Recovering water quality after dino

[brian.badge]

I had amphidinium and prorocentrum which I eventually beat by suspending water changes and dosing silicate (water glass) for an extended period of time. Its been a few months since I beat them and I am working on getting my tank back in order. I am doing 1.5 gallon daily water changes using an apex. I am feeding the same as usual, but have been surprised that my phosphate and nitrate have increased lately instead of going down. I even started to suspect my saltwater, but it tested fine.

Here are my current levels salinity 34.1, alk 8.9 dkh, calcium 485, mg 1455, nitrate 25, phosphate 0.16 and PH 7.84. I run filter socks changed twice a week, 30 gallon sump dedicated to caulerpa and pods and I run a hob reef octopus skimmer.

I suspect some of the phosphate is that I feed some sinking pellets, ocean nutrition, which makes sure my diamond goby doesn't get thin. Otherwise I feed a 1" square of nori and a less than a cube of frozen (rods food and mysis).

I really thought that the water changes would pull my Nitrate and Phosphate down, but so far no luck. Any advice and glaring thing I am missing? My coral looks good and my fish are happy, but I want to get things growing and add coral.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Add a pouch of chemipure Elite which will pull nitrate and phosphate and keep in check and polish water at the same time

 

[saltyhog]

Don't be in too big of a hurry if your corals look ok. Depending on what kind you have, your rock may have absorbed a lot of PO4 and is leaching it back in to the water column. Go slow and avoid GFO if possible...if not possible check diligently and avoid bottoming it out at all costs.

 

[brian.badge]

Don't be in too big of a hurry if your corals look ok. Depending on what kind you have, your rock may have absorbed a lot of PO4 and is leaching it back in to the water column. Go slow and avoid GFO if possible...if not possible check diligently and avoid bottoming it out at all costs.

I assume you suggest a avoiding gfo because it may bottom out and encourage more dino?

What should I do in the meantime my phosphate is at the max for my research test kits chart so I dont know if I will see if its going up more.

Most of my rock was cheap mined stuff but I do have a few pieces of nice man-made stuff. Rock has been in tank 2 years.

 

[saltyhog]

I assume you suggest a avoiding gfo because it may bottom out and encourage more dino?

What should I do in the meantime my phosphate is at the max for my research test kits chart so I dont know if I will see if its going up more.

Most of my rock was cheap mined stuff but I do have a few pieces of nice man-made stuff. Rock has been in tank 2 years.

Yes, but not necessarily avoid GFO, just be very careful not to bottom out PO4. If your rock has absorbed phosphate and you're running GFO you will see a precipitous drop once all the phosphate has leached out of the rock. It can go from a pretty high level to zip very quickly if you're not monitoring it.

I like the "cheap mined stuff". It's a lot more porous than the manmade stuff most of the time.

 

[brian.badge]

Yes, but not necessarily avoid GFO, just be very careful not to bottom out PO4. If your rock has absorbed phosphate and you're running GFO you will see a precipitous drop once all the phosphate has leached out of the rock. It can go from a pretty high level to zip very quickly if you're not monitoring it.

I like the "cheap mined stuff". It's a lot more porous than the manmade stuff most of the time.

I have activated carbon and phosguard on hand.

 

[brian.badge]

If its my rock then the problem should eventually resolve on its own right?

Is that the most likely cause? I am not overfeeding and with a fuge full of macro, a skimmer, and auto water change I can't see it being lack of uptake/export.

 

[saltyhog]

If its my rock then the problem should eventually resolve on its own right?

Is that the most likely cause? I am not overfeeding and with a fuge full of macro, a skimmer, and auto water change I can't see it being lack of uptake/export.

Yes, it should.

I thought you said you had suspended water changes for an extended period of time in treating your dinos? Did I misunderstand? If you did, that's when your rock took up the PO4. It will eventually leach out and levels will come down if you are not adding to it with additions and lack of export.

It's ok to consider GFO/phosguard to lower it just watch it closely. If you are actively removing it and the well runs dry (the PO4 in the rock is gone) levels could drop pretty quickly....possibly leading to a return of the enemy!

Does that make sense?

 

[brian.badge]

Yes, it should.

I thought you said you had suspended water changes for an extended period of time in treating your dinos? Did I misunderstand? If you did, that's when your rock took up the PO4. It will eventually leach out and levels will come down if you are not adding to it with additions and lack of export.

It's ok to consider GFO/phosguard to lower it just watch it closely. If you are actively removing it and the well runs dry (the PO4 in the rock is gone) levels could drop pretty quickly....possibly leading to a return of the enemy!

Does that make sense?

Sure does and yes I did suspend them for many months. Sorry that I made that confusing and thank you.

 

[Cwentz758]

If you use GFO as stated above yes monitor your phosphate, also don’t go by the instructions on the back of the bottle as it is overkill as I found out. I used about 1/4 of the recommended dose and monitor where my phosphates go and adjust from there.

 

[Quiverfull]

You can always put your GFO on a timer and and run it only an hour or 2 per day along with using 1/4 of the dose. I have gone through the same issue and it took several months of intermittent GFO to get the PO4 out of my system without bottoming it. Dino definitely increased when my PO4 went lower than 0.07.