Newbie with High Phosphates

[danreef55]

 

[eggie]

Hey, Welcome to R2R

 

[Jimbhoy13]

Welcome to R2R and the salty world Jodi and twins. Take things slowly. Lots of knowledgeable and helpful people here who will support and advise you when needed.

 

[edsbeaker]

Hello and welcome!

 

[phillyb614]

 

[Eric R.]

Hi there, my name is Jody, I am brand new to SaltWater and have completely fallen down the reefing rabbit hole! What was suppose to be a birthday present for our twin 9 year old girls has turned into our very first Saltwater adventure! I have a month old UNS 90la dual AIO. Stocked with two clowns, a springer damsel, fire fish, three hermit crabs, 2 conches, and a peppermint shrimp.
I just put in my first corals, a hammer, clove polyp and some gsp. All seem to be happy and healthy. I’m running chemi pure elite to bring my phosphate levels down, currently at 0.3 down from 0.48. My LFS sated .2-.4 but from all mybotherbresearchbtjisblooksnto be way to high..I really am trying not to over feed, my LFS thinks my phosphates could also be high as I used all live rock and sand? Do I need to do bigger water changes weekly than the 10%. I really appreciate all the advise available on R2R, happy reefing!

Hello! Welcome to the joys (and challenges) of reef keeping! It’s amazing that you get to do this with your kids, what an awesome hands on way to learn about science and the wonder of marine life!

I highly recommend checking out this MACNA (the former Marine Aquarium Conference of North America) talk by MASNA Aquarist of the Year Richard Ross.


He also was responsible for running the 212,000 gallon reef tank at the California Academy of Sciences, and was one of the first people in the world to breed SPS corals in his home. He now has bred corals from baby corals he raised in his tanks. He has a 20+ year old 150g home reef tank that at one point had phosphate levels of 1.8! Not 0.18, but 1.8! He had a very healthy tank packed with fish and corals.

Yes, high phosphate can possibly make stony coral skeletons slightly weaker, but I often see new reefers really struggling to combat nuisance algae by trying to keep nutrients low, when they really just need to let their tank mature, and combine manual removal with a good cleanup crew and good flow. And maybe a 3-5 day tank blackout.

 

[CoralB]

Welcome !! :cool:

 

[CoralB]

I keep my pho’s around 0.1which for my tank they seem to like it . If my pho’s get to or over 0.3 my coral would tell me by looking not so hot and shrivel up . I use a Latham chloride product by brightwell called PHOSPHAT-E to bring my pho’s back in line . Bring them down slow Reading directions very carefully . Just make sure you account for rock , decorations, and sump to value your water quantity for dosing and dose in sump or at least slowly in front of a power head . The tank will get a little cloudy for a hour or two which is not to worry . Imo I think your pho’s are high and need to be addressed . A more natural way is to set up and use a macro algae like chaeto in your sump with a light over it . Hope this helps . :cool:

 

[jastott]

I keep my pho’s around 0.1which for my tank they seem to like it . If my pho’s get to or over 0.3 my coral would tell me by looking not so hot and shrivel up . I use a Latham chloride product by brightwell called PHOSPHAT-E to bring my pho’s back in line . Bring them down slow Reading directions very carefully . Just make sure you account for rock , decorations, and sump to value your water quantity for dosing and dose in sump or at least slowly in front of a power head . The tank will get a little cloudy for a hour or two which is not to worry . Imo I think your pho’s are high and need to be addressed . A more natural way is to set up and use a macro algae like chaeto in your sump with a light over it . Hope this helps . :cool:

Hi there, thanks so much for the reply! I was thinking the same thing and have been tempted to try the phosphate-E, but then I listened to Matthew on BRS and he said definitely not for beginners…is this just due to the newness of the tank or not dosing appropriately and then you end up bottoming out the phosphate. The chemo pure elite has brought p04 levels down from .48 to .33 in 8 days…..should I dose with the phosphate-E in addition to the chemi-pure elite? Greatly appreciate your thoughts and time!

 

[jastott]

Hello! Welcome to the joys (and challenges) of reef keeping! It’s amazing that you get to do this with your kids, what an awesome hands on way to learn about science and the wonder of marine life!

I highly recommend checking out this MACNA (the former Marine Aquarium Conference of North America) talk by MASNA Aquarist of the Year Richard Ross.


He also was responsible for running the 212,000 gallon reef tank at the California Academy of Sciences, and was one of the first people in the world to breed SPS corals in his home. He now has bred corals from baby corals he raised in his tanks. He has a 20+ year old 150g home reef tank that at one point had phosphate levels of 1.8! Not 0.18, but 1.8! He had a very healthy tank packed with fish and corals.

Yes, high phosphate can possibly make stony coral skeletons slightly weaker, but I often see new reefers really struggling to combat nuisance algae by trying to keep nutrients low, when they really just need to let their tank mature, and combine manual removal with a good cleanup crew and good flow. And maybe a 3-5 day tank blackout.

Thank you so much for your reply! Excellent info here and I’ll be sure to give this a listen! Your advice is greatly appreciated!

 

[Eric R.]

I started with live rock (ocean aquacultured, harvested and shipped overnight from Florida). I've only occasionally measured my phosphate level, but never tried to adjust it, other than water changes. Clove polyps, GSP, and hammers all tend to be fairly hardy aquarium inhabitants, good beginner corals. I wouldn't personally recommend trying to bring down phosphate using multiple methods, it gets too easy to bottom out, and I've heard of too many bad things happening from bottoming out phosphate. Bringing it down very slowly is the safest, if you are trying to lower it. There's no rush. I also personally wouldn't want to run a tank below 0.1-0.15 phosphate, cause that keeps a comfortable buffer but also isn't very high level. It's easy to go from low levels like 0.03-0.05 to <0.01 or 0 quickly, especially if you have methods of removing phosphate in place, like GFO or lanthanum.

 

[jastott]

I started with live rock (ocean aquacultured, harvested and shipped overnight from Florida). I've only occasionally measured my phosphate level, but never tried to adjust it, other than water changes. Clove polyps, GSP, and hammers all tend to be fairly hardy aquarium inhabitants, good beginner corals. I wouldn't personally recommend trying to bring down phosphate using multiple methods, it gets too easy to bottom out, and I've heard of too many bad things happening from bottoming out phosphate. Bringing it down very slowly is the safest, if you are trying to lower it. There's no rush. I also personally wouldn't want to run a tank below 0.1-0.15 phosphate, cause that keeps a comfortable buffer but also isn't very high level. It's easy to go from low levels like 0.03-0.05 to <0.01 or 0 quickly, especially if you have methods of removing phosphate in place, like GFO or lanthanum.

Thank you so much for all of your insight and help! I think I’m just going to leave the chemi pure elite in and continue my water changes. Everything looks pretty happy right now so I like erring on the side of caution and take it slow…I truly appreciate your guidanc!

 

[tharbin]

Thank you so much for all of your insight and help! I think I’m just going to leave the chemi pure elite in and continue my water changes. Everything looks pretty happy right now so I like erring on the side of caution and take it slow…I truly appreciate your guidanc!

You have gotten a lot of very good advice here. Your decision to do water changes and run ChemiPure Elite is a very good choice.

Chemicals are sometimes needed but they should be a last resort, especially something like Lanthanum Chloride. It is very easy to nuke a tank. It is better to allow the tank to stabilize.

Also, don't chase numbers chase healthy organisms. Monitor your parameters and adjust things when you see them trending the wrong way. Live rock and sand are a great way to start a tank but it takes a while for it to stabilize out. Be patient and good luck.

 

[PharmrJohn]

Greetings and Welcome to our collective obsession!!!!

 

[jastott]

You have gotten a lot of very good advice here. Your decision to do water changes and run ChemiPure Elite is a very good choice.

Chemicals are sometimes needed but they should be a last resort, especially something like Lanthanum Chloride. It is very easy to nuke a tank. It is better to allow the tank to stabilize.

Also, don't chase numbers chase healthy organisms. Monitor your parameters and adjust things when you see them trending the wrong way. Live rock and sand are a great way to start a tank but it takes a while for it to stabilize out. Be patient and good luck.

I’m so amazed at all the encouragement and super helpful advice here!
20% water change done,
P04 down to 0.21 from .48 9 days after adding chemi pure and 2-20% water changes a week apart. I am excited to see the progress and everything in the tank is happy! really wanted to stay away from chemicals if I could so fingers crossed this stays the trend! Thanks again for the words of wisdom!

 

[voelter76]

Welcome to the fun!!!

 

[oliver1812]

Welcome Aboard!!

 

[oliver1812]

I’m so amazed at all the encouragement and super helpful advice here!
20% water change done,
P04 down to 0.21 from .48 9 days after adding chemi pure and 2-20% water changes a week apart. I am excited to see the progress and everything in the tank is happy! really wanted to stay away from chemicals if I could so fingers crossed this stays the trend! Thanks again for the words of wisdom!

:) Everyone is super helpful.

 

[Dmmz]

Welcome to R2R!

 

[shakacuz]

welcome aboard the r2r board. hello from PA!