Phosban question
- Thread starter BryanF
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Phosban question
Try supplement with some pellets for the fish instead of frozen foods, should help some but I agree I would do done sort of carbon dosing but go slow. I'm dealing with a similar issue howevery algae is consuming it all so I huge algae growth. I am currently starting a carbon regiment
Try supplement with some pellets for the fish instead of frozen foods, should help some but I agree I would do done sort of carbon dosing but go slow. I'm dealing with a similar issue howevery algae is consuming it all so I huge algae growth. I am currently starting a carbon regiment
Lower your light cycle, I had huge hair algea problems, tried everything under the sun, the cure fo it was going to a 6 hour photo period for a bit. Once the algea died off I increased the light cycle back to normal, no more algea. This also helped hugly with my briopsis (sp?) problem I had for a while.
I'm just curious with your PO4 that high do you have allot of nuisance algae my guess is perhaps not just because if you did a phosphate test would probably indicate low or no phosphate.
i have been run an ATS for awhile now and had not one incling of algae issues. I didn't even have to clean the glass but once a week but then all the sudden I'd say with in a three to four week period bam hair algae everywhere and the ATS just went nuts producing 2x what it normally does.
this was a sure sign of exes nutrients coming from something although my feeding and water change regimen had not changed. So first thing I do is test my TDS from my RODI. It shows zero. So I test a fresh batch of my salt mix and came up with elevated phosphates. One might think it was the salt I was using. Nope wasn't that either. Turns out the TDS meter was reading zero because my basement is too cold. I had never known that most TDS meters are so drastically effected by temp. I got a handheld TDS and brought a sample of RODI water to 72 degrees and it measured 5 ppm!.
so there it was. Do I have a point to this story? No not really sometimes I just like to babble.
i have been run an ATS for awhile now and had not one incling of algae issues. I didn't even have to clean the glass but once a week but then all the sudden I'd say with in a three to four week period bam hair algae everywhere and the ATS just went nuts producing 2x what it normally does.
this was a sure sign of exes nutrients coming from something although my feeding and water change regimen had not changed. So first thing I do is test my TDS from my RODI. It shows zero. So I test a fresh batch of my salt mix and came up with elevated phosphates. One might think it was the salt I was using. Nope wasn't that either. Turns out the TDS meter was reading zero because my basement is too cold. I had never known that most TDS meters are so drastically effected by temp. I got a handheld TDS and brought a sample of RODI water to 72 degrees and it measured 5 ppm!.
so there it was. Do I have a point to this story? No not really sometimes I just like to babble.
Very little algae in the display however I do get some in my fuge. I have a couple large tangs in the display so it is very possible they are helping to conceal the nutrient issue. I noticed a dramatic decrease in coraline growth which first tipped me off to the problem.
My nitrates have always been zero (however im suspicious of this number) don't know if that helps keep down the algea growth.
My nitrates have always been zero (however im suspicious of this number) don't know if that helps keep down the algea growth.
Most algae needs NO3 and PO4 to grow - at least small amounts of it. The anoxic bacteria in the sandbed can usually take care of nitrate, so I am not shocked that nitrates are very low, even with high PO4.
There is no real mystery to this. Just start swapping out your current sand with some new aragonite. Don't do too much at once. Don't feel like you have to get it all. The area in front and around the rock work is enough. Throttle your flow pumps back since new sand takes a while to "settle down." This is also a good time to change habits or introduce new equipment to make the new aragonite last longer... although you can just go back to doing what you did and just replace sand a bit sooner the next time.
The aragonite can also bond some metals, but if you use a high quality salt and fish food, then this is less of an issue IMO.
BTW - new tank syndrome can start to happen a lot sooner for people that use silica sand since silica won't bond to much, but does a good job of housing oxic and anoxic bacteria.
IMO, macro algae blooms coincide with water changes, or supplements, that replace likely-depleted iron in the system. Iron is very hard to keep up with very much macro at all.
There is no real mystery to this. Just start swapping out your current sand with some new aragonite. Don't do too much at once. Don't feel like you have to get it all. The area in front and around the rock work is enough. Throttle your flow pumps back since new sand takes a while to "settle down." This is also a good time to change habits or introduce new equipment to make the new aragonite last longer... although you can just go back to doing what you did and just replace sand a bit sooner the next time.
The aragonite can also bond some metals, but if you use a high quality salt and fish food, then this is less of an issue IMO.
BTW - new tank syndrome can start to happen a lot sooner for people that use silica sand since silica won't bond to much, but does a good job of housing oxic and anoxic bacteria.
IMO, macro algae blooms coincide with water changes, or supplements, that replace likely-depleted iron in the system. Iron is very hard to keep up with very much macro at all.
Not sure if this info can help anyone battling phosphate issues but I thought I would share.
A few months ago my phosphates grew to about 2ppm, my tank is several years old and I have never experienced such a problem. I started using GFO which would get it down to about .7ppm but it would shoot right back up within days.
I remembered I had an 18” moni shelf die around the same time the problems began. I had originally left it in the tank because it was a nice shelf and I figured it would just turn purple and look kind of cool. I decided to pull the dead skeleton out and placed it in new salt water. Two days later I tested the water with the pieces of monti in it and it read 2ppm. Seems to me the dead coral has to be releasing phosphates. Since removing the dead monti coral phosphate levels in my display have been very near zero.
Hopefully my mistake can help someone out there...
[attachment=64058:name]
A few months ago my phosphates grew to about 2ppm, my tank is several years old and I have never experienced such a problem. I started using GFO which would get it down to about .7ppm but it would shoot right back up within days.
I remembered I had an 18” moni shelf die around the same time the problems began. I had originally left it in the tank because it was a nice shelf and I figured it would just turn purple and look kind of cool. I decided to pull the dead skeleton out and placed it in new salt water. Two days later I tested the water with the pieces of monti in it and it read 2ppm. Seems to me the dead coral has to be releasing phosphates. Since removing the dead monti coral phosphate levels in my display have been very near zero.
Hopefully my mistake can help someone out there...
[attachment=64058:name]