Phosphate Problem

[Buddyboy67]

You marine folk .

Mate it's the salt I tells ye, all the fault of the salt...

 

[Luketendo]

Oh dear.

 

[TigerIssey]

I have to agree completely with Buddy.

There is just something about us salties that cannot lay off the double entendres and well you know.... it keeps us amused.

 

[AK77]

Sorry, couldn't resist lol. Great minds think alike....... as do dirty ones

 

[shelaghfishface]

right here are the test results

ammonia-0
nitrates-20
PH-7.8
phosphate-1 ( seperate test)
( didnt do nitrite as only 3 test tubes)
filter is a hydor prime 30 (200-450L)
simmer is red sea prizm energiser-650L p/h
the light is -- oo dunno its a metal halide tho, but cant see any info on it and no box ( ill get a pic) big square light with built in fan and seperate controll box.. ring any bells?

so on the basis of the results whats the first job i need to to get the tank back on the road to recovery? ( going to get salt first) thing so that i can top it up - what else shall i get?CUC?
oh and those power heads have had it! neither work- dunno if its cos the plugs got wet or they are absolutley caked in coraline..im not going to mess about with them, just get another 2
i take it i can get to work on the coraline, goodness knows what will shift it.. razor maybe?


oh and that is / was a mushroom coral.. the woman said she dropped it ( in the tank)

 

[shelaghfishface]

also found this under one of my other tanks.. is it sutable?

i edited that 3 times as i couldnt understand how i got half of tigerissys sig... realise i took the pic in front of the screen, so sorry mate i nicked a bit!

 

[Morri]

Looking at the stats I would sort out the PH before adding any CUC you need to be at about 8.2 - 8.3 not sure how to raise it to be honest.

Nitrates are not terrible will be easily resolved but if you only had 40L of the water with the tank this might have reduced the nitrates.

I use Both Phosban and Chaeto in my tank to keep my nitrates down I had terrible Nitrates when I got my tank mine where at 70+

has the extrernal filter got any sponges in this will add to the nitrate problem if there is one

Might have missed the tank size but you need to try and get 20 - 30 x tank volume water turn over a lot of people use the Koralia pumps or Tunze to achive the turn over.

(Only a newbie myself but this is similar to the issues I had with mone which are now under control)

 

[shelaghfishface]

well i thought coral sand took care of the PH ( have a small amount that i have from a cichlid set up still bagged if that any use)
what is a "good" nitrate level for marine then.. id be pleased`ish if this was the result on my tropical.
not sure about the sponge as i havent looked in there yet ( just back from tesco) but there are no spares etc ie. old sponges.. so im assuming the filter is "as it came"
what do i need to put in there instead of sponges?

 

[youngfisher]

Wohooo, shelagh has gone marine!


- Instead of sponge, you put LR Rubble in it.
YF

 

[Morri]

Ahh yip (Face palm) brain does nt work this time in the morning yip its the calcium should have rembered from my old Mbuna days.

LR Rubble is an option in the external but if you have live stock in the tank this might cause a spike in ammonia.

I would use this to house rowphos / carbon etc. and i guess the flow from this will add to your water turn over.

Nitrates ideally should be 0 but I still cannot keep mine that low I sit around 10 most the time (Maturing nitrate reactor atm).

Not sure on the Phos X bag to be honest I know some of these can cause issues (Well read somewhere) leaching nitrates maybe. I am sure one of the more experinced reefers will have better info on that one than me.

 

[youngfisher]

Shelagh, I think you should start a journal.

YF

 

[Luketendo]

Don't think Phos X is any good you want a high quality one I use ultiphos from ultimate discount aquatics but tanktests do lots of good ones.

Basically phosphate needs to come down to at least 0.03ppm. Light sounds good by the way you need to look at the bulb to find out the wattage but DO NOT touch the bulb with your hands as it puts grease on the bulb and when it fires up it gets very hot and if there is any grease in it it will explode.

Also as you said you need new powerheads you need 20x-40x+ turnover per hour depending what corals you want to keep if any at all. How many litres is your tank?

A razor will work for cleaning the glass be careful not to scratch the glass though.

 

[TigerIssey]

Thats weird, I looked at that pic and thought how the hell is part of my sig in it, scrolled down and all revealed.

Ramses and Nefertari, my clowns look very good, so I don't mind.

I also use Ultiphos P available from UDA on line. I am about to start using Muzzy's Tank Test additives once the TMC run out. They are supposed to be very good.

Nitrates when you have coral should be below 5, 0 ideally.

Have you tested the sg Shelagh??

Don't forget once you have that water level at the top to mark a line somewhere on the side where its not visible, when the water evaporates, you top this off with plain RO and your back to same SG.

A journal would be brill.

 

[AK77]

You are right in that the coral sand should act as a PH buffer. If you used a hydrometer then your SG might not be correct, which could account for the PH behing higher than the desired 8.2-8.3 or at least exacerbating it.

I think you have the Jewel 180 bow front. You definitely want some more flow in there as others have said. I'll PM you a link to one that will definitely be enough lol.

 

[rabbut]

OK, sorry to break it to you, but there are issues with your stock and equipment

Equipment first, since there is a lot to cover here.

Lights sound good, but how old are the lamps? If un-known, you'll need to replace them, as they may have had their spectral output drift, and output reduce below what they should be. Can you take the lamps out and give us a full run-down of what is on the label? Don't touch the lap directly though, for the reasons Buddyboy gives above

Flow. Quite simply you don't have enough. You need to get at least two pumps, preferably propeller type rather than the usual, that push at least 1800lph each.

Filter. I'd get live rock rubble, Phosphate remover and floss in there if you haven't got that already. The floss with need weekly replacement/cleaning or you may get Nitrate build-up's, and the Phosphate remover will need replacing whenever the algae comes back...

Skimmer. Quite simply the one you've got isn't worth the plastic it's made from. Try get a Tunze or Deltec on there. An MCE600 would be good, and can be bought for about £100 second hand

What salt are you using? What test kits are you using? Can you get an Alkalinity reading? The coral gravel will only buffer the pH to 8.0, no higher

The hydrometers are very prone to drifting and are highly inaccurate. Get a decent refractometer, they cost about £20 new delivered on-line and can save a lot of money's worth of livestock by actually being accurate...

stocking next;

The Humbugs will knack the clowns, other damsels and usually any other tank mates when they become mature, regardless of how big they get. You need to choose between them and get rid of the ones you aren't going to keep, preferably before you scape the tank, as you'll have to take all the rock out to stand any chance of catching them

The main issue with buying a marine tank second hand is that you don't know it's history. It looks like yours was in a very poor state of repair when you collected it, as it looks a mess by way of the algae, equipment specs and water stats. You have a steep learning curve ahead and many issues there to solve, but I'd start with stocking, then the equipment. Water and algae issues can be fixed once you have the right gear, and further issues can be prevented for now by taking out the in-appropriate stock

All the best
Rabbut