Hey guys, so new to the hobby, Got a 14gallon biocube and my cycle seems to be done, got 0 ammonia 0 nitrites and about 3ppm of nitrate(did a huge water change last night).. But my problem is, my phosphate is at 0.50ppm..... Now, i read that its normal for a new tank finishing cycle has high this((maybe wrong info) but iunno.. So do you guys know if this is normal or i have something wrong in my tank lol.... I do have some algae bloom... Help is appreciate it! please!
High Levels Of Phosphate..
- Thread starter Albz
- Start date
EricTMah
Aquariums by Design
Have you tested your source water for po4?
Sony Xperia Z3
Sony Xperia Z3
So tested and test came all 0ppm so its not that..
Skim
Active Member
- Joined
- Jan 3, 2014
- Location
- Brantford, Ontario
You may want to get some GFO and a Reactor. You say it is new so it would be expected to be high especially if the rock you have is fresh. It would have been live rock at one time so anything that was alive at one time will leach Phosphates. So like I said you want to get some GFO and start running it before the Hair starts. For how long is tough to say, it all depends on how much is locked up in the rock but I would just keep running it and monitor your levels because it will only go higher as livestock enter and feeding begins. If you have lights going and nothing in the tank as of now you may want to shorten the time they are on or even leave them off as to not encourage any Algae growth.
EricTMah
Aquariums by Design
Have you done a wc lately?
Any corals in the system?
How many fish and how much/often are you feeding?
Sony Xperia Z3
Any corals in the system?
How many fish and how much/often are you feeding?
Sony Xperia Z3
1)I did a water change last night to get ridd of my Nitrates cause my Ammonia and Nitrites were at 0, so my cycle was finished so did around 65% water change..
2) I have no live stock in my system since i was cycling.
3) no live stock
You said that you did a huge water change. You have a 14 gallon nano. If you had 0.50ppm phosphates and did a 50% water change with 0ppm phosphate water, then you would still be up at 0.25ppm. Unlike fresh water, lowering levels via water changes is not ideal for salt water. Unless you are doing +75% water changes every few days, however too large and/or too often of water changes will trigger another cycle. I would do a 5 gallon water change every 2-3 days. The tank will complete its cycle and be able to process the phosphates and they should go down.
As for phosphate reducing media, most of us use GFO (granulated ferric oxide aka clean rust) and tumble it in a reactor such as a TLF150 with a small Maxijet pump. With a nano tank, levels can change very quickly with the slightest change. I personally would avoid using a reducing media and just let your tank do its thing for another few weeks with water changes. It takes a little longer for a salt water tank to complete a cycle vs a fresh water tank. After about 6 weeks you should be doing water changes and by 8 weeks, your tank should be cycled and ready.
As for phosphate reducing media, most of us use GFO (granulated ferric oxide aka clean rust) and tumble it in a reactor such as a TLF150 with a small Maxijet pump. With a nano tank, levels can change very quickly with the slightest change. I personally would avoid using a reducing media and just let your tank do its thing for another few weeks with water changes. It takes a little longer for a salt water tank to complete a cycle vs a fresh water tank. After about 6 weeks you should be doing water changes and by 8 weeks, your tank should be cycled and ready.
Skim
Active Member
- Joined
- Jan 3, 2014
- Location
- Brantford, Ontario
I would just leave the live rock in as it may help seed the Coralline Algae, what you can try if they have any Coraline on them is scrub it with a toothbrush in the tank as this can scrap some spores off and spread throughout the tank. For a reactor you can get a simple Two little fishies Phosban 150, you will need a small powerhead and a ball valve to control the flow and some 1/2 tubing and some GFO of coarse. Just remember the dumbest question is the one that is not asked. You may not always get a response right away and if not try another Forum. Check out the Sale section on here or post in the looking for section in regards to a reactor and pump someone may have one for sale.
It would help if you could supply a few photos or list what you are running now, as in do you have a sump? A skimmer, are you running Carbon, lighting what are you using for flow inside the tank, it does help alot when some tries to answer your questions.
It would help if you could supply a few photos or list what you are running now, as in do you have a sump? A skimmer, are you running Carbon, lighting what are you using for flow inside the tank, it does help alot when some tries to answer your questions.
yea the water change was about 60% , i didn't test that water for phosphate before using it. It did stay in that bigals 5gallon jug for couple weeks, can that cause any phosphate or problems?? My ammonia and nitrites get cycled right away so i think my tank is cycled... but maybe for phosphates it isn't as fast.. I can still stock two clowns though right?? I don't want a phosphate reactor either two pricy and to complicated to use! esp in such a small tank i got..
yea, ill leave the rock. It doesn't really have any coralline algae though, it wasn't that good of live rock lol hence why i got it for free... About the reactor, i don't know if i want to get one, my tank to small to stack it up with all these stuff. I don't have a sump or anything, just how the tank came, with a media basket running carbon and bonded filter pad and soon purigen... Here are some pictures i took couple days ago.. u can see a bit of algae.. i haven't been running my lights at all during cycle... Its been three weeks now and seems like my ammonia and nitrites get cycled right away...
Attachments
Water and sun can cause algae to grow. I see this with bottled water (5gal R.O.) jugs when customers leave them in their cars. I know I wouldn't want to drink out of a green bottle... Not sure on phosphate production. Perhaps it is leach from the live rock. Ask the person you got them from to do a phosphate test on their tanks. That may be your source...