Phosphate reduction help

[stevo_87]

Hi,

Currently I have high phosphates and have notice hair algae appearing in my rock, the bigger parts I have pulled off and also started using a toothbrush for the other areas.

My parameters currently are
Ammonia - 0
Nitrate - 7.2
Nitrite - 0
Salinity 1024
Phosphates just over 1

I have just put into my unit some rowaphos to help bring this down as recommend by my LFS.

My question is can I also dose Red Sea NoPoX as well to reduce the levels, oh and one more question, am I better off getting the levels under control before buying a few Mexican turbos or just by them now as battle reduce phosphates?

My tank is 25 gallon, I’m running protein skimmer and I’ve reduced my lights down to 8 hours per day, doing 15% weekly water changes

Thanks

 

[Outlaw Corals]

Don’t go crazy buying all that junk this here is all you need and works very fast. Be very careful not to overdose.

 

[stevo_87]

Don’t go crazy buying all that junk this here is all you need and works very fast. Be very careful not to overdose.

Thanks mate, do I dose this until the levels are within the parameters I’m happy with ?

 

[Outlaw Corals]

Yes you can and it won’t take long, you need to be extra careful with this stuff being your tank is not that big, always remember the less water you have in your system gives you less room for margin of error, it will probably cause your tank to get cloudy, but it clears up pretty fast so don’t worry

 

[Dburr1014]

It's a long process.

Phosphate are bound in the rock. You lower the po4 in the water column, rock release po4 back to the column. Rinse and repeat. It took months to get it there, expect months to get it back out.

Slow and steady winds the race.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

The product posted is one of many brands of lanthanum available. Be careful if you have tangs as some folks have problems with tangs when using lanthanum. I personally would not use it in that situation.

 

[areefer01]

25 gallon display, less water more than likely due to rock and substrate, is doing a water change difficult? Two 5 gallon buckets one for fresh, one for old, and a couple minutes and you are done. Or a pair of brute cans for larger changes.

Phosphate E works and as RHF noted above there are other products such as Phosphate rX that are lanthanum based but the hobbyist has to use caution. Some animals, mostly reported to be tangs, have trouble when dosing it directly into the tank in large doses. Cloudy water, particulates, etc. Not sure what the correct term is but when applied it will cloudy up the water.

If you do end up trying lanthanum based products you could always calculate the dose, split it in half, apply a dose, and see how the display works. Test before and after so you know the effectiveness and go from there.

 

[bakbay]

The product posted is one of many brands of lanthanum available. Be careful if you have tangs as some folks have problems with tangs when using lanthanum. I personally would not use it in that situation.

I’ve been dosing LC-based products (Phosphate Rx) for the last 3+ years with 7 tangs, including a Hawaiian-native YT that people said might develop gill problems. No issues whatsoever in my tank. Perhaps I’ve been very lucky since I dosed in small amounts?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I’ve been dosing LC-based products (Phosphate Rx) for the last 3+ years with 7 tangs, including a Hawaiian-native YT that people said might develop gill problems. No issues whatsoever in my tank. Perhaps I’ve been very lucky since I dosed in small amounts?

It appears to not be known why some folks have tang issues and others (the majority) do not. I’ve not seen any clear differences between the problem vs no problem cases. I presume there is one or more important difference, we just don’t know it.

 

[bakbay]

Wish that some day we will get to the bottom of this mystery re: LC’s effect on tangs (or fish in general). As for me, it’s purely anecdotal based on my tank.

Like others suggested - go slow and take good notes. I would do it over a course of a month but importantly, know your starting point and test regularly. This stuff can be very lethal - fish problems or sudden drop in PO4 might RTN SPS corals. However, I’ve found LC to be extremely effective and less messy vs GFO, fuge, and carbon dosing.

Good luck!

 

[exnisstech]

25 gallon display, less water more than likely due to rock and substrate, is doing a water change difficult? Two 5 gallon buckets one for fresh, one for old, and a couple minutes and you are done. Or a pair of brute cans for larger changes.

^This ^
Would be much better than adding chems for something that can be controlled more naturally. JMO adding chemicals is a last resort for me.

 

[Uncle99]

Hi,

Currently I have high phosphates and have notice hair algae appearing in my rock, the bigger parts I have pulled off and also started using a toothbrush for the other areas.

My parameters currently are
Ammonia - 0
Nitrate - 7.2
Nitrite - 0
Salinity 1024
Phosphates just over 1

I have just put into my unit some rowaphos to help bring this down as recommend by my LFS.

My question is can I also dose Red Sea NoPoX as well to reduce the levels, oh and one more question, am I better off getting the levels under control before buying a few Mexican turbos or just by them now as battle reduce phosphates?

My tank is 25 gallon, I’m running protein skimmer and I’ve reduced my lights down to 8 hours per day, doing 15% weekly water changes

Thanks

No pox has a limited effect on phosphate but over time, is good to reduce nitrate.

Considering your nitrate is 7.2ppm, using no pox would serve to reduce nitrate even more.

I think your correct in using a GFO to mop up the excess phosphate, just stay the course.

 

[GARRIGA]

Don’t go crazy buying all that junk this here is all you need and works very fast. Be very careful not to overdose.

Might want to dose into a 5 micron sock. Done it without but don't own tangs and unknown exactly how all life responds to this flocculate and word of caution because I've seen one report seeing lanthanum in their ICP results. Don't recall seeing it my results but also only used it a handful of times over the coarse of a month.