How to use phosphat-e correctly

[Charley75]

150 gal mixed reef…all fish currently in hospital tank due to ich outbreak after uv sterilizer bulb burnout. My current phosphate level is consistently reading .9 on my Hanna checker. Reading sonic about how to use this stuff is overwhelming. Trying to safely and slowly lower to an acceptable level. Have started fuge, bur doesn’t seem to be working fast enough and have big clumps of hair/turf algae growing in DT. I’m seeing instructions to use a filter sock or even dose directly into skimmer. I don’t exactly understand either method’s reasoning or specifics on how to do it. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Mas0n]

Start slowly based on the dosage recommendation on the bottle for your water volume. It’s better to use less here, test, and adjust. It works almost instantly though, and test results will adjust quickly.

The reasoning behind dosing into a skimmer or sock is so the precipitated phosphate particles are removed from the system. This chemical physically binds to the phosphate and creates little particles that can settle into rock work and irritate fish (from what I’ve read).

I personally just dose it into some filter floss, probably not that effective compared to a recommended 5 micron sock, but I haven’t had any issues in the few years I’ve been using it.