High phosphate, water changes and gfo aren’t working

[wagadodo]

Hi all, was wondering if anyone could share any tips on how they remove phosphates from their evo’s? I’m currently sitting at 0.21ppm! I’m running a table spoon of rowaphos in chamber 1 and doing 10% weekly water changes with ro/di water from my lfs which tested 0.02ppm for phosphate. unfortunately carbon dosing isn’t a option as I’m not running a skimmer on my evo. However salifert test kit shown 0.1ppm and recently bought a hanna checker which came back as 0.21 so there might be a testing issue

Thanks!

 

[wet_rocks_reef]

you can up the dose of GFO or rowaphos, but chasing numbers is not a go idea.. if it gets too low to quickly dinos or cyano will be your next problem.. How does your tank look? dealing with any other issues? it could just settle over time. how old is your tank?

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Hi all, was wondering if anyone could share any tips on how they remove phosphates from their evo’s? I’m currently sitting at 0.21ppm! I’m running a table spoon of rowaphos in chamber 1 and doing 10% weekly water changes with ro/di water from my lfs which tested 0.02ppm for phosphate. unfortunately carbon dosing isn’t a option as I’m not running a skimmer on my evo. However salifert test kit shown 0.1ppm and recently bought a hanna checker which came back as 0.21 so there might be a testing issue

Thanks!

What is your nitrate level?

 

[wagadodo]

What is your nitrate level?

10ppm with salifert

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

10ppm with salifert

Try raising them. And I'd also like to know the answers to wet_rocks_reef's questions

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

(and just FYI, this is far from an emergency)

 

[JGK17]

You could try cutting back on your feeding, fish food & Nori. Also, if you are using reef roids cut back on that as well.

 

[wagadodo]

you can up the dose of GFO or rowaphos, but chasing numbers is not a go idea.. if it gets too low to quickly dinos or cyano will be your next problem.. How does your tank look? dealing with any other issues? it could just settle over time. how old is your tank?

I would say my tank is looking pretty good, it’s nearly 3 months old and fairly well stocked with softies and a few LPS. There’s no green hair algae present in the tank either, however I have had a hammer that is slowly withering away so I feel the high phosphate could be a leading factor? On the other hand all my other euphyllia appear to be thriving and my candy cane is splitting new heads. Also I can comfortably say that the hammer on the sand bed no longer looks like that

 

[Brennin]

Hi all, was wondering if anyone could share any tips on how they remove phosphates from their evo’s? I’m currently sitting at 0.21ppm! I’m running a table spoon of rowaphos in chamber 1 and doing 10% weekly water changes with ro/di water from my lfs which tested 0.02ppm for phosphate. unfortunately carbon dosing isn’t a option as I’m not running a skimmer on my evo. However salifert test kit shown 0.1ppm and recently bought a hanna checker which came back as 0.21 so there might be a testing issue

Thanks!

With such a big difference between the two test kits I would take some water to your lfs and have them test to see which of your test kits they get closer to. It sounds like your Hanna checker is probably not working from either factory error or user error.

 

[wagadodo]

With such a big difference between the two test kits I would take some water to your lfs and have them test to see which of your test kits they get closer to. It sounds like your Hanna checker is probably not working from either factory error or user error.

Good shout, thank you!

 

[Brennin]

With such a big difference between the two test kits I would take some water to your lfs and have them test to see which of your test kits they get closer to. It sounds like your Hanna checker is probably not working from either factory error or user error.

Also the easiest way to get it down in the short run is to just do a bigger water change. 10% weekly isn’t going to lower it if you have a problem with phosphate entering your system quickly

 

[Kasrift]

It's a misread on your Hanna. This is a super common issue, but when you put the cuvette in, you need to wipe it down with a micro fiber cloth and hold it by the black lid for both the C1 and C2 part of the test. Finger print residues will block the light and lead to a false high reading.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Your tank is only 3 months old...
It's nowhere near stable and chasing numbers is just going to lead to more problems. Be careful with your feeding (I didn't see where you listed any fish - if you have fish, don't add any extra food just for the coral), do regular water changes and maintenance, and just monitor things for now.

As for the hammer, sometimes they just don't do well. I would suggest trying to move it off the sandbed as if the sand is getting into the polyps, it will irritate them.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

10ppm with salifert

This is in the low range for softies and LPS, so if nitrates rise a bit, don't be too concerned; these corals prefer dirtier water.
(Not to say there's anything wrong with 10... like I said, chasing numbers at this point is a bad idea. But your tank is still VERY young, and I wanted to provide the feedback )

 

[wagadodo]

Your tank is only 3 months old...
It's nowhere near stable and chasing numbers is just going to lead to more problems. Be careful with your feeding (I didn't see where you listed any fish - if you have fish, don't add any extra food just for the coral), do regular water changes and maintenance, and just monitor things for now.

As for the hammer, sometimes they just don't do well. I would suggest trying to move it off the sandbed as if the sand is getting into the polyps, it will irritate them.

T

This is in the low range for softies and LPS, so if nitrates rise a bit, don't be too concerned; these corals prefer dirtier water.
(Not to say there's anything wrong with 10... like I said, chasing numbers at this point is a bad idea. But your tank is still VERY young, and I wanted to provide the feedback )

Thank you for your feedback

This is in the low range for softies and LPS, so if nitrates rise a bit, don't be too concerned; these corals prefer dirtier water.
(Not to say there's anything wrong with 10... like I said, chasing numbers at this point is a bad idea. But your tank is still VERY young, and I wanted to provide the feedback

Would you rinse rowaphos before use? I’ve been rinsing it in fear that my water will go a nasty colour

you can up the dose of GFO or rowaphos, but chasing numbers is not a go idea.. if it gets too low to quickly dinos or cyano will be your next problem.. How does your tank look? dealing with any other issues? it could just settle over time. how old is your tank?

 

[Garf]

T

Thank you for your feedback

Would you rinse rowaphos before use? I’ve been rinsing it in fear that my water will go a nasty colour

0.2ppm phos isn’t high. Tank looks great. I’d keep plodding along, doing whatever you’re doing.

 

[I never finish anythi]

This is in the low range for softies and LPS, so if nitrates rise a bit, don't be too concerned; these corals prefer dirtier water.
(Not to say there's anything wrong with 10... like I said, chasing numbers at this point is a bad idea. But your tank is still VERY young, and I wanted to provide the feedback )

I have softies and my nitrate are between 2/5 and my po4 is 0.03 and they are doing very good .

 

[DanTheReefer]

Mine has always been high, typically above .2 and I’m spending a lot of time pruning. I had a rough first 12-18 months and thought probably phosphates, but think it was just the dry rock bare bottom. At 3 years now the phosphate rise slowed without intervention, suspect getting consumed by the coral.

So I wouldn’t panic, just slowly up the GFO dose. Works a lot better in a media reactor, not sure if you’re using one. But I concur that it’s not an emergency. Bottoming them out too quickly would probably lead to problems.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Is there algae in your tank? Have you had the ugly phase yet?

Personally I would try to understand the reason for high phosphates, which can come from overfeeding, but usually it is safe to bet that you used new dry rocks to start your tank, this is likely where the phosphate is coming from.

if phosphates are leaching from dry rocks, then water changes won't help, feeding less won't help, only more rowaphos will help.

 

[wet_rocks_reef]

Your tank looks really good for 3 months, btw my Pho runs between .25 and .15 and my tank is stable and looking good too. I would keep an eye on it but would stick to your routine. I think LPS likes dirtier water.

Good Luck!