Extremely high phosphates in new 125 gallon tank

[Mickey]

I suggest picking up the Hanna Phoshate checker, not the ULR since your levels are high. It will make testing easier.

Also, there is no reason to panic about high phosphates. My tank ran high phosphate (over 2.00) for years without any problems at all. Richard Ross also ran high phosphate for years with no issues, and I'm sure there are others.

I have recently been lowering my phosphate levels to see if it makes any difference in my tank. I use Randy's DIY LaCl recipe and then dilute it with 4 parts RODI and then just dose it into my sump and don't worry about filter socks. It's a lot easier and if you go slow there's no tank clouding or anything but it could take months to bring down to where you want it. As you lower phosphate in the water column, the old rock will release more to equalize. Just test once a week and as long as you see it coming down a little, stay the course. I also have tanks and they have been unaffected using this method.

Good luck. Don't panic. Nothing good happens quickly in a reef tank.

 

[bshake]

I've had experience with using phosphate e then testing with the hanna checker and the level rise there is something that throws off the test. Now I only use gfo. Try another test kit or icp. Learn from me tanked my phosphate to 0 the got dinoflagellates lost a bunch of coral

I haven’t dosed anything yet to the tank, just have been doing water changes. I will start trying to tackle this today

 

[bshake]

Personally I would just toss in the gfo and call it a day. When the phosphates stop dropping, replace it. No need to panic or do something risky.

I just lost 2 torches yesterday and the day before from brown jelly, I’m not sure if due to my water parameters

 

[bshake]

As others recommended you should doublecheck your phosphate reading before doing anything. Test fresh salt water to see if it gives a reasonable reading. Take your tank water and have it tested at a trustworthy LFS.

If the issue is phosphates bound in your old rock and sand you could remove those and unbind phosphate via lanthanum in a bucket or container of some sort (assuming you don't have a bunch of coral glued to the rocks.

With all the equipment you have and are thinking of buying, you should consider getting a sump if possible.

Yeah last weekend I went to my LFS and he said they’re all out of tests so I’ll see if they got them in today. None of the corals are glued down just yet. They’re all still on frag plus because I was worried of exactly this lol BJD. The issue with the sump is I’d have get a new tank sand and drill the aquarium which idk if I’m ready to do that yet since everything is already filled

 

[bshake]

This paper was a good read, but I can only now access an abstract. Maybe you can find the full copy
Nutrient dynamics in the sediments and water column on selected coral reefs on the West Coast of Unguja Island.

Thank you I’ll look at this paper

 

[bshake]

I suggest picking up the Hanna Phoshate checker, not the ULR since your levels are high. It will make testing easier.

Also, there is no reason to panic about high phosphates. My tank ran high phosphate (over 2.00) for years without any problems at all. Richard Ross also ran high phosphate for years with no issues, and I'm sure there are others.

I have recently been lowering my phosphate levels to see if it makes any difference in my tank. I use Randy's DIY LaCl recipe and then dilute it with 4 parts RODI and then just dose it into my sump and don't worry about filter socks. It's a lot easier and if you go slow there's no tank clouding or anything but it could take months to bring down to where you want it. As you lower phosphate in the water column, the old rock will release more to equalize. Just test once a week and as long as you see it coming down a little, stay the course. I also have tanks and they have been unaffected using this method.

Good luck. Don't panic. Nothing good happens quickly in a reef tank.

I can does in my skimmer or infront of it since I don’t have a sump would that be okay?

 

[bshake]

I can does in my skimmer or infront of it since I don’t have a sump would that be okay?

I suggest picking up the Hanna Phoshate checker, not the ULR since your levels are high. It will make testing easier.

Also, there is no reason to panic about high phosphates. My tank ran high phosphate (over 2.00) for years without any problems at all. Richard Ross also ran high phosphate for years with no issues, and I'm sure there are others.

I have recently been lowering my phosphate levels to see if it makes any difference in my tank. I use Randy's DIY LaCl recipe and then dilute it with 4 parts RODI and then just dose it into my sump and don't worry about filter socks. It's a lot easier and if you go slow there's no tank clouding or anything but it could take months to bring down to where you want it. As you lower phosphate in the water column, the old rock will release more to equalize. Just test once a week and as long as you see it coming down a little, stay the course. I also have tanks and they have been unaffected using this method.

Good luck. Don't panic. Nothing good happens quickly in a reef tank.

Also I’m losing torches that’s what’s scaring me

 

[bshake]

I’ve personally found PhosphateRx to be more potent so comes in a compact size. They both should work fine. I drop into filter floss (10 micron?) before the skimmer. I have 6 tangs and they don’t seem to be affected by it.

The only problem is I don’t have a sump, just a rinse 9012 that’s in tank

 

[schooncw]

Be very, very careful if you choose to use LAN and personally for me, never again. My 120 LPS/Softie system has extremely high nutrients-PO a constant 1.0 and NO3 45-60-but the rock in this system is 30+ years old. I have seen some excellent advice in this thread and I used to stress about my high nutrients but no more. I run gfo and carbon AND phosguard (aluminum oxide) 24/7, protein skimmer, a biopellet reactor, a Tunze Macro Algae reactor and do regular, large water changes.......One day, I hope the PO bound in the rock will go away but in the mean time, this system is overstocked and overfed so who knows. Here is the thing tho......my LPS and softies are thriving, are are the encrusting corals and even the small amount of hard coral!
Tried LAN but it was not a good experiment for me, as the particulate goes everywhere-even using a 5 micron sock- and the fluctuations in the chemistry of the water was not appreciated by my corals. I have enclosed a picture of some of my euphyillia and yes, PO is a constant 1.0 and nitrate never below 40. Edit: System is also Bare Bottom - Just large pieces of rock with coral on them.

 

[bshake]

Be very, very careful if you choose to use LAN and personally for me, never again. My 120 LPS/Softie system has extremely high nutrients-PO a constant 1.0 and NO3 45-60-but the rock in this system is 30+ years old. I have seen some excellent advice in this thread and I used to stress about my high nutrients but no more. I run gfo and carbon AND phosguard (aluminum oxide) 24/7, protein skimmer, a biopellet reactor, a Tunze Macro Algae reactor and do regular, large water changes.......One day, I hope the PO bound in the rock will go away but in the mean time, this system is overstocked and overfed so who knows. Here is the thing tho......my LPS and softies are thriving, are are the encrusting corals and even the small amount of hard coral!
Tried LAN but it was not a good experiment for me, as the particulate goes everywhere-even using a 5 micron sock- and the fluctuations in the chemistry of the water was not appreciated by my corals. I have enclosed a picture of some of my euphyillia and yes, PO is a constant 1.0 and nitrate never below 40. Edit: System is also Bare Bottom - Just large pieces of rock with coral on them.

Hey thank you so much for that! I will try to use different forms of nutrient export before I go the lanthanum. I worry about how bad it will affect the fish and corals in the tank. Most of my LPS mainly torches, hammers and frogspawns are fully open. 2 diffident frags of the same torch coral just brown jelloed in past 2 days so that’s what’s scaring me. I will take all my torches out and do a KFC dip but I only have a 5 gallon aquarium that was used before to QT fish. So copper was used if it. Idk if that a good idea or not. Everything else’s seems to be relatively happy

 

[bshake]

I just tested my freshly mixed saltwater and it’s at 0.07PPM phosphates so here’s where some of it is coming from.

 

[schooncw]

Hey thank you so much for that! I will try to use different forms of nutrient export before I go the lanthanum. I worry about how bad it will affect the fish and corals in the tank. Most of my LPS mainly torches, hammers and frogspawns are fully open. 2 diffident frags of the same torch coral just brown jelloed in past 2 days so that’s what’s scaring me. I will take all my torches out and do a KFC dip but I only have a 5 gallon aquarium that was used before to QT fish. So copper was used if it. Idk if that a good idea or not. Everything else’s seems to be relatively happy

I don’t think you need LAN!

 

[Pod_01]

I just tested my freshly mixed saltwater and it’s at 0.07PPM phosphates so here’s where some of it is coming from.

Expected from TM Pro Reef salt and a good thing.

With water changes this doesn’t impact you, you remove water with 4ppm and add water with 0.07 ppm so the net result is down. This will not add to your PO4.

This may impact your test value that you estimated it is less than 4ppm…

 

[bshake]

so I just retested the tank same way as before 1ML tank water and 9ML freshly mixed saltwater. The result is 0.24 multiply 10 so 2.4 from 3.9 after a 45 gallon water change on Monday

 

[Mickey]

It's really totally up to you how you handle this situation. The BJD is not related to a higher phosphate level. That may really be your main problem.

I found GFO to be a pain to use and you'll need a lot of it, changing it often if your level is truly what you say. LaCl can be used safely especially if you dilute it a lot. If you're really concerned buy the Phosphate Rx and use the recommended amount BUT dilute it 3:1 or 4:1 and dose over the course of 24 hours rather than all at once. If it is diluted I've found there is no clouding and no particulates. My tangs were never bothered.

Good luck.

 

[Spare time]

I just lost 2 torches yesterday and the day before from brown jelly, I’m not sure if due to my water parameters

Torches die mysteriously from my experience. Everything else can be fine but then the torch dies or bails. Are you sure it was brown jelly and not just the zooxanthellae or rotting tissue?

 

[Charles Zinn]

Hey everyone

I really need some advice lowering extremely high phosphates. Here’s a bit of a backstory (sorry for the long read)

My new build is relatively new just a few months. It’s a 125 gallon AIO DIY system , the rock work was recycled from my old 75 gal but it was bleached and then cycled in a brute. I running a filter sock, tunze 9012 DC skimmer and a Oase canister filter for added bio filtration. I slowly added my fish back in. Everyone is fat and happy except for my BTA they’re not very happy. I went to my LFS got a tester hammer, and frogspawn. They were loving life so big and fully opened. So I started purchasing more bough some high end torches. My Gonis are open and very happy, my elegance is open. Basically spent crap ton of corals. 2 days ago I lost one of the first torches that I put in the tank thang was relatively happy in the beginning. I started testing my water parameters to try and figure out what happened. RODI cartridges were changed for in February.



(First time testing) since starting this tank, since it’s new and I do 45 gallon water changes every week of every other week.
Have you done an ICP? Is your plastic magnet algae scraper inside of your display tank? Phoswphqtes are high....are you feeding a lot of Nori? The eally raise phosphates as does Live brine shrimp they arefeed alot of phyto before delivery... I've listened to Oceamo on Frag garage podcasts. ?He reviews trace elemernt and the balance they hav on system. worth a try frag garage also has alot of other people who have a wealth of knowledge they are worth reviewing several times to pick up pieces of knowledge. run fingers thru sand bottom for stray algae in sand...I had found some and when I removed I had a significant drop in phosphate. Check height of skimmer ort maybe you need one. I also went to a 199 micron filter sock nutrients dropped in half... to date I have has a drop in nitrates from over 50, them 25 then 10 and this morning between 2 and 5 and phosphates below .20 n ....it's all about water quality...good luck
My nitrates were 11 ppm (Hanna cheker)

Tired to test my phosphates with the Hanna ULR it started blinking .90, tried it again and same thing. Did some research on here and diluted 1ML of tank water to 9ML of newly mixed saltwater I finally got a result. 0.39PPM multiply that by 10 so 3.9 Ppm can that even be possible or am I don’t something wrong?

I’m sure the rock from my old tank had bound up phosphates from the 2 years of use and now it’s releasing into the tank but at such a high concentration?

I have some phosphat E that I purchased a while ago but never used. I’m considering to start dosing it but I have a bunch of tangs in the tank and with my set up I don’t have a sump. I don’t want to lose all my corals because of the high phosphates and also don’t want to kill any of my fish with the phosphat E. what’s safest method since I don’t have a sump both the skimmer and filter sock are actually in the aquarium. I also just ordered GFO and about to buy a reactor

 

[bshake]

It's really totally up to you how you handle this situation. The BJD is not related to a higher phosphate level. That may really be your main problem.

I found GFO to be a pain to use and you'll need a lot of it, changing it often if your level is truly what you say. LaCl can be used safely especially if you dilute it a lot. If you're really concerned buy the Phosphate Rx and use the recommended amount BUT dilute it 3:1 or 4:1 and dose over the course of 24 hours rather than all at once. If it is diluted I've found there is no clouding and no particulates. My tangs were never bothered.

Good luck.

I just bought a tunze algae reactor so I’ll try using that along side with a small amount of GFO And see how it works out. The horror stories I’ve read online about LaCl has really terrified me lol because I have a bunch of tangs in the tank.

 

[bshake]

Torches die mysteriously from my experience. Everything else can be fine but then the torch dies or bails. Are you sure it was brown jelly and not just the zooxanthellae or rotting tissue?

The 2 torches that died were fully extended sign a okay size flesh band around the head. 3 days ago the one that i previously bought that wasn’t in the best condition was tucked into the skeleton and some stuff oozing out. Took it out of the tank and got rid of it, today the second one did the same thing but it was the healthier of the 2. Before I wasn’t able to see its skeleton but yesterday had the skeleton was showing, brown stringy stuff oozing came out. I will do a KFC dip tomorrow to all the corals and take it from there and see how they do.

 

[bshake]

It's really totally up to you how you handle this situation. The BJD is not related to a higher phosphate level. That may really be your main problem.

I found GFO to be a pain to use and you'll need a lot of it, changing it often if your level is truly what you say. LaCl can be used safely especially if you dilute it a lot. If you're really concerned buy the Phosphate Rx and use the recommended amount BUT dilute it 3:1 or 4:1 and dose over the course of 24 hours rather than all at once. If it is diluted I've found there is no clouding and no particulates. My tangs were never bothered.

Good luck.

I also thought bad water quality came stress them and make them brown jelly? I’m not really sure but I’ll do a KFC dip tomorrow.