phosphate reduction

[ddm_aet]

In my 75 gallon FOWLR I currently have a phosphate level of .5 ppm its been like for 4 to 6 weeks now. I tested the source water and it reads 0. I read somewhere that phosphate can establish in mature tanks.

I have a HOB refugium with LS, LR, and Chaeto in it. The Chaeto is growing pretty rapidly and i do need to trim it. Its also full of all kinds of Pods and Tunicates.

My questions are:

Is there any natural way to get rid of Phosphate?
I know doing PWC should reduce it, which i do once a week about 15 gallons worth or 20%.

Or should i just build or buy a phosban reactor to solve the problem?

 

[tecwzrd]

Are you having algae issues due to the po4? pwc with po4 free water is the easiest way to reduce it. Food waste is the #1 contributor to po4 so limited feedings and aggressive skimming is needed to keep it from acuminating.

You can use chemical media to reduce it in a HOB or sump. If you go that route I’d use ROWAphos or PhosLock

You can use pads also to reduce it like PURA pads or Poly-Bio-Marine Poly Filters

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

While they're a little pricey, the RowaPhos Sponges work pretty good. During cycling I picked up some phosphates and between the water changes and the Rowa sponge, I can't measure even a trace phosphates anymore. I just put the sponge in the media area of my HOB filter for about a month.

I wouldn't probably recommend these for a long-term solutions - it'd be preferable to find the source and eliminate it. But to just "clean up" a tank now and then, these seem well worth the money as opposed to setting up a reactor and all.

Here's some info:

http://www.rowausa.com/products.html

... and I bought mine here:

http://www.premiumaquatics.com/Merc...=PROD&Product_Code=ROWA-728630&Category_Code=

 

[melosu58]

I wouldn't probably recommend these for a long-term solutions - it'd be preferable to find the source and eliminate it.

 

[austinsdad]

Food waste is the #1 contributor to po4

What kinda cleanup crew you got in there?

 

[ddm_aet]

My cleanup crew consist of:

10 misc snails
20 or so blue and zebra hermit crabs
4" decorator crab

Your saying the source of phosphate could be decomposing food but, I can not find or see any left over food, plus i think my cleanup crew would get it all.

 

[tecwzrd]

As long as you aren't having algae issues having .5 ppm po4 in a fowlr tank isn’t that harmful IMO and it could be a faulty reading. Have you had a lfs test it to verify?

You have a decent clean up crew which should catch most leftovers your fish/morey miss. Besides reducing feedings and more frequent pwc you could also incorporate a refugium with Chaeto to absorb the po4.

Your bio-load is kind of heavy for a 75 gal. How often do you run your remora pro? Is no3 hard to keep under control? Do you feed any flake or mostly freash/frozen?

 

[ddm_aet]

I have a refugium with chaeto in it, and it grows like a weed and is full of pods.

The remora pro runs 24/7 i run it a little wet and get about a cup every 5 to 7 days.

Nitrate never goes above 10 ppm, i would like to lower that to, but i do have a large bio load.

I feed frozen krill and one large silver side every 3 days, and just enough to keep the fish satisfied. I also feed flake about every 3 days sometimes.

I believe my test kit is accurate. My other tanks test 0 with it as well as my source water.
I'll probably bring a sample to the LFS though just to double check.

Thanks for all the help and Info everybody.

Probably get a Rowaphos sponge, trim chaeto to maximize more growth potental, and maybe added a little to the clean up crew and then see if that helps.

The only reason i'm worried is i read that phosphate can lead to a drop in calcium.

 

[MorayMadness]

i have a bakpak 2 protien skimmer. i put chaeto in teh return chamber with window sun ight right behind it hitting the chaeto. i have an explosive amount of copods but am i restricting it ? at the settling bottom of the skimmer chamber i see browning like fallout. like dust. ? ill try and post a pic but is this ok? my hair algea is out of control i removed it but i think its due to the lighting, i have 4 x 65w pc 2 actinic and 2 10k over 4 years old each i need to change and i think the lower intensity is growing the hair algea

any idea?

yeah i know i need to start getting on my pwc asap.

btw
55g reef tank
ls
70lbs lr

running for 6 years with mushrooms, polyps, and a coral banded shrimp. i dont feed the tank at all and no bioload from feedings.

thanks all

 

[grimes135]

one thing that i have noticed when using a refug. is that if you had a phosphate bloom and it was absorbed by your marco algea it may be slowly releasing it back into your system, kinda like what carbon does if you leave it in for too long. might consider giving your marco a trim to stimulate some new growth. just an idea.