Phosphate

[mojoreef]

Jon. Most all test kits just test for Inorganic P. as Nikki mentioned Saliferts kit is very reliable. When using it you have to take this statement into concideration. "when you test for P with a IP test kit and get a level ready on it, It is telling you that your tank is so saturated with organic Phosphates that they can not bind any more and thus Inorganic P is still available".
On the P sponges, again as NIkki said thier are two types ferric oxide and alluminium oxide. Alot of folks have posted problems when using the alluminium based ones. the problems are with bad and/or negative effects with thier soft corals. In the realm of products made with ferric oxide, thier are several brands on the market. The two most popular brands are rowaphos and phosban. they way they work is that x ammount of media will remove Y amount of IP for z amount of water. In a scientific test it was shown that Rowas product removed 5 times more IP from a set ammount of water then did Phosban, so keep that kind of stuff in mind when purchasing.


Hope it helps.

Mike

 

[flowerseller]

I have a DSB that is 3.5-4" deep and 7.5 years old in this new house.
I've had the sand and even added to it when I moved, since 1989.
I have no algae problems and like Jon have no test kit for PO4 so don't know what it's at.
I use a DIY kalkreactor and skim with a DIY ETS.
I do not use PO4 removers or carbon.
The surface of the tank water is very turbulent (this side of white caps) and the sump surface is rippling. Opportunity for gas exchange is the reason behind this and my belief why no algae.

 

[bc_slc]

few questions and points:
1) If crushed calcium/aroganite is used in a calcium reactor, then when we intentionally lower the pH to draw out the calcium, are we also releasing all the stored phosphate? Is this another source?
2) My read of the literature on the new Phosphate sponges is that aluminum can definitely be detrimental to some corals and thus the Iron based sponges are now preferred. However, when equivalently dosed (important since one is based on ml and one is based on mg), the rowaphos and phosban performed similarly. Also, the phosban could be used to treat about 3x as much for a similar price.

 

[mojoreef]

1) If crushed calcium/aroganite is used in a calcium reactor, then when we intentionally lower the pH to draw out the calcium, are we also releasing all the stored phosphate? Is this another source?

It is BC. Thier are some that are true no P, but the balance have the P locked into the substraight. The worst is CC as it has alot of snail and other types of shells, these are loaded even more with P.


Flowerseller congrates a 7 year old DSB is a definate sucess story



Mike

 

[WildReef]

I recently got the rowaphos and I am trying it out. I used to use the phosban. I feed so much food I think the ash content in the food is what is driving my phosphates off the scale.

Even with really high flow (overkill amount of flow) I see cyano in places, and in the sump. I bought a herd (30) fighting conch, but they aren't making a dent.

Does anyone know where to get the rowaphos cheap? I paid like $50 for a liter???

 

[MikeS]

Why do you feed so much?

 

[WildReef]

64 fish in one 700 tank. 20 of which are anthias.

 

[MikeS]

ahhh....I see....
what do you feed them?

wow...this could a tough one....controlling phosphate in a tank that large with that kind of bioload presents all kinds of logistical problems....water changes are impractical for that volume of tank...cutting back on feeding may help but with a bioload that size there will still undoubtedly be substantial phosphate in the system, phosphate removers (as you stated) are expensive...hmmmm....

MikeS

 

[mojoreef]

Wildreef Rowaphos is what I call a nitch product. As it only absorbs inorganic P that happens to flow past it, its not going to be the only thing you will have to do to fight the battle with P. It WILL however take up free Inorganic and in your case I would say its something you really want to explore.

What do you feed and how much??


Mike

 

[WildReef]

Feeding Large Tangs

Well, I feed 3 sheets of Nori twice a day, and once a day I feed a few large pinches of Omega One Flake, that I combined myself of their meaty flake food and the seaweed flakes.

I think I got the cyano from feeding this other inferior food, which I have ditched, I never had this problem before when I fed Omega One, and I basically had the same bioload on a smaller system.

I had two tanks, a 165 in wall, and a 188 Acrylic, tied together with a 100 gallon sump full of macro.

I am trying to get the macro volume back up as some died off when we had set up the 700, found it leaked then had to move everything to the sumps and emergency holding tanks (a 135 and 75) that were all flowing through the 300 gallon sumps for the 700.

I think once I get 300 gallons of macro going again I will rock. Oh, yeah, we have 1500 lbs of live rock in the system and it is BB.

When we first set up the system we had like a 10" DSB, but when we found the leak we needed to remove the DSB to fix the leak. The DSB was not working like we wanted it to, we had a pipe system along the bottom of the DSB that was punctured with holes all through it and wrapped in cheeze cloth. On top of that was river pepples, then on top of that, crushed coral, then the Florida South Down Sand.

We found that the southdown was so fine it filtered through all those sublayers and clogged the piping system designed to drain the DSB. So this Plenum/DSB setup did not really work for us. I am not saying all DSBs will not work, just that this one did not, due to the fine grade of the sand we used. That was a god awful smell I hope never to smell again, and that is after 1 month.

We now have two closed loops with two HammerHeads pushing 3 pinductors (eductors) each increasing the flow in the tank to well over 30,000 GPH inside the tank, so sand is not an option (LOL). We have as of yet to hook up the Ocean's Motions Wave Maker. Right now we are just piping the return into the tank, so we are getting 5,000 GPH turn over on the system.

We also are running two skimmers at the moment an ASM G6 and an ASM G5. I am hoping this alleviates some of the inorganic wastes that the tangs are making in the tank. But hey it has only been a week, since we set it up, so....

As of last night the brown diatoms are turning to green diatoms, and I am starting to see coraline growth again. I did replace all the bulbs from my Metal Halides, so I think that was causing the brown diatoms. We had six 400 watt Metal Halides over our two old tanks and just moved all six to the new tank. When one bulb burnt out we noticed how different in color the new bulb was in comararison to all the old ones and freaked, buying all new bulbs.

The cyano only seems to be attacking a few of my favorite corals so far, but I have been cyphioning it off them with a turkey baster, and doing my durndest to keep everyone happy. So far none of the corals are looking bad. But the cyano seems to be collecting in the fuges, so I am going to add some flow down there with a few fighting conch.

 

[Scooterman]

Well, reviving this thread, anyone have Phosphate test kits? How are you dealing with Phosphates these days?

 

[Ed Hahn]

First I want to say thanks for the good memories.

I have learned how important filtered water or multi filtered water is. I measure TDS. I am also reading more before I buy frozen foods. I rinse before mixing or melting frozen foods with filtered water. I try to add things and that I test for one at a time, I mean no fix all dosing. I feed and as I feed I monitor my fish. I try to remove anything that will decay as soon as possible. A simple no brainer is doing a water change with purest filtered water letting it mix properly to balanced designed PH. Let that gas exchange happen. I do have a Phosphate test kit. I just never used it except for a food demonstration.