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.

 

[Charley75]

So if I want to lower from .9 to .1, how many days should I take, and how much per day. 150 gal tank with 40 gal sump. I don’t completely get the instructions on the bottle. Still have questions about how and where to add the Phosphat-e.

 

[BryanM]

I'm sad to say that lowering phosphate doesn't work they way you think it does.

I can lower my phosphate from .9 to .2 in about a week using high capacity GFO.

I remove the GFO, or fail to replace the GFO in the reactor, and it will go right back up. Ive been doing this for over a year now.

GFO is expensive, but I find it better than lanthanum and the potential risk to fish.

 

[Mschmidt]

Is all the fish are out, then the only rush is your coral. Imo, you could probably go with the full dose from the start and back off when you add back the fish. Dose at our new your drain and you should be fine. It brings really quickly, so.if there's phos in the area, it'll do work.

The reasoning for dosing into a sock or skimmer is to pull out the Lapo4 before it gets back to the display. Problem with the sock is bound phosphate is smaller than your sock probably is fine.

 

[BryanM]

Also, dosing LC into a 5 micron sock = sock clogged up pretty fast.

 

[Charley75]

So still have questions. How would adding to your skimmer??? Just pour in next to intake…..or actually pour down the airline (Reef Octo). My sump has 3 spots for filter socks….so is the process to put all filter socks in and actually pour the liquid into one of the socks??

 

[BryanM]

So still have questions. How would adding to your skimmer??? Just pour in next to intake…..or actually pour down the airline (Reef Octo). My sump has 3 spots for filter socks….so is the process to put all filter socks in and actually pour the liquid into one of the socks??

I cannot speak to the skimmer because I never trusted that method to capture the LC.

But for the socks yes, I used a doser to dose LC directly in to a filter sock.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

So if I want to lower from .9 to .1, how many days should I take, and how much per day.

Many days! That's a shock that is much worse than 0.9 ppm phosphate to begin with. I'd take at least 2 weeks, maybe a month or more.

And calculators are useless. More will desorb from rock and sand during this lowering than is in the water right now.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

So still have questions. How would adding to your skimmer??? Just pour in next to intake…..or actually pour down the airline (Reef Octo). My sump has 3 spots for filter socks….so is the process to put all filter socks in and actually pour the liquid into one of the socks??

The word pour sounds way too fast. Very slow drip is better.

There is a risk to tangs from dosing lanthanum, and that is one reason to be very careful.