Alright, by no means am I a newbie to this but no matter what I do I can't seem to lower my phosphates. I always seem to have algae... Nothing bad but enough that I think it's affecting the sps in my tank. I've tried vodka dosing, attempted gfo... I wanna know what you guys are doing to eliminate this problem and what method is best... Bio pellets maybe? Any help would be great
Phosphates
- Thread starter Krazykarl
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pulpfiction1
Reef Scavenger
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- Nov 16, 2010
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- 42.418807, -82.174073
vodka dosing like bio pellets tave weeks to see results,what is your phosphates at?
Darryl_V
Super Active Member
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- Jun 29, 2011
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- Woodstock, Ontario
have you tested phosphates? Results and test kit used?
Blob-79
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- Jan 13, 2017
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- Tillsonburg
Darryl_V link said:
imo bio pellets are the shit!....however they arent super effective at reducing phosphates. GFO is the product of choice.
I did vodka dosing for 5 weeks then had cyano outbreak. Completely stopped and it went away. I just tested using API kit which sucks ass cu I can't distinguish the colour well enough. But according to what I see I think it reads 0.5 ppm. Which would explain my algae. Any suggestions?
Darryl considering your success with sps I'd love to know your secret. 100 lbs of rock is 1.5 yrs established. 100 lbs of diff rock is about 6 months established from an existing tank. And another 30-40 lbs is about 3 months new and was dry. Im guessig the Rock is leaching...
Z
Zakk
Guest
I use chaeto, 2 phosban reactors (with either both running hi-cap GFO or gfo and carbon), a vertex bio pellet reactor, and bacteria dosing. I went from ~.80 to ~.03 in about a month. (salifert and hanna tests both read around the same).
Z
Zakk
Guest
Krazykarl link said:
What kind of buildup? Mine just tumbles around in the sump and grows. My nitrates went from 50 down to 0 after I started my regimen. I think there's a lot to be said for stability too....always doing almost the same thing. I always keep the gfo running in one of the reactors, even if I swap out the other one for rox carbon, and the bio pellets run 24/7 (they seem to last forever too). I did try dosing vodka for a little while there before the pellets, but the duncans just hated it, they would never extend.
teebone110
Distinguished Member
Hey Kyle,
What kind of algae are you getting?
I think GFO is what is needed to kill your phosphate level. If you have high levels, maybe it just needs to be changed out more often until levels are depleted.
Also foods can contain a lot of phosphate.
Just my 2 cents
What kind of algae are you getting?
I think GFO is what is needed to kill your phosphate level. If you have high levels, maybe it just needs to be changed out more often until levels are depleted.
Also foods can contain a lot of phosphate.
Just my 2 cents
Z
Zakk
Guest
Neopimp link said:I thought I read that dosing Kalk can reduce phosphates by causing them to precipitate out... google it
I read a lot on the subject when I was battling high phosphates. While it is possible, nobody ever came forth with any proof that it actually works.
I'll say 100% that GFO works. If I can go from phosphates of .78 down to .10 in a month's time, and then down to ~.03 in 2-3 months, I will say that the stuff works as advertised. I didn't add the bio pellets until I was in the sub .10 range, so definitely it was GFO.
Darryl_V
Super Active Member
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- Jun 29, 2011
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- Woodstock, Ontario
Cheato is probably not going to help much ...considering the amount that most of us try to grow. You really need a huge refugium to make a difference. Obviously you know .5ppm is high.... GFO and biopellets both work great but take it slow. Do you have any NO3? Do you have a picture of your tank?
Z
Zakk
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Darryl_V link said:
I do agree, although it's living off something down there, I had a chunk the size of a softball when I got it, and now it's about the size of a basketball. Pretty soon I'll have to frag it out, or keep feeding it to the tang
P
phi delt reefer
Guest
Karl
On chat yesterday you advised you have an RO system plumbed directly to your tank for auto top off with no DI stage.
Have you tested your RO water for phosphates by any chance? In the summer the water table takes on more phosphates from fertizilers from from farm run off. Doubt its a major contributor but you should test your RO water. Get a good phosphate test kit - the Salifert one i have is pretty decent. You may want to drive across the border and pick something up at an lfs in the States that stocks high quality dry goods.
Carbon isnt going to do anything for phosphates and bio-pellets have shown to do little to reduce them as well. You really should start running some GFO ask Blob, Zakk and Darryl have recommended.
What are you feeding your fish? If its frozen are you rinising it after it thaws or just dumping the melted fish juice in with the food?
You can try an algae turf scrubber as a last resort as well
On chat yesterday you advised you have an RO system plumbed directly to your tank for auto top off with no DI stage.
Have you tested your RO water for phosphates by any chance? In the summer the water table takes on more phosphates from fertizilers from from farm run off. Doubt its a major contributor but you should test your RO water. Get a good phosphate test kit - the Salifert one i have is pretty decent. You may want to drive across the border and pick something up at an lfs in the States that stocks high quality dry goods.
Carbon isnt going to do anything for phosphates and bio-pellets have shown to do little to reduce them as well. You really should start running some GFO ask Blob, Zakk and Darryl have recommended.
What are you feeding your fish? If its frozen are you rinising it after it thaws or just dumping the melted fish juice in with the food?
You can try an algae turf scrubber as a last resort as well
Ok I'm gonna try to address everyone's questions... I greatly appreciate te help and advice I wanna beat this so I can start keeping sps.
Darryl- yes I have no3. Less than 10 ppm is usual for me. Not sure where it comes from as I have an excellent skimmer. MTC 250 with mag 9. It skims like crazy. Nasty black goop. Under members tanks I have pics of my tank. I will post a new picture tomorrow or Thursday when my new bulbs come in. I've been runnig 250 w plusrite 20k (which looks like 12k) and they are about 4 months old. I recently purchased xm 15k bulbs expected to arrive wed. I'm also taking into consideration the bulbs lost their spectrum and moved more to red contributing to algae growth. Get when you pay for right!? Lesson learned. So I forked out the cash for better quality mhs.
Vince- I recently (2 months ago) bought all new filters for my ro system hoping to help my problem. I brought a sample ofthe water in after 2 hours of flushing the filters for testing as I do not have a Tds meter. Her meter read 0 ppm. I should also state that my ro system feeds a 2 gallon reservoir under 7 psi for drinking water. I split the line off this reservoir for my tap (drinking) and ran the other to the float valve in my sump. So it's not a direct feed from the ro to my tank (someone had mentioned they felt that a direct feed could cause problems as it takes time to reach 0 ppm with the Tds) all the water is stored until needed. Not sure if this makes a difference or not but def going to look into di filtering. I'm just not sure how to connect it. I would assume it would be installed right after the ro membrane. So could I not run a T in between the ro membrane and di filter, feeding my reservoir tank for drinking, and then have directly from the di filter connected to my float valve? Makes sense lol? Ultimately I would be getting ro filtered water to the tap and then ro/di filtered water to the float valve... So confused lol. Lastly, I feed flake food once a day, sinkin pellets sometimes and I feed frozen brine cubes and frozen cyclops once a week. Simply dissolve the frozen in a cup with a little bit of tank water and pour it in.
So in essence I think I've provided all I can as far as my setup goes and how it's plumbed. If anyone can provide some insight as to how to connect the di filters without losing my drinking supply or my ato float valve setup I'd appreciate it. One day I will get this under control!
Oh and the type of algae I am getting is brown/green dusting on glass in dt. The frag tank has four power heads for flow which had traces of gha and yes, I have a slight cyano outbreak on the egg crate ONLY in the frag tank. None in my display even tho it's all interconnected.
Darryl- yes I have no3. Less than 10 ppm is usual for me. Not sure where it comes from as I have an excellent skimmer. MTC 250 with mag 9. It skims like crazy. Nasty black goop. Under members tanks I have pics of my tank. I will post a new picture tomorrow or Thursday when my new bulbs come in. I've been runnig 250 w plusrite 20k (which looks like 12k) and they are about 4 months old. I recently purchased xm 15k bulbs expected to arrive wed. I'm also taking into consideration the bulbs lost their spectrum and moved more to red contributing to algae growth. Get when you pay for right!? Lesson learned. So I forked out the cash for better quality mhs.
Vince- I recently (2 months ago) bought all new filters for my ro system hoping to help my problem. I brought a sample ofthe water in after 2 hours of flushing the filters for testing as I do not have a Tds meter. Her meter read 0 ppm. I should also state that my ro system feeds a 2 gallon reservoir under 7 psi for drinking water. I split the line off this reservoir for my tap (drinking) and ran the other to the float valve in my sump. So it's not a direct feed from the ro to my tank (someone had mentioned they felt that a direct feed could cause problems as it takes time to reach 0 ppm with the Tds) all the water is stored until needed. Not sure if this makes a difference or not but def going to look into di filtering. I'm just not sure how to connect it. I would assume it would be installed right after the ro membrane. So could I not run a T in between the ro membrane and di filter, feeding my reservoir tank for drinking, and then have directly from the di filter connected to my float valve? Makes sense lol? Ultimately I would be getting ro filtered water to the tap and then ro/di filtered water to the float valve... So confused lol. Lastly, I feed flake food once a day, sinkin pellets sometimes and I feed frozen brine cubes and frozen cyclops once a week. Simply dissolve the frozen in a cup with a little bit of tank water and pour it in.
So in essence I think I've provided all I can as far as my setup goes and how it's plumbed. If anyone can provide some insight as to how to connect the di filters without losing my drinking supply or my ato float valve setup I'd appreciate it. One day I will get this under control!
Oh and the type of algae I am getting is brown/green dusting on glass in dt. The frag tank has four power heads for flow which had traces of gha and yes, I have a slight cyano outbreak on the egg crate ONLY in the frag tank. None in my display even tho it's all interconnected.
Darryl_V
Super Active Member
- Joined
- Jun 29, 2011
- Location
- Woodstock, Ontario
Dont bother getting a silica test.
Diatoms will cycle out on there own. It is probably just taking a long time because you have NO3 and PO4.
If you are looking to go with some SPS than I recommend bio-pellets and GFO. Go slow with these. IMO you are a few months out before SPS will do well.
Also I don't recommend to many softies with SPS.......a few will do well in an SPS tank (ie GSP,ZOA,yellow fiji leather) but a lot of them do not do well in that type of system (ie low nutrients, high flow, high light).
Diatoms will cycle out on there own. It is probably just taking a long time because you have NO3 and PO4.
If you are looking to go with some SPS than I recommend bio-pellets and GFO. Go slow with these. IMO you are a few months out before SPS will do well.
Also I don't recommend to many softies with SPS.......a few will do well in an SPS tank (ie GSP,ZOA,yellow fiji leather) but a lot of them do not do well in that type of system (ie low nutrients, high flow, high light).
Z
Zakk
Guest
Rinse your frozen in a fine mesh net or sock in RO water before it goes in the tank. I tested some water from a cube once and I can't remember the number but phosphates were like 2.5 or something crazy like that.
Also, not to doubt the girl's reading, but I have never seen an RO system that put out 0 TDS. I think that's why you can drink RO water, but shouldn't drink RO/DI water because -everything- is filtered out of it. There's always something left from RO-only. My current setup has TDS of ~120 from the tap, .04 from the RO and .00 from the DI. Everything builds up.
One thing I think Daryl mentioned...it takes a while for the system to run at 00 when it starts up. Not sure why but my DI stage outputs sometimes .09 TDS for about 30 seconds when it starts up, I suppose the water in the chamber releases some of the trapped solids, I'm not sure, but I run the system until the meter shows 00 and THEN start filling my topoff tub. You might be doing the same thing with the small topoffs. Just thinking out loud here. I have a potable meter and check my reservoir every so often, and the inline meter keeps tabs on the filters and membrane.
One question for everyone, I haven't added a pressure gauge yet to my system, but it seems to be a good idea...what exactly would it tell me?
Also, not to doubt the girl's reading, but I have never seen an RO system that put out 0 TDS. I think that's why you can drink RO water, but shouldn't drink RO/DI water because -everything- is filtered out of it. There's always something left from RO-only. My current setup has TDS of ~120 from the tap, .04 from the RO and .00 from the DI. Everything builds up.
One thing I think Daryl mentioned...it takes a while for the system to run at 00 when it starts up. Not sure why but my DI stage outputs sometimes .09 TDS for about 30 seconds when it starts up, I suppose the water in the chamber releases some of the trapped solids, I'm not sure, but I run the system until the meter shows 00 and THEN start filling my topoff tub. You might be doing the same thing with the small topoffs. Just thinking out loud here. I have a potable meter and check my reservoir every so often, and the inline meter keeps tabs on the filters and membrane.
One question for everyone, I haven't added a pressure gauge yet to my system, but it seems to be a good idea...what exactly would it tell me?
P
phi delt reefer
Guest
pressure gauge tells you when ur filters need changing... a reduction in pressure means teh pores are blocked and the system isnt working at peak effeciency.
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