know that bringing them down is important for long term coral health, but I want to do it safely. The issue is that anytime they drop too fast, even if they drop into what would normally be considered a normal or healthy range, the quick change seems to shock the system. Within a day or two I end up with a full bloom that takes over. I have tried water changes, I have tried cutting back on feeding, and I have tried running different amounts of media, but I keep ending up in the same spot.

Has anyone dealt with this type of reaction before. What did you do to stabilize things so the nutrients actually come down without the bloom kicking off. Should I be lowering things at a much slower pace. Should I be running a very small amount of media consistently instead of trying to fix it all at once. Is it possible there is something else in the tank that reacts to the drop and kicks off the bloom. At this point I am open to any theories or suggestions because I am tired of the tank turning into a green mess every time I try to fix the nutrients.

If anyone has gone through something similar I would really appreciate hearing how you handled it. I am not trying to bottom out my phosphates. I just want them to come down to a reasonable level and stay stable without causing the whole tank to freak out. Any advice, tips, or experiences would be a huge help.

 

[mcarroll]

Stop messing with your phosphate levels. You're messing directly with the coral's health. Concerns about nutrient levels are mostly around pest algae growth, and even that is mostly bad advice.....corals like *identical* conditions to corals. You mess it up for one, you're messing it up for both. (Algae don't usually react by dying like corals do though.)

If you want a system with lower nutrient levels you really need a smaller bio-load....under the tank's carrying capacity. Not by fiddling with test kits and more filtration.

There's no real reason to quest for low nutrients in a reef tank though...corals need those dissolved nutrients in the home aquaria.

Sounds like your cleanup crew might need to be tweaked or upgraded.

Maybe post any water test results you have and tell us more about your system (how old? how set up? how maintained? how filtered? Etc.)?

If you still have algae growth, maybe pics of that as well....there's pest algae and there's pest algae.

 

[bobnicaragua]

I use GFO mixed with carbon in a filter bag to control phosphates. I’ve never had any type of adverse reaction, but this is a gentle method.