sigh..phosphate issues....

[sachabballi reef]

Ok I am at wits end on my phosphate issue. I bought a new RO/DI (typhoon extreme) and its incredible and has my water down to 0 tds and when I do a water change my phosphate reads 0.02 and then I have brs deluxe gfo canister with the high capcity gfo in it....within 24 hours the readings are back to 0.18

 

I have it narrowed down to only two things I can think of:

 

I use quite a bit of BRS two part-and I believe it was Origami who suggested this could cause it (thanks Tom!)

or the only other thing I can think of is I have 2 VERY industrious engineering gobies that have taken every single grain of sand and moved it all over the tank....over and over....

 

so what to do? If its the two part I can stop using it but then what?

if its the gobies I love them to pieces and cant part with them

 

sigh.....

 

any thoughts would be appreciated. I am so depressed knowing just a few months ago I had gorgeous colorful corals and now I have brown sticks....

[Supernova26]

A few questions. How old is your setup? How often do you feed the fish?. Do you feed a lot of flake food? Do you thaw and rinse frozen foods? Have you added any new rock lately? I had some pukani rock that released phosphate for a few months.

[sachabballi reef]

hmmm trick question...the set up is over 6 years old, however we moved 11 months ago from FL to NOVA...so not sure how to answer as was all original materials and livestock from FL>VA

 

I feed myisis and blood worms, no flakes and I rinse the food before putting it in. I only use a cube of each a day...sometimes every other day.

 

havent added anything new since we moved other then the engineering gobies.....and we added them about 6 months ago but the problem started really cropping up about 3 months ago.

[jaddc]

Phosphate actually binds to calcification areas and that is how it inhibits the growth of organisms that require calcium deposition. If you have had phosphate issues for a while, then your (most likely) rock and coral structures are acting like a sink and storing phosphate that was previously in excess. So now you have a reservoir of phosphate that you need to get rid of. And your tank is pretty mature.

 

The tank is a delicate balance and all components are in equilibrium.

 

You removed a lot of phosphate from the water column. That allows the bound phosphate to be released into the water to maintain the equilibrium.

 

So what's my point. Patience. Keep running the GFO and change the GFO out frequently (maybe daily for the first week if you can swing that) to keep it active. Soon enough phosphate will be removed so that the equilibrium will be established at a low level.

Edited April 20, 2011 by jaddc

[sachabballi reef]

THANK YOU!!! Your post calmed my blood pressure right down......onward and upward, will keep fighting the fight!!

[BowieReefer84]

Try running some polyfilter. It is kind of expensive, and prob not a longterm solution. But, in conjunction with GFO should drop your phosphates. Once it manages to stabilize at a low level take it out/off.

[jaddc]

Good luck!

[jaddc]

I should also mention that you should expect to have high phosphate readings for a while. Then at some point, it will drop dramatically.

[sachabballi reef]

thanks so much for all this info. I feel so much more hopeful and that the light at the end of the tunnel isn't a train....this hobby is so wonderful until it isn't

[Origami]

Long term use of two-part can lead to salinity creep. It shouldn't lead to phosphate issues as the chemicals most often used in two-part are calcium chloride and sodium carbonate or bicarbonate. These don't have phosphorus except as trace impurities.

 

The most common source of added phosphate in an aquarium is from food and feeding. Some can leech in from rocks and sand, too, but I'd look also at your feeding habits. If you're feeding frozen, be sure to thaw and rinse it first. Also, do a phosphate check on a fresh batch of salt water to see if it's coming in with your salt mix.

[sen5241b]

My phosphates are not measurable. I do not have a skimmer nor a phosphate reactor. I rely on a fuge withs lots of cheato and strong light. If you over-stock then nothing may reduce trates.

[sachabballi reef]

My phosphates are not measurable. I do not have a skimmer nor a phosphate reactor. I rely on a fuge withs lots of cheato and strong light. If you over-stock then nothing may reduce trates.

 

 

I am no way near even medium stock let alone too heavily.

[Incredible Corals]

I would say change carbon every two week (overkill) and keep up with bi-weekly water changes (also overkill). You will remove all the phosphates eventually like "jaddc" said. I'm going through a similar situation where my sand bed is covered in Cyano. Patience is keep - just let the tank run it's cycle.