Phosphates are at 1.97ppm

[StartingATank]

If it were me, I would keep it where it is unless you plan to keep SPS or harder to keep corals. I have my tank running around 2, and all my corals look great, the best they ever had. The only thing is that you probably wouldn't be able to keep any SPS.

 

[Australian_Reef]

Update: as of the test I just took. We are now down to one 1.87, that’s with two bags of phosguard in it. So I’m not sure if the rate is going to increase overtime, but if it’s going to only go down .01 or two a day, not sure if that is is going to be enough, and yes, I get that it shouldn’t go down super quick, but I don’t know how negligible .01 is considering how high it is to begin with. By the way, there is no sign of any severe trouble in the tank, the only issue is corals are not really growing, and I have lost two heads on my torch corals, which I am assuming is related to the high phosphate issue. Nitrates are around 24 as of yesterday‘s test, alkalinity at 8.5, calcium at 480, and magnesium at 1550 (I find that my magnesium checker is always slightt higher than my other back up tests). I am reluctant to use liquid phosphate remover unless I have to, just because that’s much easier to screw up based on what I’ve read. here is a picture of the tank (yes I know there is a outbreak of aptasia, but I have put in nudibranchs a week ago)

There’s definitely no emergency need to bring it down at any speed so I’d just keep going as you are if you are happy with it. It is going to take a lot of media though!

I had high phosphates in my 90g and I used 2/3rds cup of phosguard changed every two weeks to bring it down.

 

[Jimbo327]

I would start with LC liquid remover first with phosphate that high. Way more economical. Just need to make sure you filter out and go slow.

 

[Australian_Reef]

I think with your LPS dominated tank (just from your picture) the greater danger is bringing it too low too fast. Plenty of fish too!

Personally I think you are on the right lines, the leeching from the rocks and sand is definitely going to keep your levels high before they are depleted and then drop fast, but also try and reduce your phosphate in foods. Again though, bag your own media (or use a reactor) the pre bagged stuff is really for small tanks. Mucho $$

 

[StartingATank]

I would just watch it and see if the corals get stressed and reduce high-phosphate foods. Having high phosphates isn't a bad thing. Unless your corals start getting stressed, I would leave it where it is

 

[Daniel Doherty]

If you are going to use GFO I think using it in a media reactor would be better than those bagged GFO products. Has anyone ever tried extracting phosphate from saturated GFO with lanthanum chloride outside of the aquarium as a way to reuse some GFO?

I’d love to know this!

 

[Tom800]

Update: well, I just tested it and phosphate went to 2.1. So I’ll now it’s not going at a rate of going down. I just purchased a media reactor from bulk reef and GFO. It’ll come next week so I will set that up and use it, I still prefer this over the liquid remover and I also figure that this is a big tank with a lot of fish, so I probably need a phosphate reactor anyway to not only get it down but to be stable. I will continue to test and monitor, but, once I get the reactor, I will still continue to test and make sure I don’t go down too much with the reactor .

 

[Daniel Doherty]

Update: well, I just tested it and phosphate went to 2.1. So I’ll now it’s not going at a rate of going down. I just purchased a media reactor from bulk reef and GFO. It’ll come next week so I will set that up and use it, I still prefer this over the liquid remover and I also figure that this is a big tank with a lot of fish, so I probably need a phosphate reactor anyway to not only get it down but to be stable. I will continue to test and monitor, but, once I get the reactor, I will still continue to test and make sure I don’t go down too much with the reactor .

Yup. I think most people run gfo reactors to be honest unless they’re micro-managing their tank or are really pro at it. It’s pretty simple and fool proof. Lanthanum chloride is great but you easily overdose it. I’d use some cheap gfo to get yours down since it’s so high, and then I’d run “fauna marin phos 0.04 phosphate remover”. No idea how this works to be honest but somehow doesn’t zero out the phosphates.
Above all else, unless it’s coming from your rocks, which will pass anyways, phosphates and nitrates are coming from what your putting into the tank. Water changes are only a temporary fix really, a plaster of you will. They will rocket back up unless you reduce your input, or increase your output in your tank.
To decrease your input to the tank, try feeding less. Smaller, slower feedings will mean more actually gets eaten and less breaks down in your filters. Frozen food also has less phosphates then pellets/flakes.
To increase your output from the tank, run your skimmer wetter, more hours on refugium or clean your sponges/ socks more.
Hope this helps, I’d high phosphates at the start and then realised I was just feeding my tank to much to be honest. Gfo is unreal but I’d look at addressing the root cause aswell, otherwise your GFO bill is going to add up

 

[Tom800]

Update: finally got my media reactor, set it up, and I added 2 cups of rowaphos. It’s it’s been going for about 16 hours phosphates went from 2.25 to 1.01. I don’t see any stress with corals at all, I will keep testing every few hours to see how it’s going. I was not expecting the media reactor to be so efficient.

 

[TheDuude]

Since you have high nitrates and phosphate I would think about NoPox. In my experience NoPox will bring down both nitrate and phosphate but does a better job at keeping them in a good ratio. It will be slow but if your coral is not in immediate danger than slow is best

 

[TheDuude]

Update: finally got my media reactor, set it up, and I added 2 cups of rowaphos. It’s it’s been going for about 16 hours phosphates went from 2.25 to 1.01. I don’t see any stress with corals at all, I will keep testing every few hours to see how it’s going. I was not expecting the media reactor to be so efficient.

This is way to fast of a reduction in my experience. Watch for an ALK drop.

 

[Tom800]

update: the phosphate level have been remaining around 0.70 for the last two days. I did replace the media with fresh media, just a less since there’s less phosphates to take out. Still the same results so far, I have a feeling that it was able to take out a lot more quicker when there was a lot more in the system.

 

[Australian_Reef]

update: the phosphate level have been remaining around 0.70 for the last two days. I did replace the media with fresh media, just a less since there’s less phosphates to take out. Still the same results so far, I have a feeling that it was able to take out a lot more quicker when there was a lot more in the system.

Sounds like a good outcome. The media will quietly be taking care of the residual leeching from rock and sand for a while so when this is depleted you may see another sudden drop so just adjust as nexxisary to avoid bottoming out.

 

[Tom800]

Sounds like a good outcome. The media will quietly be taking care of the residual leeching from rock and sand for a while so when this is depleted you may see another sudden drop so just adjust as nexxisary to avoid bottoming out.

I’m hoping the leeching is what’s going on here, because it’s been stuck at 0.71 for three days now (and fresh media was added two days ago) So under your theory, the phosphates have reached the level in the tank, where the rocks are now leeching it out, hence why it’s staying around the same number and eventually it’ll have leeched out all the phosphates it has and then go down again.

 

[Tom800]

Update: still no change – phosphates are still at 0.73. They’ve been around this number for four days now with the reactor constantly going. Is this all the phosphate that’s just bleaching off the rocks now? It’s taking this long to get it all?

 

[Australian_Reef]

Probably. If it’s not rising then the media isn’t spent.

 

[Tom800]

Probably. If it’s not rising then the media isn’t spent.

Wow – now I tested the water coming out of the reactor directly, and it’s 0.73 – doesn’t make any sense because I just replaced the media. I wonder if the filter pad is clogged up, which is where the water goes from the bottom of the reactor up and so the water is not going through the media as much. I’m going to investigate this today.