Most efficient safest way to keep phosphates in check?

Tcook

2500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Jan 29, 2014
Messages
3,636
Reaction score
8,259
Location
California
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
For myself, limiting the amount of food portion and use of chemipure Blue or Elite is a sure bet.
My phos has hit a high of .03 and nitrate .5 with chemipure

Does it stay stable at those values or does it continue to drop as long as the chemipure stay in the tank?

Also, does no one used increase flow as a treatment? Can appear in areas of dead flow in the face of "normal " levels. I'm not talking all over the tank growth.
 

vetteguy53081

Well known Member and monster tank lover
View Badges
Joined
Aug 11, 2013
Messages
90,861
Reaction score
200,138
Location
Wisconsin -
Rating - 100%
13   0   0
Does it stay stable at those values or does it continue to drop as long as the chemipure stay in the tank?
With the Blue- stabilizes. With the Elite, can drop further as it contains some GFO
 

R33fDaddy

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Apr 29, 2021
Messages
420
Reaction score
282
Location
Orlando
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
What livestock do you have?

You could be feeding enough or maybe could even feed more.
 

R33fDaddy

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Apr 29, 2021
Messages
420
Reaction score
282
Location
Orlando
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
After all these responses I still don't know how or what to treat cyno with
Use Chemiclean it works great.

Also get an Algae Scrubber.

Those two things will solve all your issues. You could even dose Nopox along with having the scrubber, then feed your fish all you want.
 

CanuckReefer

Simple...Salt, Water, LR, Lighting and Flow.
View Badges
Joined
Nov 18, 2020
Messages
2,451
Reaction score
3,855
Location
Port Perry Ontario
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Make your own frozen mix from wild caught seafood and wild grown dulse.....its that easy. Your Phos will drop to nothing. Or keep feeding store bought and watch it continue on its path. Choice is yours.
And no.... 7 month old T5's are NOT causing this....you are fine at 7 months. I change mine out at 9-10 months, which is a month or two early.....
 

CanuckReefer

Simple...Salt, Water, LR, Lighting and Flow.
View Badges
Joined
Nov 18, 2020
Messages
2,451
Reaction score
3,855
Location
Port Perry Ontario
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I will cut back on feeding. but I must treat tank? Should I use chemipure, Phosguard? Cyno tratment?
NO. To all of it. Just NO. You gave elevated Phos, what the heck is Chemipure or the others going to do for you? Mask a problem, and actually do zilch . Time to figure it out without throwing chemicals against the wall....
 

anthonygf

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Jun 28, 2020
Messages
2,158
Reaction score
1,751
Location
Las Vegas
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
All food contains phosphates. But I believe dried food has much more than frozen does.

Tell us more about your tank... how big is it? How often do you do water changes and how big are those water changes?
That is weird. I feed dry flake exclusively twice a day to my fish, I mix all the different types of quality flakes together. My phosphates are always low 0.03-0.07. When I used mostly frozen food phosphates would get very high. Anyway my fish prefer flake, they go crazy for it. I don't feed frozen anymore now. My fish are fat and happy.

I also run my skimmer at night and the skimmate drains into the filter box to maintain most of the nutrients and the larger solids get caught in the filter. My nitrates have been stable at 5-10ppm and phosphate 0.03-0.07.
 

Rmckoy

7500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Mar 24, 2013
Messages
8,369
Reaction score
11,239
Location
Ontario Canada
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Make your own frozen mix from wild caught seafood and wild grown dulse.....its that easy. Your Phos will drop to nothing. Or keep feeding store bought and watch it continue on its path. Choice is yours.
And no.... 7 month old T5's are NOT causing this....you are fine at 7 months. I change mine out at 9-10 months, which is a month or two early.....
This is the confusing part .
years ago when I first started reefing . It was said t5’s were to be changed at min every 6 months .

for years I changed bulbs on my 8 bulb fixture by alternating between which 4 bulbs I was changing .

I have 4 new bulbs to use for my next replacement but I am waiting closer to the 9 months to a year .

I have never tested par and was told I don’t need to .
t5’s are more than enough light to grow anything
 

Dom

Full Time Reef Keeper
View Badges
Joined
Apr 29, 2016
Messages
5,720
Reaction score
6,305
Location
NY
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
I will cut back on feeding. but I must treat tank? Should I use chemipure, Phosguard? Cyno tratment?

1. HOW BIG IS THE TANK?

2. DO YOU DO WATER CHANGES?

3. HOW OFTEN DO YOU DO WATER CHANGES?

4. WHAT IS THE SIZE OF YOUR WATER CHANGE?
 

Dom

Full Time Reef Keeper
View Badges
Joined
Apr 29, 2016
Messages
5,720
Reaction score
6,305
Location
NY
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
water change 1 x every 6 weeks. 20%

155 gallons of water

In my view, that is a big contributing factor to your phosphate issue.

I do 20% water changes on each of my tanks on a weekly basis.

So with a 155 gallon tank, I would recommend 30 gallon water changes on FAITHFUL weekly basis. Monitor and see where your phosphates are after a month.

Then you can increase or decrease the size of your water changes accordingly.

If the size and frequency of these water changes turns you off (and I can understand why it would), search "Dutch Synthetic Reefing".
 

CanuckReefer

Simple...Salt, Water, LR, Lighting and Flow.
View Badges
Joined
Nov 18, 2020
Messages
2,451
Reaction score
3,855
Location
Port Perry Ontario
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
This is the confusing part .
years ago when I first started reefing . It was said t5’s were to be changed at min every 6 months .

for years I changed bulbs on my 8 bulb fixture by alternating between which 4 bulbs I was changing .

I have 4 new bulbs to use for my next replacement but I am waiting closer to the 9 months to a year .

I have never tested par and was told I don’t need to .
t5’s are more than enough light to grow anything
Same, used to change them every 5-6 months. For years... ah the money I could have saved lol. Oh well, hobby evolves....
 

Rmckoy

7500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Mar 24, 2013
Messages
8,369
Reaction score
11,239
Location
Ontario Canada
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Same, used to change them every 5-6 months. For years... ah the money I could have saved lol. Oh well, hobby evolves....
Money saved ..

If I counted every dollar spent on hobby stuff .
imagine the tank if all those $30 colonies from the early 90’s lived through many tank crashes
 

R33fDaddy

Active Member
View Badges
Joined
Apr 29, 2021
Messages
420
Reaction score
282
Location
Orlando
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
In my view, that is a big contributing factor to your phosphate issue.

I do 20% water changes on each of my tanks on a weekly basis.

So with a 155 gallon tank, I would recommend 30 gallon water changes on FAITHFUL weekly basis. Monitor and see where your phosphates are after a month.

Then you can increase or decrease the size of your water changes accordingly.

If the size and frequency of these water changes turns you off (and I can understand why it would), search "Dutch Synthetic Reefing".
30 Gallon water changes on a weekly basis would make me quit the hobby... Lol
 
Back
Top