Best way to lower phosphates?

[Jvesche20]

Currently I’m letting my tank fallow. I’m on my 5th week and I got till 72 days. Had ich and trying to get rid of it.

When I first started a while back I used tap water to fill up my tank knowing better. I had an insane amount of algae I’m my tank. Did some research and got an rodi unit. I had my rodi unit for quiet some time and didn’t change the filters. When I took all my tangs our of the tank the algae started to get bad. I tested the rodi water and it was testing for 0.5-1.0 for phosphates. This is when I got new filters and it’s now reading 0 phosphate in the rodi water. I had a small CUC that consisted of about 6 emeralds and 7-8 snails/hermits. I recently went to my LFS and got 11 more hermit crabs and a cleaner shrimp. Nothing seems to help. I’ve been getting an insane amount of hair algae. My tank is in the basement so no where near windows. I’m using rodi water with a 2±6 tds.

Now I had my lights sitting close to my tank surface so I decided to higher them from another reefer suggestion. I have ocean revive t247 I’ve been trying to increase the light that I’m using. I was currently at 25% blue and 6% white but I’ve bumped it up to 35% blue and 16% white. I added a refug to my sump Friday. I added a LED light with chaeto. I checked my test and it seems like my phosphates are roughly 0.5. I’m thinking the lights are increasing this because before I was testing at about .25 and the algae wasn’t as bad.

Now I did buy this rock back from a guy on Craigslist that was selling his tank and I managed to snag the rock. I’m not sure if the rock is the reason why I’m having problems or if it’s because I was running bad rodi water for a while. I’ve been feeding my tank pellets every day to keep the cycle going and to give my CUC some food.

I got a filter called poly filter and it turned brown in a few days. About to change it out to floss in the next few days.

Any help or suggestions would be great!

 

[JumboShrimp]

My suggestions. (1) Watch the BRS segment from their 52-Week series on media reactors, then (2) buy a BRS reactor and run PhosGuard. Mind you, this won’t get to the ‘root’ of your problem, but it will work. Best wishes! PS: for the price, might as well get a dual reactor; you never know when you might want to also run carbon, or believe it or not, even load one side with some filter floss to polish your water.

 

[Jvesche20]

My suggestions. (1) Watch the BRS segment from their 52-Week series on media reactors, then (2) buy a BRS reactor and run PhosGuard. Mind you, this won’t get to the ‘root’ of your problem, but it will work. Best wishes! PS: for the price, might as well get a dual reactor; you never know when you might want to also run carbon, or believe it or not, even load one side with some filter floss to polish your water.

Thank you Watched their vids and about to checkout on brs just wanted to know what exactly is the Carbon used for? I got what the GFO was used for but didn’t reslly underhand what the carbon is needed for.

 

[SPR1968]

This basically tells you about activated carbon which removes organic pollutants

https://www.redseafish.com/hardware/reef-spec-carbon/

I personally use it 24/7 in my own system

 

[mtraylor]

If you are going to run the reactors. I recommend running separate reactors for each media. Much easier to control.
Keep your RODI at zero TDS and use the GFO to get your levels around .04 to .1. That is where I keep mine.
Also make sure you keep your nutrient export working properly if you have a skimmer. You need a clean up crew as well.

 

[JumboShrimp]

As a ‘non-technical’ answer, think of activated carbon as a ‘magnet.’ It can ‘attract’ or ‘pull’ toxic organic substances (even odors) from the water. This can range from medications, to other things that are discoloring the water. Some people run it 24/7 in their display tank (as do I), others run it on an as-desired basis.

 

[Dr. Reef]

Lanthanum Chloride

 

[TX_Punisher]

Several options.

I prefer bio pellets which will also lower nitrates. But feeding less, water changes, good skimming, or a cheato reactor will also work.

 

[Jvesche20]

If you are going to run the reactors. I recommend running separate reactors for each media. Much easier to control.
Keep your RODI at zero TDS and use the GFO to get your levels around .04 to .1. That is where I keep mine.
Also make sure you keep your nutrient export working properly if you have a skimmer. You need a clean up crew as well.

I bought a double reactor before I saw this. Oops! When I changed my RODI filters I was still getting 4-8 tds maybe the tds meter I got sucks. I got a super cheap one off eBay

 

[JumboShrimp]

No problem. Let’s say you want to run PhosGuard in one side, and activated carbon pellets in the other. Just pack the PhosGuard a bit more loosely for a slight, gentle tumble, whereas the carbon gets packed to avoid tumbling— so it won’t grind down to powder. Label each side with a sticky (with a date), as the PhosGuard will likely last longer between changes.

 

[Super Fly]

I bought a double reactor before I saw this. Oops! When I changed my RODI filters I was still getting 4-8 tds maybe the tds meter I got sucks. I got a super cheap one off eBay

4-8 TDS is high for RODI, should be getting zero...when's last time the DI resin's were changed? These tend to wear out the fastest and need replacing every few months or even sooner (depending on ur water).

Since tank is fallow, u can do lights out for few days or even longer to kill most of algae. Like Jumboshrimp said, need to figure out the cause of algae or else it'll return. If the rocks that were acquired from CL seller who's tank wasn't maintained well, they may be releasing PO4 to your tank.

Also, 7-8 snails/hermits not enough CUC unless ur tank is very small, i.e. 10-15 gallons.

 

[mtraylor]

I bought a double reactor before I saw this. Oops! When I changed my RODI filters I was still getting 4-8 tds maybe the tds meter I got sucks. I got a super cheap one off eBay

Oh ok. No worries. I used to use the dual chamber one from BRS for a long time before I got tired of it LOL. It will work, but is hard to get one media happy and the other as happy. You will see what I'm talking about once you get yours. I recommend using it as long as it works for your needs especially since you got a great deal on it.

 

[Jvesche20]

Oh ok. No worries. I used to use the dual chamber one from BRS for a long time before I got tired of it LOL. It will work, but is hard to get one media happy and the other as happy. You will see what I'm talking about once you get yours. I recommend using it as long as it works for your needs especially since you got a great deal on it.

I got mine when the site was 15% off everything I believe. It was at like 2am on Tuesday so I kinda rushed because I didn't want the cyber Monday deal to cut off. I'm pretty sure it ended at 3 am so wanted to place the order asap.

GFO requires lower flow correct? I watched the BRStv episode on that and they said the same thing you said but didn't really understand

 

[Jvesche20]

4-8 TDS is high for RODI, should be getting zero...when's last time the DI resin's were changed? These tend to wear out the fastest and need replacing every few months or even sooner (depending on ur water).

Since tank is fallow, u can do lights out for few days or even longer to kill most of algae. Like Jumboshrimp said, need to figure out the cause of algae or else it'll return. If the rocks that were acquired from CL seller who's tank wasn't maintained well, they may be releasing PO4 to your tank.

Also, 7-8 snails/hermits not enough CUC unless ur tank is very small, i.e. 10-15 gallons.

I just changed it last month along with 3 other filters that are attached. I have corals in my tank will they be fine without the lights for a few days?

also I added about 11 more crabs so I have about 20 or so plus a cleaner shrimp. and 6 or so emeralds. my tank is 125 gal.

 

[Jvesche20]

If it is the rock how do I tell? What do I do to "fix" the rock so its no releasing PO4?

 

[mtraylor]

I got mine when the site was 15% off everything I believe. It was at like 2am on Tuesday so I kinda rushed because I didn't want the cyber Monday deal to cut off. I'm pretty sure it ended at 3 am so wanted to place the order asap.

GFO requires lower flow correct? I watched the BRStv episode on that and they said the same thing you said but didn't really understand

A slight tumble on the GFO, the carbon doesn't need to tumble. You will learn how much flow and media to get each chamber working right. They have a video on it as well.

 

[Super Fly]

I just changed it last month along with 3 other filters that are attached. I have corals in my tank will they be fine without the lights for a few days?

also I added about 11 more crabs so I have about 20 or so plus a cleaner shrimp. and 6 or so emeralds. my tank is 125 gal.

hmm, try changing the DI resin again and see what TDS u get bc u want 0, anytime TDS hits 1 I replace the DI resin.. Yes corals will be fine unless they are SPS, not sure how they'll handle lights out. Mine were all softies and survived lights out. Instead of crabs, I'd focus on adding more snails, Trochus do well w algae. Crabs eat detritus/left over food and not algae. Snails will eat algae, except for Nassarius which is meaty food.

Yellow or Kole tang, Foxface and lawnmower blenny are good algae eaters.

 

[Super Fly]

If it is the rock how do I tell? What do I do to "fix" the rock so its no releasing PO4?

do you recall if algae problem started after adding these rocks? If so, u can remove the rocks and put them in a brute w saltwater w heat, powerhead and run a GFO reactor?... Sorry I don't have much experience cleaning rocks that are full of PO4, perhaps others can chime in.

 

[Jvesche20]

hmm, try changing the DI resin again and see what TDS u get bc u want 0, anytime TDS hits 1 I replace the DI resin.. Yes corals will be fine unless they are SPS, not sure how they'll handle lights out. Mine were all softies and survived lights out. Instead of crabs, I'd focus on adding more snails, Trochus do well w algae. Crabs eat detritus/left over food and not algae. Snails will eat algae, except for Nassarius which is meaty food.

Yellow or Kole tang, Foxface and lawnmower blenny are good algae eaters.

Got a bunch of tanks and blennys. Letting my tank fallow currently so can’t add them again. I’m just going to save for a new rodi unit. Any suggestions? I’m using 4 stage aquatic life. It’s what my lfs had for sale. Costed me $100. Seems to be pretty garbage since I replaced 3 out of 4 canisters and that stuff still giving me high tds.

I have montipora so not sure if that’s gonna kill my monti. I also have mostly lps though

 

[Jvesche20]

do you recall if algae problem started after adding these rocks? If so, u can remove the rocks and put them in a brute w saltwater w heat, powerhead and run a GFO reactor?... Sorry I don't have much experience cleaning rocks that are full of PO4, perhaps others can chime in.

When I first started I didn’t know how long to leave the lights on for so I left them on 100% power for like 16 hrs a day and my hair algae was wack. Got it under control there was a little algae but my fangs and blenny did a good job. Then my fish got ich and it’s been crazy with hair algae ever since.