High Phosphates and Ugly Corals

[n00bReefer]

Good day,

Due to being a noob and VERY limited space in my apartment but, always had an itch for a saltwater aquarium I've got a 5 gallon Fluval Evo AIO tank. Tank has been running about 3 months now. Nitrogen cycle seems to have completed and never had a "major" algae outbreak, no hair algae at least. I believe the amount of CUC and pods I have added may have stifled that stage of the cycle. I do still have a bit of green algae on the rocks but, nothing on the walls anymore.

I've added some Zoas which started out great but, now they are starting to become ugly and dull. It seems this may be due to the outrageously high phosphate readings I've been seeing.

Params as of Today ( All testers are Hannas ):
* Hannah Phosphate ULR can only test to .90 so I use API Reef Master tester for the higher readings

	KH dKH	NH3 ppm	Ca ppm	Mg ppm	NO3 ppm	NO2 ppm	pH pH	PO4 ppm
May 1	10.6	0.15	470	1325	7.5	0.04	8.04	2 ( Yes that's 2! )

Salinity: 1.024 - 1.025
Temps: 77 to 78
Light: AI Prime 16 HD (Haven't tested PAR or anything yet)

Water is bought at the LFS: 5-gallons of Instant Ocean and 5-gallons of RODI per week. I've tested them both with API Tester and all returned 0 on Phosphate and Nitrates.

Inhabitants:
8 snails
1 Juvenile Yellow Watchman
1 Mocha Clown
1 Blood Red Cleaner (Has molted many times already)

I do 1 to 2G water changes every week around Thursdays or Fridays and test often and seems only thing I can see is the phosphate levels. I've also cut down feeding to every other day once a day, a quarter of a cube and using just frozen mysis and brine shrimps.

Fish, snails, and shrimp seem happy, fat, and responsive to feeding.

I've tried using a GFO media bag from NUVO Media Filter but, doesn't seem to be working as levels don't seem to be changing (after 1 week) I think it's due to not being able to be "tumbled" and mechanical filtration doesn't allow for a high level of water flow over it; again, it's a small AIO.

I'm calling on the Reef crew here and get some feedback from everyone on what could I do to stabilize the phosphates, improve the coral colors, or what else can I be doing?

Attaching pics but, it's night time for everyone and they usually always closed up by this time. However, the Zoas and Duncans will open completely during the day just the Zoa's colors look meh.

I welcome criticisms just be kind in your responses!

 

[blaxsun]

TLF makes a liquid phosban. Try that but be sure to read the instructions carefully re: diluting it. It's like Drain-O for phosphates...

 

[rtparty]

Assuming it’s the PO4 level, just change more water, more often. I ran a 7.5g cube on weekly almost 100% water changes for almost a year.

Are you sure it’s not the light?

 

[Spare time]

GFO is fine in a bag. The number is just going to take awhile to move down.

 

[n00bReefer]

Assuming it’s the PO4 level, just change more water, more often. I ran a 7.5g cube on weekly almost 100% water changes for almost a year.

Are you sure it’s not the light?

Sorry, I assume you meant to say the light could be culprit on the corals ... very well could be. I currently run an AI Prime HD - No Green, Red, or White, all pretty much blues.

Attaching light routine

 

[KKY]

curious how does your coral look like under the daytime light? I have a high PO4 (not as high as 2, but has been >0.2 for a little while), and all my corals seem bloated/bouncing.... including arco and zoa. So curious if what i observe is similar to yours

 

[n00bReefer]

curious how does your coral look like under the daytime light? I have a high PO4 (not as high as 2, but has been >0.2 for a little while), and all my corals seem bloated/bouncing.... including arco and zoa. So curious if what i observe is similar to yours

I will try to get pics today but, they open up fine and close fine. Colors are just washed out. I do think there may be one or two polyps that do sort of look "bloated".

 

[Waters]

Since it is only a 5 gallon tank, just do large water changes. No reason to mess with any chemicals.

 

[Jason_MrFrags]

Large water changes and RODI for ATO. Possibly reduce amount you are feeding?

 

[nothing_fancy]

For a tank that small I would use (1) phosguard bag, the type that is sold in its own bag. Test regularly and pull in and out of the system when needed. Alternatively or simultaneously, you could do small daily water changes rather than one large change per week. Small like 1 or 2 qt

 

[n00bReefer]

Large water changes and RODI for ATO. Possibly reduce amount you are feeding?

I'm already doing once every other day! I worry my poor fish will starve! haha

 

[n00bReefer]

For a tank that small I would use (1) phosguard bag, the type that is sold in its own bag. Test regularly and pull in and out of the system when needed. Alternatively or simultaneously, you could do small daily water changes rather than one large change per week. Small like 1 or 2 qt

I am currently using a GFO bag from NUVO Media Filter Pack. Do you think I should look for actual PhosGuard in a bag?

 

[n00bReefer]

Thank you everyone for your help! I see the majority say to do LARGE WCs which I haven't been doing; only small weeklies.. I will give that a try though and keep you updated!

 

[nothing_fancy]

I am currently using a GFO bag from NUVO Media Filter Pack. Do you think I should look for actual PhosGuard in a bag?

For me personally I use GFO when my phos peaks over where I want it to be and then I pull the GFO out after it goes down around .1 I use phosguard bags, the type I mentioned 24/7 and for me that works. GFO can pull phos very quickly depending on how much you use so you need to keep an eye on that. The phosguard bags are just regular filter media for my uses and are more for maintaining phos once you have them where you want, they can also be pulled in and out and rinsed for later use where as GFO bags if you pull them out, you can rinse them but they usually end up stinking pretty bad.

 

[VirginiaReefer]

nice looking tank! not sure if some chaeto or macro may help to suck it up for an easy export? i trust the other experts here more on that.

 

[n00bReefer]

Update.

So, following the advice from the majority I went to my LFS and bought two 5 gallon jugs of Instant Ocean PreMix. Went home and changed about 4 gallons from my 5 gallon tank.

Here are the params after I completed the water change:
Phosphate: 0.25
Trate: Undetectable
( Used API Reef Master )

Alls well that ends well, remind you that the GFO media bag is still in my filter section.

Fast forward to this afternoon, using my Hanna this time I get:
Alk - 10.1
Trate - 4.2
Phosphate - TOO HIGH!? - Used API and it came back to 1 ppm!!!!

What ... the ... F .. In a few hours I go from 0.25 to over 1ppm the next afternoon!? Again, GFO bag still in the media section and it's a new bag!

Started thinking and recalling my readings about Phosphates and how it resides in the rock. Well, not too long ago I bought the this coral holder from Amazon. It's a fake stone that can hold 7 frags and it's magnetic and sits on my acrylic glass farely well.

So, I thought ya know what if this "cheap" fake rock may be the reason why there is huge amounts of phosphate in my tank after less than 1 day. I decided to remove the coral and place them at the bottom on tank, removed the fake rock for a day or two and see what happens; right? Well, let me tell you! I got this piece out of the tank and over the sink and just happened to tip it to it's side where the water hole is and BAM! Disgusting pitch black water and other garbage started to flow right out! This went on for good 1 - 2 minutes of this plague water just spilling out!

So, reefers I think I may have found the cause of my phosphate spikes... What I think was happening this rock since hollowed on the inside was collecting garbage from the tank and just letting it sit there inside of it which could very well cause a Phos Spike OR the rock itself is a cheaply made piece of crap and who knows what it is made of! I couldn't believe it I even rinsed this rock out before I put it in the tank and didn't spill anything black before I placed it in the tank.

Lesson learned.

Let's see if my Phos will begin to stabilize now that rock has been removed! *fingers crossed*

 

[Rmckoy]

I'm already doing once every other day! I worry my poor fish will starve! haha

Fish don’t have us dumping food for them in the wild multiple times per day .
I’m sure they’re not starved

 

[n00bReefer]

Fish don’t have us dumping food for them in the wild multiple times per day .
I’m sure they’re not starved

Yeah, I'm sure they are fine but, I worry at times! haha

 

[Rmckoy]

Yeah, I'm sure they are fine but, I worry at times! haha

I get it ……
I had to put a stop to others helping by feeding fish years ago .

 

[RonuPualo]

Thanks for sharing.