have a phosphate problem

[chris77]

So I have a 95 gallon reef aquarium running for about a year with 2, 54watt t5's and 2, 250watt metal halide lights. Protein skimmer, 350 marineland filter, powerhead and fan. Filled with about 12 pounds of sand.. i have dead coral rock, about 30 pounds. Then i have 7 pounds of actual live rock. 2 leathers, 4 tortch anemones, Kenya trees, flower like grass patches, and a candy cane coral. my levels are all fine except for phosphate which is pretty high. My rocks all have a red dirty looking alge on them. I was told this is from the high phosphate. What is the best way to get rid of my phosphate? Or to lower it? I used to use tap water but recently switched over to purified bottled water in hopes to lower the phosphate problem. Any ideas, suggestions and advise would be greatly appreciated.

 

[TORX]

Re: have a phosphate problem

By chance have you read some of the other threads about high phosphates? You will find your answers and then some.

Sent from my SGH-T989D using Tapatalk 2

 

[pulpfiction1]

about 7lbs of actual rock?can you post a pic?

 

[nitro069]

by purified bottle water, what do you mean. Is it the bottled water you put in a water cooler and and drink(culligan type)??If so, my guess would be that that water is still "dirty". One of the biggest/best things that you can do is use water with 0 tds (total dissolved solids). my suggestion is to buy a ro/di unit and a tds meter. that way you can keep the costs of you water down, have ample supply and full control of the water your putting in your system.

 

[TORX]

Re: have a phosphate problem

Agreed, change water source, then wait and wait some more. It will take a long time to dilute the old water with the new water. But that is only one part of the problem and solution.

Sent from my SGH-T989D using Tapatalk 2

 

[TORX]

Re: have a phosphate problem

You should also have well over 100lbs, closer to 200lbs of live rock for your system. The filter can be am additional problem. Bulb age for your lights can contribute to algae as well.

Sent from my SGH-T989D using Tapatalk 2

 

[chris77]

I was unaware of how much live rock I had to put in my aquarium. But thank you for letting me know I will now for sure be out to buy more. How about the sand also? Is there a certain amount I should have of that as well?
ans by bottled water, yes I mean the type you buy for a cooler in a 5L jug. I shouldn't be using this? I just started.. So what water should I use?
Sorry can't post a pic from my phone

 

[paoul]

as others have posted ro/di water just ro still has crap in it you don't want you can also run a reactor with rowaphos to help lower levels but it is expensive and if you been running tap water for awhile phosphates will also bind into your rock and that takes quite awhile for it to leach back out.

 

[TORX]

Re: have a phosphate problem

If you have containers, I can sell you some ro/di water. I di not think there is a good place in Chatham to get it. Or at least until you save up to get your own unit.

Sent from my SGH-T989D using Tapatalk 2

 

[paoul]

here is a ro/di system that I use it isn't very expensive comes from here in Canada free shipping/

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/REEF-AQUARIUM-REVERSE-OSMOSIS-WATER-SYSTEM-100GPD-RO-DI-/230437814152?pt=Small_Kitchen_Appliances_US&hash=item35a729ff88

 

[nitro069]

when i first started my tank I also used tap water not knowing any better. thought hey my water is filtered, that's good enough. I too got high phosphates. I used rowaphos in a phosban reactor with great success. like paoul said, it is expensive but worked excellent to remove those phosphates.

As for water, I don't have anything fancy but it works good for me. I use my ro/di unit to fill 4-5 gallon jugs. I always keep them full. if you need water fast for emergency water change its better to have them on standby. 

 

[chris77]

Ok awesome thanks for the advise

 

[chris77]

As for the red dirty looking alge, how can I remove that?

 

[Petercar (RIP Dec 2017)]

Red slime?    When i did my first tank.    I used chemiclean red slime remover.  But now adays it says not to  use it.    If yu dont hav good corals yu cam get away with  using it.  I get it now 6 months goin still.  I turkey baste it off my rock amd do it when i do a waterchange and vaccim it  ...turkey baster in one hand. Vaccim in other hand

 

[TORX]

As for the red dirty looking alge, how can I remove that?

Once it is clean, it will continue to come back quickly unless you fix the source of the problem. It most likely will come back quicker each time and worse. Even if you use the red slime remover. Change the water source, get a reactor with some sort of phosphate reducer such as rowaphos or GFO.

I use BRS Bulk GFO and a PhosBan Reactor 150

For my water, i use BRS 5 Stage PLUS RO/DI System - 75GPD which comes with a Digital Dual Inline TDS meter. Not much more then the other one posted above, but has the extra stuff you need.

 

[Salty Cracker]

Chris, follow this thread on RC, it documents how I took care of a red slime infested tank.  I followed the advice of those who added to the thread and the tank is crystal clear now.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2036229

 

[chris77]

This is all awesome information I appreciate you going your way to get me the links so I know exactly what to buy to.
also I've been trying to look for tips on a torch anenome but have been unable to really find much. But was wondering if anyone knew about these? I seen a few in some members tanks and am wondering how to care how them. the where does it like to be at in the tank? Do I need to add any supplements for it?
Reason asking: since I placed the tortch in my tank about a month ago i started off with 7 , only have 4 left. They don't seem to fully extend much and im worried I dont want to keep loosing them. I recently had boughten a new light for my aquarium and have been converting everything over to it slowly. Could it be that it's to far gone? When I got it a month ago it was beautiful, it came from a tank with metal halides and t5's. On my tank when i added it i only had t5s and t8s but switched the light a couple weeks into having it with metal halides instead of the t8s the pet store sold me. But not looking good. Want to help ot! Hopefully someone has some advise

 

[Salty Cracker]

This is all awesome information I appreciate you going your way to get me the links so I know exactly what to buy to.
also I've been trying to look for tips on a torch anenome but have been unable to really find much. But was wondering if anyone knew about these? I seen a few in some members tanks and am wondering how to care how them. the where does it like to be at in the tank? Do I need to add any supplements for it?
Reason asking: since I placed the tortch in my tank about a month ago i started off with 7 , only have 4 left. They don't seem to fully extend much and im worried I dont want to keep loosing them. I recently had boughten a new light for my aquarium and have been converting everything over to it slowly. Could it be that it's to far gone? When I got it a month ago it was beautiful, it came from a tank with metal halides and t5's. On my tank when i added it i only had t5s and t8s but switched the light a couple weeks into having it with metal halides instead of the t8s the pet store sold me. But not looking good. Want to help ot! Hopefully someone has some advise

Get your tank figured out.  Corals need good water, good light and some feedings.  If those things are off, even hardy, easy-to-keep coral like torch won't survive.

That thread I posted, I originally had frogspawn, mushrooms, leathers, etc.  Those had died off just as you are describing.  I went from 50 head of frogspawn to 3.  Now I have clownfish breeding in my frogspawn every 2 weeks.  Just be patient, follow the advice, and take it slow.  Unfortunately, you may lose the torch, but run-of-the-mill torch is rather inexpensive, so just get a 2 or 3 head replacement when your tank is better. 

FIX TANK - TAKE YOUR TIME. 

 

[pulpfiction1]

this is a straight forward easy read

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/volume_5/volume_5_3/phosphates.htm