Phosphates keep bottoming out, remove carbon?

[dsouth1103]

My phosphate levels keep dropping to 0.00 on my Hanna ULR phosphate tester. I’ve been dosing NeoPhos and it will go up to the desired level for a day or so but then it drops down to 0.00. Some of my acros have paled out and it’s getting really frustrating. The tank is a IM 30 gallon long AIO, i’ve been running a bag of ChemiPure blue nano, matrix media, sponges, and a filter sock on the other side (weekly water changes with Red Sea coral pro salt). Four small fish being fed daily with pellets and mysis shrimp interchangeably and i’ve been adding Red Sea AB+ every day. With all of these nutrients going in and all of them going out, i’m considering taking out my Chemipure carbon. I think it’s working too well and I don’t see any reason why I can’t maintain nutrients. Nitrates are doing the same thing but not to the same extent. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[FishOkay]

Are you dosing calcium, magnesium etc?

 

[Spare time]

It's not the carbon that is the issue. BUT, Chemipure blue is not just carbon. It's carbon, purigen, and a phosphate remover. Take that out and just use regular carbon or the original chemipure

 

[Spare time]

Also, stop the water changes unless you plan in dosing phosphate everytime you change the water

 

[FishOkay]

Also, stop the water changes unless you plan in dosing phosphate everytime you change the water

Was going to be my next suggestion, if elements are being dosed to maintain and nutrients are way low water changes are just am unnecessary and damaging exercise.

 

[dsouth1103]

Are you dosing calcium, magnesium etc?

I’m dosing kalkwasser at 1/2 teaspoon per gallon saturation, 45mls every day spanned out in 24 doses.

 

[dsouth1103]

It's not the carbon that is the issue. BUT, Chemipure blue is not just carbon. It's carbon, purigen, and a phosphate remover. Take that out and just use regular carbon or the original chemipure

I do 5 gallon water changes every sunday and I skipped my water change last sunday. I tested again today and PO4 was 0.00 and NO3 was 5.3. Last time i tested was last sunday and phosphates were at 0.06. But im afraid im not replenishing my trace elements by skipping water changes.

 

[Spare time]

I do 5 gallon water changes every sunday and I skipped my water change last sunday. I tested again today and PO4 was 0.00 and NO3 was 5.3. Last time i tested was last sunday and phosphates were at 0.06. But im afraid im not replenishing my trace elements by skipping water changes.

You can easily dose those back in. I'd either dose nitrate and phosphate continuously (as needed, as 5ppm nitrate is fine) or you can skip water changes and dose trace elements back in.


Who is to sat that your current water change schedule is replacing these elements at the rate they are being consumed ? It's really a guessing game at this point.

 

[Miami Reef]

It's not the carbon that is the issue. BUT, Chemipure blue is not just carbon. It's carbon, purigen, and a phosphate remover. Take that out and just use regular carbon or the original chemipure

This^

If feeding more/reducing filtration doesn’t increase phosphates, you can simply dose it. Much easier to do the latter.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

It's not the carbon that is the issue. BUT, Chemipure blue is not just carbon. It's carbon, purigen, and a phosphate remover. Take that out and just use regular carbon or the original chemipure

Chemipure Blue does not have a phosphate binder effective in seawater, but chemipure elite does (it has GFO).

Folks should ignore the misleading Boyd claims, where they conveniently lump freshwater and saltwater together, making the claim not truly a lie, just misleading. No polymer is going to directly bind significant phosphate from seawater. There is too much competition from sulfate and chloride for positively charged sites on the polymers they use at the levels of phosphate we encounter in a reef tank.

 

[Spare time]

Chemipure Blue does not have a phosphate binder effective in seawater, but chemipure elite does (it has GFO).

Folks should ignore the misleading Boyd claims, where they conveniently lump freshwater and saltwater together, making the claim not truly a lie, just misleading. No polymer is going to directly bind significant phosphate from seawater. There is too much competition from sulfate and chloride for positively charged sites on the polymers they use at the levels of phosphate we encounter in a reef tank.

Interesting. Thank ya.

 

[NowGlazeIT]

Reefroids are great at adding phosphates to the tank

 

[Reefer4fun]

Reefroids are great at adding phosphates to the tank

Question. Will the added phosphate from reefroids show within a day on a test kit?

 

[KoRoVa]

Question. Will the added phosphate from reefroids show within a day on a test kit?

Probably not... Need time for the portion of eaten to turn into poop, and the other portion to decay

 

[NowGlazeIT]

Question. Will the added phosphate from reefroids show within a day on a test kit?

Yes for me it took a few hours to show up and that lasted for a full day. I recommend you test after 4-6 hours and then again at 24hr to see how much is being added and used

 

[Reefer4fun]

Yes for me it took a few hours to show up and that lasted for a full day. I recommend you test after 4-6 hours and then again at 24hr to see how much is being added and used

Thanks. Will do