High Phosphates

JayStro81

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Looking for advice to lower my phosphates. They are currently at .8/.9 using the salifert test. Nitrates are at 10. Alk is steady at 10, magnesium about 1350, calcium about 450, salinity .026. It's a 40 gallon AIO. I run filter floss, GFO, Carbon, poly pads, and a ton of saechem matrix. I also run a skimmer, algae scrubber, and uv steralizer 24/7. I dose nopox daily to control the Nitrates as they used to be around 60 and are holding strong around 10 since carbon dosing. I feed half a cube of mysis daily. Stock in the tank is a damsel, sixline, midas blenny, clownfish, mandarin, and a pygmy hawkfish. Then there are various inverts like crabs, shrimp, and snails. I feel like I have tried everything, I'm open to any suggestions. Thanks.
 

Crustaceon

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You’re doing too much. By dosing nopox, you could be starving out the algae in your ATS, which would explain the increase in Po4. I’d just run the ATS long enough to be effective (14-16 hours minimum per day) and remove the GFO, carbon, poly and nopox.
 
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JayStro81

JayStro81

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You’re doing too much. By dosing nopox, you could be starving out the algae in your ATS, which would explain the increase in Po4. I’d just run the ATS long enough to be effective (14-16 hours minimum per day) and remove the GFO, carbon, poly and nopox.
You seriously just made the light bulb go off in my head. My phosphates started creeping up once I started carbon dosing. My nitrates were high, over 60 and I had a bad bubble algae outbreak so I started dosing to drop my nitrates. My nitrates did drop and the bubble algae is gone, but my ATS has been struggling to create algae. It makes total sense. Do you recommend slowly weaning off the carbon and GFO, or stop cold turkey?
 

Crustaceon

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You seriously just made the light bulb go off in my head. My phosphates started creeping up once I started carbon dosing. My nitrates were high, over 60 and I had a bad bubble algae outbreak so I started dosing to drop my nitrates. My nitrates did drop and the bubble algae is gone, but my ATS has been struggling to create algae. It makes total sense. Do you recommend slowly weaning off the carbon and GFO, or stop cold turkey?
I’d stop cold turkey and if need be to keep nitrates down, do periodic water changes until your ATS can become established.
 

Mooneyhan22

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I was having similar problems as well. Getting a Hanna checker for Phosphates and Nitrates have really helped fine tune the numbers. Doing water changes every few days helped me get over the hump and lock them in.
 

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Looking for advice to lower my phosphates. They are currently at .8/.9 using the salifert test. Nitrates are at 10. Alk is steady at 10, magnesium about 1350, calcium about 450, salinity .026. It's a 40 gallon AIO. I run filter floss, GFO, Carbon, poly pads, and a ton of saechem matrix. I also run a skimmer, algae scrubber, and uv steralizer 24/7. I dose nopox daily to control the Nitrates as they used to be around 60 and are holding strong around 10 since carbon dosing. I feed half a cube of mysis daily. Stock in the tank is a damsel, sixline, midas blenny, clownfish, mandarin, and a pygmy hawkfish. Then there are various inverts like crabs, shrimp, and snails. I feel like I have tried everything, I'm open to any suggestions. Thanks.
Get a bottle of turbo start should turn the bad to good .
I use vibrant cleaning bacteria and turbo start keeps all mine pretty solid
 

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Look at lanthanum chloride, very effective, but must be used with caution.
Drip into a 5 micron filter sock so no or little flocculant gets into the tank.
Do not reduce more than 0.5 ppm per 2 to 3 days.
Phosphate binds to rock and substrate, so more is there than just in the water.
Once below 0.2 ppm use gfo product to manage.
No reef roids.
 
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JayStro81

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I was having similar problems as well. Getting a Hanna checker for Phosphates and Nitrates have really helped fine tune the numbers. Doing water changes every few days helped me get over the hump and lock them in.
I do 10% weekly changes. I may have to up it to 20% for a while
 
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JayStro81

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I was having similar problems as well. Getting a Hanna checker for Phosphates and Nitrates have really helped fine tune the numbers. Doing water changes every few days helped me get over the hump and lock them in.
I do 10% changes weekly. I may have to up it to 20%
 
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JayStro81

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Get a bottle of turbo start should turn the bad to good .
I use vibrant cleaning bacteria and turbo start keeps all mine pretty solid
I dose vibrant every water change
Look at lanthanum chloride, very effective, but must be used with caution.
Drip into a 5 micron filter sock so no or little flocculant gets into the tank.
Do not reduce more than 0.5 ppm per 2 to 3 days.
Phosphate binds to rock and substrate, so more is there than just in the water.
Once below 0.2 ppm use gfo product to manage.
No reef roids.
I was looking into lanthanum chloride. I actually have it in my cart on Amazon. Do you have to dose daily? I am guilty of using reef roids. I spot feed once a week. My corals love it, can you recommend an alternative?
 

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I dose vibrant every water change

I was looking into lanthanum chloride. I actually have it in my cart on Amazon. Do you have to dose daily? I am guilty of using reef roids. I spot feed once a week. My corals love it, can you recommend an alternative?
Used phosphate-e diluted 50 to1 in rodi into 5 micron sox over an 8 hour period to reduce po4 0.7 to 0.25. Only use it when po4 > 0.5, like every couple of months.
Fish poop is the best reef roid alternative.
 

anthonygf

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I use Phosphate RX on my 75 gallon, just 8 drops lowers my Po4 from .12 to .05. So in your situation maybe 2 drops and check the next morning.
 

anthonygf

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My phosphates are currently .9
Just go slow. I followed the directions on the bottle and dosed the recommended amount and my Po4 dropped to zero. Do not do this. the corals will suffer, try 2-3 drops and check Po4 in the morning, then you will know how much to dose the next evening. I place my drops in the overflow. As of now my Po4 is .1 which I am ok with for now.
 
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JayStro81

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Used phosphate-e diluted 50 to1 in rodi into 5 micron sox over an 8 hour period to reduce po4 0.7 to 0.25. Only use it when po4 > 0.5, like every couple of months.
Fish poop is the best reef roid alternative.
That's exactly what I have in my Amazon cart. I dont run micron sox. I've read I can add it next to my skimmer or over filter floss. What are your feelings on these theories? Also, once you dropped your phosphates to .25, how long did they stay there before they creeped back up?
 
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JayStro81

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Just go slow. I followed the directions on the bottle and dosed the recommended amount and my Po4 dropped to zero. Do not do this. the corals will suffer, try 2-3 drops and check Po4 in the morning, then you will know how much to dose the next evening. I place my drops in the overflow. As of now my Po4 is .1 which I am ok with for now.
I'll probably start with half the recommended dose and go slow. Once you reach the desired level, did you have to continue dosing to maintain, or do you dose every so often?
 

anthonygf

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I'll probably start with half the recommended dose and go slow. Once you reach the desired level, did you have to continue dosing to maintain, or do you dose every so often?
Right now I haven't had the need to use it in several weeks, I may just wait and see how high it will get. I will start again if it reaches .2
 

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That's exactly what I have in my Amazon cart. I dont run micron sox. I've read I can add it next to my skimmer or over filter floss. What are your feelings on these theories? Also, once you dropped your phosphates to .25, how long did they stay there before they creeped back up?
Lanthanum chloride binds with phosphate to form a gritty precipitate, albeit small, 10 microns. Into 5 micron sox, you can rig something, or risk damage to fish gills, tangs mainly, or filter feeders.
Run gfo after to try to keep low. Stop reef roids.
 

anthonygf

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Half dose sounds ok. But I am surprised how little I need in a 75 to lower from .16 to .06, I think it was like six drops.
 
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