Rock, sand and phosphate

[sredzins]

I have been hearing a lot lately about how a sand bed and the live rock can become saturated with phosphate and nitrate. Is this true? How can you tell if this is the case?

 

[sredzins]

Anyone?

 

[shred5]

Phosphates bind with calcium carbonate. Keep phosphates low and it wont be a problem.. Also live rock usually contain bacteria which consume phosphates so even if some is released it usually aint a problem unless you have really negleted your tank.
Live sand can get chocked with detritus and start causing real problems, again keep it clean and keep phosphate low also setting it up right so detritus does not have a chance to settle.

Think about it we add calcium to our tank all the time like through Kalkawasser and that binds phoshpates. Kalk will settle out in the tank with those phosphates not all kalk gets skimmed out. We dont worry about that.


Basically good husbandry and common sense and it should not be a issue.

 

[sredzins]

Okay, because I have had hair algae for some time and have had good husbandry habits. And my phosphates are still incredibly high(.17) And I feed pellets only once a day.

 

[sredzins]

I just don't want to get to the point where I have to replace sand or live rock

Would it make sense to get a phosban reactor so most of the phosphate binds to that and not the rock or sand Or calcium?

 

[NanaReefer]

Need to find out where the phosphates are coming from. What's your water source? You can run a reactor or a bag of PhosGuard works great also.


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[sredzins]

Water source is the lfs with reef crystals. I don't have a clue where the phosphates are coming from. I do regular water changes and if anything I under feed a little.

 

[shred5]

Check your source water if phosphates are coming in this way you will never get them under control... Does your lfs use ro/di water?

 

[sredzins]

Yes they do. I asked them to check it for phosphates a while ago and they looked at me like I was stupid and said ro/di water doesn't have phosphates in it. I think I need to get my own ro/di unit.

 

[Genesis Corals]

Do you have a skimmer? Do you blow off your rocks with a turkey baster and stir your sand? Some things to consider in the battle against phosphates.

 

[sredzins]

I have a skimmer. I blow off the rocks and gravel vac my sand bed once a week

 

[Dana]

Can you tell us exactly what your set up is and brand products they are..?

 

[Dana]

Does hair algae automatically mean phosphates are high?

 

[sredzins]

Aqua Max hob skimmer
Mp10wes
750 Morelia
CPR hob large refugium with chaeto
Tunze osmolator 3155
Hanna checkers for testing
I will be getting another mp10 at the end of the month

 

[nelson.jdautobody]

i tried several phosphate removers/reducers and so far "rowaphos" got me the best results by faaarrrr!! still cant seem to get my nitrates under 15-20 tho-lol

 

[nelson.jdautobody]

also ultimately i had to pull several of the more algae covered rocks and scrub them with a harder bristle car wash type brush, then rinse them off in a separate water bucket a couple times, and i added a sea slug. since i put the slug in there he is constantly roaming everywhere eating algae and i took my "algea eating" fish out (lawmower blenny, and a yellow tang) cause he puts both of them to shame, and that helped me get my nitrates from consistantly above 20ppm to at or under with less fussing over the water

 

[mike007]

You need to try to get them to test there ro water because if not working correctly you can still have phosphates from there water. Also lots of foods contain lots of phosphates. Many people are carbon dosing with great results. Lower phosphates and nitrates while dosing. You may want to get your water from another source .

 

[sredzins]

I will make sure they test their water next time im in the store for water. I will get a spectra pure soon. I've been just dumping so much money into the tank lately, its hard to justify another big purchase.

 

[bct15]

Figure out where they are coming from, it is possible the phosphates are coming from your rock depending where it came from. Get yourself a BRS gfo reactor and run the heck out of some gfo. Change it every three days and lower your light time by a lot for about a week. If you can go completely dark for a couple days ( cover the tank with a blanket). Then the hair algae will start browning out and flaking off, use a toothbrush to get it off and suck it out with a water change.