Phosphate

[Alfredomeinhardt]

I have a question.
I had Phosphate at 1.36ppm. I started to use Brightwell Phosphate e amd after 2 weeks I got the phosphates to 0.09. My nitrates were high too so after I’ve got my phosphate at 0.09 I stoped the Phosphate e and started the Redsea NoPox to lower the nitrates.

Everything was going well and all of the sudden one day I checked the phosphate and it climbed to 0.18 and stayed there for two days and today is at 0.25.

Any idea why it started to climb again??

 

[Reef.]

Not much to go on there.

Not sure why you are dosing so much, your PO4 wasn’t that high.

You also ask about nitrates but don’t say what they were, so hard to say but my guess is you probably didn’t need to dose for those either but as said not a lot of details to go off.

 

[Alfredomeinhardt]

Not much to go on there.

Not sure why you are dosing so much, your PO4 wasn’t that high.

You also ask about nitrates but don’t say what they were, so hard to say but my guess is you probably didn’t need to dose for those either but as said not a lot of details to go off.

My nitrates were at 25ppm when I started with the NoPox

 

[Reef.]

My nitrates were at 25ppm when I started with the NoPox

that is not high at all, a water change would bring that down, but even a water change wasn’t needed, as 25 is not high.

I would stop thinking dosing and adding stuff from a bottle will fix the tank as from your op there was nothing a water change wouldn’t have fixed.

 

[Alfredomeinhardt]

that is not high at all, a water change would bring that down, but even a water change wasn’t needed, as 25 is not high.

I would stop thinking dosing and adding stuff from a bottle will fix the tank as from your op there was nothing a water change wouldn’t have fixed.

Thanks. I will stop dosing and continue my water changes weekly. I actually started making my own salt water with Tropic Marin Pro, which I think will help stabilizing the parameters.
By the way my tank is a 32.5 FluvalSmart flex

 

[Reef.]

Thanks. I will stop dosing and continue my water changes weekly. I actually started making my own salt water with Tropic Marin Pro, which I think will help stabilizing the parameters.
By the way my tank is a 32.5 FluvalSmart flex

making your own water will help a lot, if you do get an issue at least you’ll know your water wasn’t to blame.

If you have a ton of algae in the tank etc then you can take stronger measures, maybe add a little rowaphos if your PO4 goes higher or you start to see a fair bit of algae.
Nitrates around 20 is fine for a nano with LPS and softies, a water change would bring your 25 down to 20 easily.

Keep an eye on your nitrates and PO4 over time, if they jump up within a few days then you need to look at the tank and work out why, are you feeding too much (probably not if using frozen, maybe is using pellets as they sit on the sand bed and rot) or do you need to change your floss more often, keep up with water changes, clean the tank more, if the nitrates and PO4 go up slowly then a water change might be enough to get them back down.

Remember with a nano the great thing is a water change will fix most things and is easy to do, the bigger tanks use other stuff/equipment to help keep their parameters inline as a water change is much harder and expensive to do.

 

[nereefpat]

Any idea why it started to climb again??

Yes. If the phosphates were that high (over 1 ppm), then your rock and sand are full of it. They will leach back into the water. This is why water changes aren't a very efficient way of reducing phosphate. Water changes work great for nitrate, since nitrate doesn't have the binding/leaching mechanism.

 

[Alfredomeinhardt]

Yes. If the phosphates were that high (over 1 ppm), then your rock and sand are full of it. They will leach back into the water. This is why water changes aren't a very efficient way of reducing phosphate. Water changes work great for nitrate, since nitrate doesn't have the binding/leaching mechanism.

So what do you suggest to do to stop the leaching from the rock and sand?

 

[blaxsun]

So what do you suggest to do to stop the leaching from the rock and sand?

You need to look at some changes to manage it long-term. GFO and other types of media works great for this. You can also curb feeding a bit, or at least rinse off your brine and mysis before feeding.

It’s much harder managing levels in a smaller tank because they tend to swing a lot more and it’s very easy to then overcorrect.

 

[nereefpat]

So what do you suggest to do to stop the leaching from the rock and sand?

You just have to keep at it. When phosphate levels get too high for your liking, bring back the product you were using, or use some gfo to get it down to 0.1 or so.