High Phosphate

[D0ubt]

Hi there,
Recently my sps coral started to bleach, I tested the phosphate and found it was a 1.6. I did a 20 percent water change using rodi water, as well as adding the appropriate number of chemipure blue packets. This dropped my phosphate to .9 however i am at a loss how to reduce it to what i've been recommended is best .03 or less ppm. I was looking into possibly adding some type of phosphate removing pad to my filter, would this be smart? or should i approach from a different angle? I have been reducing my feeding as well.

 

[nick9one1]

Get it as low as possible with water changes (maybe 2 more) then maintain with gfo, rowaphos or lanthanum chloride

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I'd aim for 0.1 ppm, at least initially and I would not be in a panic about it. 1 ppm is fine for many aquaria.

Skeptical Reefkeeping 9: Test Kits, Chasing Numbers and Phosphate

By Rich Ross and Chris Jury There are many standard parameters in the reefkeeping world that aquarists strive to match in their home reefs – water quality,

reefs.com

Rich’s 150 gallon display, on a 300 gallon system, is running a phosphate level of 1.24 ppm, a level at 24.8 times higher than the often recommended .05 ppm. Photo by Richard Ross.

 

[D0ubt]

I'd aim for 0.1 ppm, at least initially and I would not be in a panic about it. 1 ppm is fine for many aquaria.

Skeptical Reefkeeping 9: Test Kits, Chasing Numbers and Phosphate

By Rich Ross and Chris Jury There are many standard parameters in the reefkeeping world that aquarists strive to match in their home reefs – water quality,

reefs.com

Rich’s 150 gallon display, on a 300 gallon system, is running a phosphate level of 1.24 ppm, a level at 24.8 times higher than the often recommended .05 ppm. Photo by Richard Ross.

Thank you, I will definitely do that, i also readjusted my lighting set up to see if that was contributing to the bleaching problem.

 

[jarviz]

I'd aim for 0.1 ppm, at least initially and I would not be in a panic about it. 1 ppm is fine for many aquaria.

Skeptical Reefkeeping 9: Test Kits, Chasing Numbers and Phosphate

By Rich Ross and Chris Jury There are many standard parameters in the reefkeeping world that aquarists strive to match in their home reefs – water quality,

reefs.com

Rich’s 150 gallon display, on a 300 gallon system, is running a phosphate level of 1.24 ppm, a level at 24.8 times higher than the often recommended .05 ppm. Photo by Richard Ross.

Any idea what his nitrate #'s are at?

 

[D0ubt]

Any idea what his nitrate #'s are at?

Last I checked this morning my phosphate was still .9 and my nitrates were between .00 and .05 i'm saving to get a more accurate testing system for nitrates and alkalinity. I'm going to upgrade my filtration as well.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Any idea what his nitrate #'s are at?

At one point they were above 50 ppm. Can't say for sure when that photo was taken.

 

[nereefpat]

Last I checked this morning my phosphate was still .9 and my nitrates were between .00 and .05 i'm saving to get a more accurate testing system for nitrates and alkalinity. I'm going to upgrade my filtration as well.

With nitrates that low and phosphate high, you will have to use GFO, or Phosguard, or lanthanum chloride to lower those down to a reasonable range.

Keep in mind that water changes won't work in this case either, since the rock and sand will be full of phosphate.

 

[jarviz]

With nitrates that low and phosphate high, you will have to use GFO, or Phosguard, or lanthanum chloride to lower those down to a reasonable range.

Keep in mind that water changes won't work in this case either, since the rock and sand will be full of phosphate.

So if i do a phosphate test and get back .1ppm... what does that really mean? There's a 1ppm of phosphates in my water and 1ppm on my rocks/sand? and if i do a 50% water change, that would bring my water's phosphate down to 0.05ppm theoretically, but because i have so much on my rocks/sand, it would just leech back into the water... and i would actually read some where between 0.05-.1ppm.. does this sound right?

 

[nereefpat]

You got it