Phosphate sky high after sand bed removal

[brandon429]

The tank looked really clean in pics for sure. A very very nice reef! $$

 

[Willbiker]

The tank looked really clean in pics for sure. A very very nice reef! $$

Thank you! Its a 10 month old system and a work in progress. I just started introducing new wavemakers in order to create better and more random flow but the sand is way too fine. Also the rockwork is one line down the centre and when in gyre mode, it causes 2 valleys either side and the flow is only one direction which my lps and softies don't seem to like so that's why some corals are placed next to the rockwork the end to seek shelter! Once the sand is out I will rescape with more rock, providing more surface area for the flow to collide with. Thats the plan anyway

Here is how bad my dino issue was at the end of November!

 

[brandon429]

you have turned that around 180. very very nice W

 

[Super Fly]

Here are some of the possible explanations for the PO4 and NO3 increase.

Aragonite sand adsorbs PO4. When you removed it, the system has a smaller PO4 sink and it is accumulating in the water.

The jump in NO3 might be a jump in NO2. When you removed the sand, you removed nitrite oxidizing bacteria. Because these are slow growing bacteria, the system’s NO2 oxidizing capacity is lower and NO2 is accumulating.

If the sand bend had significant denitrifying capacity, the system’s capacity to remove NO3 has been diminished and NO3 are accumulating.

thanks for the good info, very interesting. I've often wondered how for those with DSB who does sand maintenance every 3-4 yrs by siphoning 1/4 sections of tank, that there is no adverse effect vs the OP's PO4 spike after complete sand removal.

 

[Willbiker]

I'm still struggling to keep the phosphate down as a result of replacing my sand! I am dosing quantum liquid phosphate remover which states to dose 1ml daily per 100l for 0.25ppm concentrations. I have a concentration of 0.2ppm and im dosing double the recommendation and my po4 still creeps up daily!. Its making my water a little cloudy. Shall I simply increase the dose to try to get the po4 down?. I'm concerned as it say not to overdose !

 

[brandon429]

How has the reading been accepted as accurate, asking due to rampant misreads in the hobby curious if this reader is more accurate than most, not found in misread posts etc

About 500 threads exist for this very issue with ammonia, and every one of them is a misread.

 

[Willbiker]

How has the reading been accepted as accurate, asking due to rampant misreads in the hobby curious if this reader is more accurate than most, not found in misread posts etc

About 500 threads exist for this very issue with ammonia, and every one of them is a misread.

I'm using the H2O ocean test kit which I've used for about a year and it has seamed to give me reliable readings..I think. My readings have always been below 0.03ppm until I raised to 0.16ppm for dino treatment. I'm pretty sure its giving me an accurate reading as it rocketed up after my sand was removed...so it all makes sense.

 

[Willbiker]

Should I get another kit? I was thinking of investing in a hanna po4 tester. Maybe I'll pull the trigger now.

 

[Reef Jeff]

I made a mistake dosing phosphate once and ended up with a reading higher than what you have. For a 100 gallon system I used 4 pillows of Seachem Phosguard and within 24 hours it was almost undetectable. It’s a quick solution that did not hurt any of my livestock. You might consider that as a quick fix.

 

[Timfish]

I wouldn't consider .3 mg/l PO4 sky high This video might be helpful:

Richard Ross What's up with phosphate"

 

[Pistondog]

I'm still struggling to keep the phosphate down as a result of replacing my sand! I am dosing quantum liquid phosphate remover which states to dose 1ml daily per 100l for 0.25ppm concentrations. I have a concentration of 0.2ppm and im dosing double the recommendation and my po4 still creeps up daily!. Its making my water a little cloudy. Shall I simply increase the dose to try to get the po4 down?. I'm concerned as it say not to overdose !

That is lanthanum chloride which binds phosphate as a flocculant, the cloudiness in the water. Dangerous to some tangs as it clogs their gills.
I dose lanthanum into a 5 micron sock, minimizing the amount that gets into the display tank. Make sure you are running at least a skimmer or preferably 5 micron filter sox.
Lc is very effective at reducing po4.
Remove gfo while using this as it will de absorb po4 as the concentration in the tank is reduced by lc.

 

[Willbiker]

How has the reading been accepted as accurate, asking due to rampant misreads in the hobby curious if this reader is more accurate than most, not found in misread posts etc

About 500 threads exist for this very issue with ammonia, and every one of them is a misread.

You were right! I bought a hanna ultra low phosphate checker and it reads 0.01 where the other kit reads as high as 0.2!

I'll trust the Hanna i think!

Thanks again