HIGH phosphate levels

[BaliReefBox]

it’s the HR and I used about a cup and half to two cups of GFO in total
Okay. That’s the route I’ll take
And I’ll stop reef roids and phyto for now

thanks for the help everyone. Much appreciated

I used GFO once and only one tablespoon and it dropped my phos by 0.3 in about 18hrs

 

[Cory]

I disagree its not an emergency. Phosphate of 2.5 will cause algae to grow on your coral and kill them. The phosphate wicks into the calcium of tbe coral and makes a perfect slow release for algae. Its happened to me with levels of 1.2ppm.

 

[catiebartholomew]

waterbox 220.6 170 gallon tank
My phosphate levels are 2.50+ (Hanna checker)
I have a Diatom bloom which I’ve been trying to vacuum out and changing filter socks 2 to 3 times a day and blew the diatoms off the rocks with a baster.

I have 2 favias, hammer,frogspawn and 3x Zoanthids. All very small.
2x clowns, a hippo and watchman goby.
I’ve put in a bag of GFO, Chemipure (for silicates)
Media reactor has carbon and GFO.
And I have a small ball of chaeto with lights on at night for 7 hours

my other parameters
DKH: 9.95
Nitrate: 13.1
Calcium: 483
Mag:1430
PH: 8
Phosphate 2.5+
I’ve been slow dosing two little fishies Cbalance because my DK was tanking.

Any idea why everything isn’t dead. Everything looks fine but Goby was acting funny.
And does the diatom bloom skew the phosphate tests?

toss some gfo in a filter sock :)

 

[eqbal9947]

I disagree its not an emergency. Phosphate of 2.5 will cause algae to grow on your coral and kill them. The phosphate wicks into the calcium of tbe coral and makes a perfect slow release for algae. Its happened to me with levels of 1.2ppm.

Yeah, i know that now. Initially i was told it would wipe my tank.

toss some gfo in a filter sock :)

I got some in a bag under the sock. levels are at 0.50 now. slowly going down

 

[Rams]

waterbox 220.6 170 gallon tank
My phosphate levels are 2.50+ (Hanna checker)
I have a Diatom bloom which I’ve been trying to vacuum out and changing filter socks 2 to 3 times a day and blew the diatoms off the rocks with a baster.

I have 2 favias, hammer,frogspawn and 3x Zoanthids. All very small.
2x clowns, a hippo and watchman goby.
I’ve put in a bag of GFO, Chemipure (for silicates)
Media reactor has carbon and GFO.
And I have a small ball of chaeto with lights on at night for 7 hours

my other parameters
DKH: 9.95
Nitrate: 13.1
Calcium: 483
Mag:1430
PH: 8
Phosphate 2.5+
I’ve been slow dosing two little fishies Cbalance because my DK was tanking.

Any idea why everything isn’t dead. Everything looks fine but Goby was acting funny.
And does the diatom bloom skew the phosphate tests?

I had similar issue and this is what I did-
1. Installed another skimmer
2. Started dosing 1/3 of phosphate rx straight into 2 skimmers overnight
3. Weekly 10% water changes(test your RO water to make sure phosphates are 0)
4. It took me 4 weeks to get down from 2-0.7
5. Another 2 weeks from 0.7-0.2
6. Installed rowaphos reactor and stopped dosing phosphate rx
7. Now waiting time to let tank settle with its course

 

[Rams]

Remember whatever changes you do go slowly as corals mostly sps won’t take changes quickly unless you hit lottery overnight

 

[Screwgunner]

My algea turf scrubber had me at 0 's so I took it off to battle dinos mine made it to.28 brought it down with phosgaurd 1/3 cup per 50 gallons. Got it to .12 and cut my screen down . Now my phosphates are at .06 and holding steady.

 

[eqbal9947]

Remember whatever changes you do go slowly as corals mostly sps won’t take changes quickly unless you hit lottery overnight

Thanks for the advice!!
I have a media reactor with GFO/carbon, I have a chemipure bag, GFO/carbon bag and Phosguard bag in the sump.
I dont have many corals and other than my chalice, theyre all LPS or zoas.
I'm trying to take it slow but i have a timeline because i have fish going in there from my QT in a week and im leaving town for a month in 2 weeks and dont want the sitter to have to mess with chemicals.
The corals all look healthy. Ive been monitoring them every day.
I have a HUGE diatom problem too which is a headache, ive been keeping lights off most of the day and changing filter socks like crazy, 2-3 times a day.
I also have 40 snails, 2 conches and copepods in the mail to help with that.

 

[Forty-Two]

Phosphate doesn't kill things. It just makes corals more brittle and possible slower growing. As the above said, I'd also double check the test kit results.

This is not true for acropora and other sensitive corals. The high phosphates will kill them.

 

[Reef.]

Nothing as far as I know.
I feed the fish and use reef roids
I do dose C balance for DKH. Phyto, and micobacter7

There’s your answer, Reef roids are pure po4.

 

[Reef.]

Yeah, i know that now. Initially i was told it would wipe my tank.

I disagree its not an emergency. Phosphate of 2.5 will cause algae to grow on your coral and kill them. The phosphate wicks into the calcium of tbe coral and makes a perfect slow release for algae. Its happened to me with levels of 1.2ppm.

He was agreeing it is an emergency ;)

 

[Spare time]

This is not true for acropora and other sensitive corals. The high phosphates will kill them.

How?

 

[Forty-Two]

How?

Ive had it happen. Im going through it right now. My MasterTronic was reporting incorrect results for I would guess 1-2 months. After trying to figure out why I lost a Red Planet, I tested with Hanna, and my PO4 was at .2. All of my LPS, mushrooms and my easier to care for SPS are fine - however my more sensitive Acro's - almost all of them died.

Im not clear, and no one else seems to be either, as to how exactly that happens. I would guess that perhaps higher values of PO4 either prevent nutrient uptake, or force the polyps to retract (which is what I see when PO4 is high) which results in the corals starving. Its just a wild guess on my part however I dont know the exact mechanisms involved.

 

[Goodersgold]

I have recently set up a new tank with dry rock and PO4 was 2.5 (Hanna) Fish are fine ,but my corals did not like the switch over/high PO4 levels. Dosing Quantum very slowly and adding/replenishing GFO over the last 10 days, my numbers today are 1.14. Fish are super happy, but I have made a conscious effort to feed tiny amounts and change the water reg. I figure its leaching out of the dry rock, progress is slow but nothing ever happens quickly in this hobby as I am finding out. Hope your numbers are steady, good luck.

 

[JoJoIndy]

^^^This. If you are using API tests, expect the results to be dubious at best. Of course no test kit is perfect. Pretty much any test kit is better than API however.

I disagree with API, just because they are cheap, colorless and unhip. They do a solid consistent. Job.

I have been using Hanna products for 10+ years. While the give you a nice little number, they can bounce around from .01-.03 like no one’s business and also go crazy like the thread person. Even my NP Trident and Trident are terrible!

 

[Fishy888]

I disagree with API, just because they are cheap, colorless and unhip. They do a solid consistent. Job.

I have been using Hanna products for 10+ years. While the give you a nice little number, they can bounce around from .01-.03 like no one’s business and also go crazy like the thread person. Even my NP Trident and Trident are terrible!

Unless you have a steady hand and far better eyes than mine I don’t think API will beat out Hanna. I will admit Hanna isn’t perfect either but it’s the best out of all of them especially with nitrate and phosphate. Salifert is the best traditional test kit maker IMHO and isn’t much more expensive than API.

I think I should mention that this post is 3 years old in case anyone else happens upon it.