Troublesome Phosphate Level

[Uriel]

I can't seem to drop my phosphate down to unreadable levels.

I've been running cheato and rowaphos(in skimmer) all my other water statistics are spot on. I've now added phos guard to my sump as well. Is it just a matter of being patient or will i eventually have to bite the bullet and get a media reactor to run rowaphos or similar ? Is there anything else I could be doing to reduce it ?

 

[HappyGeorge]

I only run Rowaphos in the skimmer in both my tanks and I have a zero reading but I have never had to bring it down as it has always been unreadable. I'm sure I read somewhere that Rowaphos is ok for keeping it down but not much use for getting it down to start with but I may have dreamed it? I'm sure someone will be along with some advice, take this as an I haven't got a clue free bump.

 

[Uriel]

Well i know that phosphate can leech into things and as most of my Lr was second hand i'm assuming that is the problem. It probably is just a be patient thing but you never know what people might come up with.

 

[ben1987]

Whats your feeding regime? Feeding frozen? Do you defrost and rinse in ro before adding to the tank? The juice that comes off frozen food while its defrosting will be off the phosphate scale!

 

[Uriel]

I was feeding frozen and didn't know that was the case. Was just defrosting in a feeding bottle in tank water and then squirting it in. I'm currently feeding flake though. I feed a 1cm flake every 3-4 hours. doing small and often as my clowns where a pain to get feeding.

 

[woody88]

I'd put it down to feeding.
What's your phos reading?

Sorry I can't remember but do you have any coral as phosphate will retard their growth.

I bet your cheato is growing like crazy tho! Lol

 

[Uriel]

No coral at the moment just CUC and 2 clowns. reading is between 0.03 and 0.1 on salifert test kit. I'd probably say 0.06-7 ish. It's not a problem persay I just don't want algea issues plus issues later when i start looking at hard corals.

My cheato seems to grow like a manic under the grow light. I would guess that it has probably doubled in size in 2-3 days. I'm not sure if it can process a great deal of phosphate without much nitrate though. Although i suppose by measure I have 5-7 times as much nitrate as phosphate anyhow.

I'm guessing as the cheato gets bigger It will pull more out of the water.

 

[woody88]

I'm guessing as the cheato gets bigger It will pull more out of the water.

It will do but it sounds like you have phosphate that has come with the rock so it could take some time. Just keep a lookout for GHA.

Don't forget to top up your phos remover monthly. Are you running a skimmer as this would help pull nutrients out the water [sorry, Can't remember].

Although you should'nt have a reading for phos, 0.03 on the Salifert test kit is'nt too bad tbh. Just keep monitoring it and perform good weekly wc.

 

[ben1987]

Id bet its the way you were feeding frozen then

 

[Uriel]

I'll see over next couple of days if it drops pretty rapidly i would assume it was my feeding. If it stays quite high still it's probably the rock.

 

[woody88]

Obviously zero phosphate is best but 0.03-0.1 isn't too bad tbh

IMO it isn't enough to cause any probs...........apart from a lil bit of GHA maybe! Lol