Phosphates are .58?

[Rakkasan]

Please help.

I have had my phosphates jump through the roof and need some suggestions.

I have a 40 gallon tank 5 months old.
Last major test I did was Nov 20th and I had

Alkalinity 189 /10.5 dkh
Phosphate .02
Ph 8.0
Calcium 360
Ammonia 0.10
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5 ppm

The changes I made to my tank was adding kalkwasser and reef complete by seachem to my RO and I dosed my refugium with 5ml of plankton to feed my pods.

Since then my corals and everything is looking great but now my nitrates are up to around 10ppm and my ph is at 8.3

I am using a hannah checker for my phosphates and alkalinity. Everything else is api

 

[Billldg]

I would retest, nitrates at 10 ppm is no big deal, your phosphate going from .02 to .58 sounds suspicious. A little off topic, but I would raise your Cal to 420-440 with a PH of 8.3. Plus, are your cleaning your vials properly, though it can't be seen to the naked eye, slight color shift in the vials can effect the reading. I would use the other vial and see what the reading is.

 

[Rakkasan]

Also I am using chemi pure and reef spec carbon. My second test on the hannah checker was .60

 

[Billldg]

Why are you using the Chemi pure? If it is to kill some algae then that could raise your nitrates and phosphates that are locked up in the algae, but I don't think it would raise it that much. The Kalk will explain the rise in PH as it will do that. Not really sure what the Seachem reef complete does. Pods won't effect parameters as they will eat algae to survive.

 

[lapin]

Po4: It could be the phyto and what @Billldg says.
They are new additions to the tank I believe.
Did you get new reagent?

Food for thought
If alk is high then you need higher calcium, mag to help your coral benefit from the high alk.

"Reef Complete® also includes magnesium and strontium in amounts proportionate to typical utilization ratios (100:5:0.1, Ca:Mg:Sr). This allows one to maintain these two important elements while maintaining calcium.

Reef Complete® is a blended product. It is not simply calcium chloride. Commercially available calcium chloride contains ammonia. Unlike other ionic calcium supplements, Reef Complete® is blended to a higher pH in order to force the ammonia to gas off into the atmosphere. In addition, Reef Complete® is more concentrated than any other liquid product on the market. Reef Complete® contains 160,000 ppm calcium "

 

[Rakkasan]

Why are you using the Chemi pure? If it is to kill some algae then that could raise your nitrates and phosphates that are locked up in the algae, but I don't think it would raise it that much. The Kalk will explain the rise in PH as it will do that. Not really sure what the Seachem reef complete does. Pods won't effect parameters as they will eat algae to survive.

Does plankton contain any crazy levels of phosphates?

The chemi pure is a activated carbon and helps reduce phosphates, toxins ect. Reef spec carbon is also just what it sounds like (probably dont need to do both but I put the carbon in 3 weeks after the chemi pure because carbon doesnt last long).

 

[Billldg]

I dose phyto every day to feed my sps corals and the pods. I don't think they contain any phosphates, actually a good question that I will ask someone who is very well respected on this forum and in the hobby. I use BRS carbon, so not really sure about others.

Actually, now that I think of it, this person that I will ask actually is doing a study about dosing phyto to lower nitrate and phosphate.

 

[LC8Sumi]

Aren’t your reagents expired or close to? Same thing happend to me. Then with a new pack of reagents all is back to normal

 

[jp_75]

is it regular phosphate checker?

 

[Rakkasan]

I dose phyto every day to feed my sps corals and the pods. I don't think they contain any phosphates, actually a good question that I will ask someone who is very well respected on this forum and in the hobby. I use BRS carbon, so not really sure about others.

Actually, now that I think of it, this person that I will ask actually is doing a study about dosing phyto to lower nitrate and phosphate.

Not using phyto in the bottle that you get from the lfs. This is live phytoplankton that was just cultivated. Pods need it to eat of there isnt enough algae in the tank.

 

[Rakkasan]

Aren’t your reagents expired or close to? Same thing happend to me. Then with a new pack of reagents all is back to normal

My reagent expires 5 / 2022

 

[Billldg]

Not using phyto in the bottle that you get from the lfs. This is live phytoplankton that was just cultivated. Pods need it to eat of there isnt enough algae in the tank.

I asked my friend and he says that the phosphate levels dropped after adding phyto, so I would have to say that is not your problem.

I am still wondering if the vials are your problem. As much as I love my Hanna checkers, I don't fully thrust them as they are only as good as the vial is crystal clean.

 

[LC8Sumi]

I asked my friend and he says that the phosphate levels dropped after adding phyto, so I would have to say that is not your problem.

I am still wondering if the vials are your problem. As much as I love my Hanna checkers, I don't fully thrust them as they are only as good as the vial is crystal clean.

Vials have to be rinsed well inside/out with 0ppm rodi, that’s for sure. 0.6ppm PO4 turns the reagent pretty blue, so dirt on the outside doesn’t really matter at that point (which would foul a low PO4 measurement)

 

[Billldg]

Vials have to be rinsed well inside/out with 0ppm rodi, that’s for sure. 0.6ppm PO4 turns the reagent pretty blue, so dirt on the outside doesn’t really matter at that point (which would foul a low PO4 measurement)

I have never had mine that high, but that actually brings up a very good question, @Rakkasan , are your vials turning a hard blue color as @LC8Sumi says?

 

[LC8Sumi]

I have never had mine that high.

This is the 736 Hanna (Phosphorus ULR) at ~0.6 ppm PO4 (200+ ppb Phosphorus) (expired reagent):

 

[Rakkasan]

This is the 736 Hanna (Phosphorus ULR) at ~0.6 ppm PO4 (200+ ppb Phosphorus) (expired reagent):

That's what mine looks like...

 

[LC8Sumi]

I’d say try a salifert or other analog po4 test, just to rule out a bad batch of hanna reagent. Unless there are ill effects in the tank, it’s pretty unlikely that the phosphate jumped from .02 to .58

 

[ScottB]

In my Dino battles I had to test PO4 daily. Therefor I had to eliminate testing noise. My steps:

Nitrile gloves (no fingerprints) during testing and post test clean up
Clean towels to wipe before/after
RODI rinse of civettes
Keep the cuvettes closed between tests

 

[Billldg]

I agree with @LC8Sumi, a jump from .02 to .58 is unlikely in less than a month.

 

[Saltyreef]

Fwiw, i test free chlorine with a $500 hach colorimeter at work and even after rinsing with fresh water, the vials turn pink at the bottom after a good 6 months of use.
Usually some alcohol and a long q tip do the trick but until then the readings arent accurate.