Anyone else dripping/topping off with phosphate?

[florida reef]

So, I have been trying to rid my tank of diatoms and sporadic cyano outbreaks for a while now. I have been racking ny brain trying to figure out where the diatoms/cyano was getting their po4 from. I checked the ro water I buy from my lfs and to my surprise the po4 level was .05-.1. I'm pretty sure this is the source of my frustration since I have been using their water for water changes every week as well as mixing Kalk. So, I'm going to another lfs for water until I can buy an ro/di unit.

 

[stedfast82]

Ya this go's on all the time I can't say that they do it on purpose. But it's shady for them to sell water like that keep's you buying more stuff from them.if there a reef store this should not happen. They should say hay guys are po4. Spiked and you might want to treat your tank here is what you need to do and give you what you need and then get there water together and give you water till it's fixed buy a RO/DI save your self some$ $$$.

 

[CJO]

My guess is that they don't even realize that they have phosphates in the water. Glad you got it figured out. When I was reading the title, I thought you were planning on dosing PO4!

CJ

 

[beaslbob]

IMHO the phosphate in your tank comes overwhelming from the bioload not the top off water.

You have diatoms because there is silicates in the water which will go away in time.

you have diatoms and cyano because there are nutrients not being consume by other means.

Cyano also can thrive in a tank that has become nitrate limited because cyano can get its nitrogen from the nitrogen gas in the water.

I think you will find both and especially the cyano will die off within a few days if you kill your lights.

then adjust lighting so desriable things like corraline, macros, corals, clams, etc thrive but the cyano does not come back.


my .02

 

[stedfast82]

Well if the LFS is to blame maybe. You should buy them a test kit and some new RO/di filters

 

[florida reef]

IMHO the phosphate in your tank comes overwhelming from the bioload not the top off water.

You have diatoms because there is silicates in the water which will go away in time.

you have diatoms and cyano because there are nutrients not being consume by other means.

Cyano also can thrive in a tank that has become nitrate limited because cyano can get its nitrogen from the nitrogen gas in the water.

I think you will find both and especially the cyano will die off within a few days if you kill your lights.

then adjust lighting so desriable things like corraline, macros, corals, clams, etc thrive but the cyano does not come back.


my .02

I guess we'll see! Hopefully this is the problem, as I have tried every other way of removing phosphates that I know of. Like my signature say, I am running ecobak, GFO, fuge, skimmer and perform religious water changes. I have altered my feeding schedule to the point where I believe my corals were being negatively affected.

 

[drainbamage]

I'm in the "blame the RO" water camp- I had a really nice healthy tank running, didn't check the DI cartridge- tank started going downhill FAST- realized my DI had been exhausted for a little bit and the TDS had crept up to 8-15. All conditions in tank were identical, same dosing regimen, etc. Only thing that changed was the DI cartridge exhaustion and now I'm still battling the hair algae explosion a few months later. Lost color in a few colonies, LPS's are finally recovering, etc.

Top-off/water change water is a BIG influence- though I would say much more so in a smaller tank (34 gallon here) than a larger tank where you may not see it as much, or as quickly.

 

[florida reef]

Well, it has been 5 days or so since I realized I had been adding phosphates to my tank with every water change and bucket of kalk I was dripping. Absolutely no diatoms or cyano. I have continued my regular feeding schedule and all other variables have stayed the same. Though I am not seeing any new color in my corals, I am sure this reduction in phosphate will eventually cause them to color a little more. So much frustration have been avoided if I had started checking my water a long time ago.

 

[drainbamage]

yea, just give it time. Took awhile to cause the problem, is going to take awhile to remove it. Might be a good idea to put some fresh GFO in your system (see in your sig you're running some right?)

 

[CJO]

Well, it has been 5 days or so since I realized I had been adding phosphates to my tank with every water change and bucket of kalk I was dripping. Absolutely no diatoms or cyano. I have continued my regular feeding schedule and all other variables have stayed the same. Though I am not seeing any new color in my corals, I am sure this reduction in phosphate will eventually cause them to color a little more. So much frustration have been avoided if I had started checking my water a long time ago.

The calcium carbonate in your kalkwasser would bind with any free phosphate. You were probably getting some with the water change, but not with the topoff.

CJ