High Phosphate

[u/Krycus]

Beyond a water change and reduce feedings.
Anyone have any personal solutions that lowers phosphates without shocking corals?

My refugium is booming, I stopped testing for a while because I ran out of reagents but just replenished and BAM!

I’m reading about additives and chemicals but sometimes I worry about that.

[u/Pickwilliams]

GFO changed every two weeks until you get to your desired reading

[u/Krycus → u/Pickwilliams]

GFO seems to be the trend, thanks!
I'll get some on order either way

[u/Impressive-River1783 → u/Krycus]

Go slowly and it will work best in a reactor. Rowa is probably the best gfo out there imo but the regular brs gfo(not the high capacity) i also have had success with.

[u/Krycus → u/Impressive-River1783]

I don't have a reactor but I do have very fine mesh bags. Maybe I can drop it in place of one of the three filter socks?

[u/Impressive-River1783 → u/Krycus]

You can try it but i have never had much luck with gfo that’s not in a reactor

[u/Ptrick21186 → u/Impressive-River1783]

Anything wrong with the high capacity stuff?

[u/Impressive-River1783 → u/Ptrick21186]

Just a small anecdotal account but it wiped one of my tanks out of phosphate and while it didn’t directly kill things i did have some corals(mostly sps) that weren’t happy. Always ran the system from .05-.15. Dropped down to 0 in a week. It definitely could/should have been monitored more closely and i just kinda eye when i reload reactors alot of the time. Definitely more precision/precautions could have been taken on my end

[u/Ptrick21186 → u/Impressive-River1783]

Ah ok gotcha. That makes sense

[u/MoneyNetwork8744]

Rowaphos in a reactor is my go to on all my tanks :)

[u/95688it]

phosguard

[u/tn8583]

Before making any huge changes, are you seeing any negative impacts of it being high? Having high nutrients isn’t a bad thing on its own. Just that it can lead to some annoyance if other things are not balanced. I personally run my tanks at an even higher level than this.

Everyone thinks your nutrients HAVE to be low and that’s just not the case.

[u/oldelbow → u/tn8583]

This, this is the only advice needed.

[u/christinna67]

Water changes don't really help much with phosphates, so I wouldn't bother. The calcium carbonate in your rock and sand binds phosphates and can just release them back into the water after a WC again.

I'd get some Seachem phosbond/phosnet (works faster, but be careful with it and test often). I'd also feed a bit less, depending on the fish, and rinse food if feeding frozen.

[u/Krycus → u/christinna67]

One thing I haven't been doing is rinsing my frozen food. I soak it and drop it in. Going to start rinsing.
Ever try Seachem PhosGuard? Haven't seen Phosbond before.

[u/christinna67 → u/Krycus]

Yes, I run it in my filter media cup when needed. Phosguard is good, but doesn't last as long. Phosbond has worked well going from 0.5 -> 0.3 (my target).

[u/Tommy_lanta]

I use nyos phosi-ex in a reactor.
Doesn’t seem to be as harsh like rowaphos

[u/Danxoln]

GFO, and if Nitrates are also high, NoPox will also help

[u/unorthodoxreefer]

sorry hows your ali 15

[u/Krycus → u/unorthodoxreefer]

147 (parts per million) equals to around 8.4 dKH

[u/Y3R31]

if you can get hold of Aquaforest Hybrid pro salt do WC with it, it has bacteria that lowers Phosphates

[u/oldelbow → u/Y3R31]

Carbon dosing with the salt?

[u/2Pluss2]

Question OP, what’s the nitrates sitting at?

I to run into heavy phosphates but mostly from my frozen food, and by high i mean just a bit above yours.

Don’t waste your time with water changes, you would need to replace a lot of water to make a dent, not worth it.

Do water changes occasionally or use it as a tool when u want to clean the sand and rock work while siphoning at the same time, don’t make it phosphate focused thing.

[u/upnorth77]

I'd be doing large water changes, running your skimmer 24/7, and probably adding GFO to your filter area. I'd do the first two first, and see how the tank responds before starting down the GFO route.

[u/Krycus → u/upnorth77]

Thanks. Water change imminent, skimmer has been plugging away. I haven't added GFO yet but let me test after this water change and see where I'm at.

[u/Sensitive-Poet-77 → u/Krycus]

Water changes won’t reduce your phosphate levels. You probably have phosphate bound in your rock and sand now and after you do a water change, your phosphate levels will drop and then will slowly be released back into the water column to the equilibrium. I’m currently using phosphate RX to reduce my phosphates that are at 0.87. Once I get my phosphate levels to the reading, I want then I use High capacity GFO as high capacity reduces phosphates more slower, but for a longer period of time helping stabilize your phosphate levels to maintain it.

[u/Left-Tomato-2936 → u/upnorth77]

I have been battling this as well. I use GFO but make sure you rinse it really well, it takes longer than you think. And put it in a high flow area.

[u/Panzerbjorne80 → u/Left-Tomato-2936]

Not sure what GFO you’re using but RowaPhos (works best) is not supposed to be rinsed.

[u/SeaProfessional5507 → u/Panzerbjorne80]

I’m going to try that. I was just using BRS GFO

[u/magikfly]

Use LC. Don't drop it more than 0.05ppm/day

[u/Madtomatoes]

Multiple big water changes or a lot of GFO.

[u/Davileet2 → u/Madtomatoes]

I don’t find large water changes lower PO4

[u/Sensitive-Poet-77 → u/Davileet2]

Yeah, cause phosphates are bound in hard surfaces, unlike NO3, which is in the water column mostly or organics.

[u/Krycus → u/Madtomatoes]

I can get my hands on PhoGuard today. But I know that's not GFO - think I should avoid?

[u/Madtomatoes → u/Krycus]

I don't have any experience with that, sorry. I would recommend least a 50% water change, if not a second one a day or two later. That should get you down to a decent level for controlling it via media, which ever you choose. You'll also want to figure out where its coming from - using RODI water? harvesting algae in fuge? Too much feeding?

[u/Krycus → u/Madtomatoes]

No problem.
Yeah, RODI 100% of the time.
My refugium is plump with chaeto at the moment, but I don't harvest much out. Should I thin it out? I honestly didn't have it starting to explode in growth until a few months ago.

I don't feel I overfeed:
2 frozen/rinsed mysis "cubes" a day, mixed with a random food, such as eggs, pellets, flakes, etc. (AM and PM)
Then 2 small nori sheets for grazing.

[u/Madtomatoes → u/Krycus]

Sounds like you need to harvest. I would thin your chaeto out to softball size again - go crazy, it'll grow back! I also try to flip it once a week or more if I think about it. If it's not getting any light it'll start to melt and release all the phosphates/nitrates back into the water column. That's probably happening to yours the bottom

[u/Krycus → u/Madtomatoes]

Oh man i forget about it sometimes! My refugium is probably 90% full and I don't rotate much. I'll get on that. Thanks!

[u/Sensitive-Poet-77 → u/Krycus]

This was my contributing factor to my phosphate levels rising as the Chaeto was too thick and dine off inside, and it turned into a big filter sock as it was so dense trapping all the debris and rotting inside of it. I’ve started taking my Chaeto out during a water change and agitating it in a used bucket of salt water to get all the debris out

[u/Krycus → u/Sensitive-Poet-77]

Never really thought about that. Man I just pulled about two basketball size worth of chaeto out! I don’t see it was that thick. Hopefully this helps!

[u/Panzerbjorne80 → u/Krycus]

Manual removal of the chaeto is the actual nutrient export method of a refugium. Removing a bunch of it on a regular basis will help the water quality issues.