Phosphates

[jamesbuf]

I know alot of people say that using chemicals to treat aquarium issues is wrong, but I'm at my wits end with this hair algae. I cleaned all the rocks off about 3 weeks ago and alot of it has grown back. I took most of the pieces out and scrubbed even. Its back!!! My nitrates are around 10ppm, pretty good. I bought a phosphate test kit about 2 weeks ago and sure enough I have around 1.0ppm of phosphate. I bought a phosban reactor with media and have had it on for about 5 days. No change. I was told by a couple members that phosban worked pretty well. Still waiting. Which leads me to my question. Which phosphate remover has anyone had success with?? I know there is the Kent phospate sponge, PhosGuard, and Phos-Zorb. Has anyone had luck with these??? I don't plan on using it forever, just to pull the existing phosphates out. I started the tank last summer without a RO/DI filter, so hopefully after one treatment of phospate remover, the RO/DI, along with proper feeding schedule, will help keep the phosphates in check. Thanks everyone.

 

James

 

P.S. I only have 4 small fish in a 125gallon, so I have plenty room for more fish. Would getting a tang of some sort help? Or maybe a foxface rabbitfish?? Frustrating!!!!!

[Grav]

PhosGuard is (IMHO) the best of the bunch.

 

However, your real issue is that you have far more nutrients going into the tank than your skimmer can remove... or your fuge consume, or water changes are eliminating.

 

If you have hair alge AND 10 ppm nitrates, and 1 PPM Phos you are in real trouble. Normally, hair alge will consume those quickly and even 0.5 ppm of phos is BAD for coral.

 

Tho it normally isnt done, Id do huge water changes with a gravel vac, ONLY if you are using RO/DI water. Run phos guard, get a better skimmer and cut feedings to 1/3 of what you have been doing

[davelin315]

I agree. How is it that you have 10 ppm nitrates with only 4 fish? I think that your best bet right now is to let the system settle, don't turn on any lights (if you have corals, this won't work), and don't feed until your water quality improves. Phosphates, from what I understand, are harmful at even .1 ppm and at .2 ppm you are asking for trouble (might have the ppm mixed up with something else, but the measure is what I've been told before).

 

Good luck in getting it down, but the best bet is really to simply turn your lights off for the time being. Adding another fish would probably only add to your displeasure. Let the hair algae die off and then start up again.

[jamesbuf]

I've added several softies in the past week so I'm not sure how this might be affecting my water. I just went down and turned on the RO/DI so I should have 50gallons to do a water change tomorrow. I also turned up the flow on my ETSS evolution 500 so its skimming wet right now, dumping into a 22gallon tub. Its not very dark skim coming out, but it is frothy. I've added aroung 30 snails in the past 3 weeks too. All my zoos, zenia, and frogspawn all seem to be doing well though, even growing...weird.

 

Is what I've read about kalk helping phosphate precipitate out true?? I don't really have any sps so I've always thought kalk was too advanced for what my softies need.

 

Thanks again guys.

 

 

James

[davelin315]

High calcium levels do cause phosphates to precipitate out of solution, but I have been told that this is not significant enough to reduce your phosphate levels. Xenia and zoanthids are nutrient eaters so they are not your source of problems. The phosphates are there from feeding most likely, so do the water change (but let your water mix for about a day before doing the water change. It'll take you forever to conquer hair algae, especially with the lights on, so again, my recommendation is that you should turn out the lights for a few days, let the hair algae die off, and then turn them back on. The corals will shrink, but it won't be the end of the world for them.

[YBeNormal]

Wouldn't a quick die-off of hair algae add to the nitrate problem? Getting rid of the hair may be the goal but it is a symptom of the problem, not the cause.

 

I'd pull as much of the algae as I could, cut back on feeding (maybe even stop feeding for a few days), reduce lighting periods temporarily, upgrade or fine tune the skimmer and perform a series of small water changes, keeping a close eye on water parameters throughout this process.

[davelin315]

Good point, but that's a good reason to couple it with reduced feedings, water changes, etc. Problem is that it won't simply disappear on it's own right away, you've got to remove it either way. I've done the take each piece out and scrub it with a toothbrush until it was shiny and new, but this is basically the same fix, only less effort.

[ReeferMan]

If i were you i would follow everyones advise her. I had the same problem in my first tanka nd used STOP HAIR ALGAE and came home the next day to a crashed tank with everything dead. Its just not worth the risk. I would take out the rocks with the hair algae scrub them off, rinse them off with clean ro di water and put them back in the tank. DO a big water change (maybe two) cut down feed and skim like crazy. I would advise against a tang ( they can be a bigger nitrate problem for you) I have a lawnmower blenny for sale for $10 that loves hair algae if you want it, its still avialable

[jamesbuf]

Should I cut back on just the daylight bulbs or cutback on everything, including actinic??