Raised PO4 - Wicked quickly

WhatCouldGoWrong71 · Jul 24, 2024

It can only be one of two things…

I broke my 130g down and put it in a 150g stock tank. New tank should be here in a couple weeks. I plumbed a 40b in as a sump with some sand from my old display. I have lots of sand dwelling snails that I wanted a place to live, and it helped with bio. I don’t have much food making it to the sump from my display (not running any filtration other than skimmer). So, I tossed some algae wafers for my planted tank into my sump. Conks and nassarius (sp?) loved it. Over ten days my PO4 went from .08 to .71. I’ve tested multiple times and every other day. I’ve stopped putting them in, and I assume it will work itself out. Here is the thing… I was dosing about 100-120 mil a day of alk and cal. When I moved everything into the stock tank, things looked OK, but consumption went to zero. As the PO went up, consumption started again, and now it’s back to 100 mil today. Everything but my colony of space invaders is wicked happy. I’ve got diatoms on the plastic, but I also have coralline everywhere already. I would like to blame the plastic, but… lol. Should I suck whatever is left of the wafers out of the sump or just let things work themselves out? Surprised how high the PO4 is.

crazyfishmom · Jul 24, 2024

Interesting experience. It’s always amazing to me how nutrient levels can affect alkalinity consumption and the like. For me, if phosphate is between 0.1-.25 consumption is huge. If the tank goes above 0.4 for any reason consumption drops very very significantly.

I’m thinking it’ll sort itself out. Good luck with the new project!

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jul 25, 2024

Just an FYI, that product is really misnamed algae wafer. One needs to go well down the ingredient list before reaching algae, and I really think other marine products would be better.

From a phosphate standpoint it includes added disodium phosphate and L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate in it, and it's main ingredient is fish meal, which is high in phosphate due to bones present in the fish.

Algae Wafers™ - Hikari Sales USA

Hikari Tropical Algae Wafers were specifically developed for the hard to feed plecostomus and other algae eating bottom feeders. Accept no substitutes, request the first and finest disc shaped diet for your herbivorous fish!

www.hikariusa.com

Ingredients:

Fish meal, wheat flour, wheat germ meal, cassava starch, dried bakery product, dried seaweed meal, alfalfa nutrient concentrate dehydrated, dehydrated alfalfa meal, brewers dried yeast, soybean meal, fish oil, krill meal, spirulina, garlic, DL-methionine, chlorella, astaxanthin, choline chloride, vitamin E supplement, L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (stabilized vitamin C), inositol, d-calcium pantothenate, riboflavin, vitamin A supplement, thiamine mononitrate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, niacin, folic acid, vitamin D3 supplement, biotin, disodium phosphate, ferrous sulfate, magnesium sulfate, zinc sulfate, manganese sulfate, copper sulfate, calcium iodate.*

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jul 25, 2024

My favorite ingredient on that list is "dried bakery product".

I'm imagining it to mean day old glazed donuts lol

WhatCouldGoWrong71 · Jul 28, 2024

Fast

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
My favorite ingredient on that list is "dried bakery product".

I'm imagining it to mean day old glazed donuts lol

thats some funny poop @Randy Holmes-Farley

5 days and down from .71 to .66. Will the drop become exponential at some point? I’ve extended my scrubbers photo period, No3 holding 10-15, I increased my No3 dose slightly to account for extending the photo period in the scrubber.

I’m sure there are bits and pieces down in the sand in my sump from those donuts. I have a bunch of snails down there, they must be out of chocolate glazed and are getting picky. Should I consider very light LC in the skimmer?

I should add that since the spike in nutrients, my DKH uptake has resumed, when I relocated the tank it all but stopped. 100 mil swing do to temporary holding tank.