Help, Very High Phophates!

[Land Shark]

An ICP test will definitely help you to confirm you don’t have other hidden issues.

As far as dropping your PO4 level down to 0.03 or thereabouts, the easiest and least expensive way is by dosing lanthanum chloride. Your total cost will be less than
$50 and you’ll have plenty to spare. I’ve been using small amounts of it from time to time for years and it works very well. ATM’s Agent green is particularly safe. For one, it includes directions for dosing in marine tanks. It might be worth checking into for your situation.

 

[road_runner]

An ICP test will definitely help you to confirm you don’t have other hidden issues.

As far as dropping you PO4 level, the easiest and least expensive way to drop it down to the level you need is by dosing lanthanum chloride. Your total cost will be less than
$50 and you’ll have plenty to spare. I’ve been using it for years and it works very well. ATM’s Agent green is particularly safe. For one, it includes directions for dosing in marine tanks. Might be worth checking into.

Never used this before....I do not like dosing chemicals like that but up to the OP. If he would like to give it a try.
I would say if he is going these routs I advice icp after the treatments so you get the final picture.

 

[Land Shark]

You would have to cut your teeth on it to have seen its effectiveness for yourself. It will definitely work and ICP tests come back normal every time. It’s marketed by the ATM guys with the TV show and is particularly effective in fish only tanks. I’d be more worried about black sand, if that is the case.

 

[road_runner]

You would have to cut your teeth on it to have seen its effectiveness for yourself. It will definitely work and ICP tests come back normal every time. It’s marketed by the ATM guys with the TV show and is particularly effective in fish only tanks. I’d be more worried about black sand, if that is the case.

Yeh..maybe.
I just have not used it so cannot comment.
Do you know: Why it's good for fish only? Po4 is not something that is diffrent with fish only vs reef..
My fear is that it will treat the po4 I'm the water but I doubt it will extract the years of po4 in the rocks and substrate..what do you think?

 

[erk]

Melev has a good video on how to dose Lanthanum Chloride. Just know it wont take you all the way down to 0, but will get you close. In the OPs case it would be helpful as it will shorten the long journey of pulling the PO4 out of the rocks and substrate. But follow the directions to a T. Do not skip or adjust them. Once you get PO4 down to less than .5 ppm consistently with no leaching out of the rocks to higher levels, I'd employ more permanent methods of control. GFO, ATS, refugium, carbon dosing, etc. Whatever fits your lifestyle and personal methodology. I carbon dose. No one method is better than the other. All about what works for you.

 

[Land Shark]

It will absolutely work. It causes an immediate reaction and the phosphate precipitates almost instantly into an inert chalk like material. Dump some LC in your swimming pool and watch how fast it really works.

True, rock will continue to Leach po4 for a time but additional treatments will get that as well. See Slief ‘s posts here on r2r about lanthanum chloride use in large tanks and also check out his video on YouTube for detailed instructions on how to use it safely.

 

[road_runner]

Will look in to it for sure. Looks interesting.

 

[erk]

Pulling PO4 out of the rocks and substrate is all about osmosis. Any method that reduces the concentration in the surrounding water so PO4 will leach out will work. LaCl does this quickly, but can be dangerous. Don't administer to the display tank. The fine particulate can clog gills. The recommendation is to dose into a very fine, .5 micron, filter sock in the sump before the skimmer. Drip slowly into the sock. When I applied LaCl, I diluted the dosage in 1L and dripped it directly into my skimmer over a 24 hr period. You don't have corals yet, so nothing to kill with the shock of dropping PO4 quickly. Take it slow and you will get there sooner than you think.

 

[Halal Hotdog]

For your size system and phosphate level, lanthanum chloride is definitely the way to go. Lanthanum chloride is a tool like any other and is definitely nothing to be afraid of. You are going to burn through gfo trying to correct your issue. Nopox will have larger effects on nitrates than phosphates, great tool for nitrates. IMO Nopox is just an expensive carbon source, vinegar does the same thing for $3/gallon.

You can absolutely turn your system into a reef, just will take time and very regular testing. The leaching from your rocks and sand will be very frustrating, but you can beat it.

 

[erk]

For your size system and phosphate level, lanthanum chloride is definitely the way to go. Lanthanum chloride is a tool like any other and is definitely nothing to be afraid of. You are going to burn through gfo trying to correct your issue. Nopox will have larger effects on nitrates than phosphates, great tool for nitrates. IMO Nopox is just an expensive carbon source, vinegar does the same thing for $3/gallon.

You can absolutely turn your system into a reef, just will take time and very regular testing. The leaching from your rocks and sand will be very frustrating, but you can beat it.

Or get really cheap 40 proof vodka and dose it at 1/8th the vinegar dosage. I get a liter of vodka for 8 bucks and it lasts like a year.

 

[robcaba]

So I have a Large 300 tank with fish only and live rock. I have been struggling with high phophates for a long time. I have adjusted my feeding schedule to less per day. I also have an ATS that isn't doing much probably due to the high phophates. I have a large skimmer and rollermats.

My phophate read today 4.20ppm! I tested twice to make sure. I did a 30% water change just this week and it is still high. I have been doing NoPx for 2 weeks now and still not a dent. My nitrates are not super high at around 20-30ppm. Everything looks happy and healthy but the tank continues to get tons of algae build up. I am trying to convert this system into a reef but I am not sure what to do.

Any suggestions? I have tried GFO and that seems to also not really work.

Thank you.

I had the exact same issue if not worse. Here's what I did....Algae free in 3 weeks!

1. I got myself an RODI unit to ensure pure RO water for water changes and top off. My hair algae was boosted by bad "RO" h2o.

2. I did weekly water changes

3. I purchased 5 turbo snails for my 40G tank

4. I purchased phosphate RX for the first time. It worked!!!

5. I manually removed hair algae from rocks with tooth brush.

6. I reduced lighting and feeding drastically. I fed a few pellets ensuring little to none hit the bed. Lighting was on 4-5 hrs a day.

This did the trick for me. No need to spend all this money on expensive gadgets or doing anything crazy. In my observation, hair algae was a result of using "RO" from my lfs that when I tested was > 300ppm!!! Test yours using a tds meter....cheap on Amazon.

 

[robcaba]

I had the exact same issue if not worse. Here's what I did....Algae free in 3 weeks!

1. I got myself an RODI unit to ensure pure RO water for water changes and top off. My hair algae was boosted by bad "RO" h2o.

2. I did weekly water changes

3. I purchased 5 turbo snails for my 40G tank

4. I purchased phosphate RX for the first time. It worked!!!

5. I manually removed hair algae from rocks with tooth brush.

6. I reduced lighting and feeding drastically. I fed a few pellets ensuring little to none hit the bed. Lighting was on 4-5 hrs a day.

This did the trick for me. No need to spend all this money on expensive gadgets or doing anything crazy. In my observation, hair algae was a result of using "RO" from my lfs that when I tested was > 300ppm!!! Test yours using a tds meter....cheap on Amazon.

1 before pic the rest after

 

[Eric Martinez]

Phosphate rx

 

[SeaDweller]

I’ve used agent green to get my PO4 from 3.0+ to 0.25-0.50 ppm, down to 0.00 and then maintaining it with ROWAPHOS at under 0.10 ppm now. Guess what? I have tons of acros thriving now, so there are no negative residual side effects from using it besides quick PO4 resolution.

I’ve dosed into a sock, into the tank, all methods. No ill effects seen on the fish. It will take a bit of the stuff to knock back what comes out of your rock and sand though.

 

[420reffer]

I had the same problem I used a phosphate remover in a media bag put it in my fillter it worked but then they went up again remember energy cannot be destroyed or made so wen the algae dies from low phosphate it decamposes and turns right back to phosphate what I did was syphon all the hair algae into a bucket with a strainer ND got all the algae and dumped the water back did that a couple times removing algae in other words removing the algae that was gonna turn back into phosphates now my phosphates are at zero or pretty close to it

 

[steve bergmann]

Phosphate RX works very well here is a youtube video:

use a refugium and it will help as well keep them in control for the long haul.