Help! Phosphates won’t go down!

[iwnltom]

My tank is 350 litre and about a year old. I’ve never had problems with phosphates in the past, but as of recently in the last month they just won’t seem to go down. I bought a TDS meter for my RODI and it’s at 0, and even then I switched them all out to be sure. I’m dosing rowa in a reactor and use a good amount, I’m switching it every week but it won’t go below .1 ppm. Idk why this is happening, and I’m going through ROWA like there is no tmr. My tank looks very healthy and I have no signs of algae, my nitrates are at 1, my other parameters are all good. Not sure what to do from here.

 

[Spare time]

Are you sure the test kit isn't giving an error?

 

[iwnltom]

Are you sure the test kit isn't giving an error

Well it’s worked in the past, and I always do multiple tests and it’s always the same if Not very very close

 

[iwnltom]

Are you sure the test kit isn't giving an error?

Im
Honestly thinking I’m gonna need a second reactor for rowa.

 

[Subsea]

I would be more concerned with a low nitrate reading of 1ppm.

 

[CasperOe]

What test kit are you using?

Remember; phosphate goes up for a reason! Excess nutrients in your tank comes from what you add, it doesn't just appear out of the blue!

If you're struggling with high phosphates, you either need to adjust on your input of nutrition or up your filtration accordingly. The easiest way is to address it at the source.

Also; remember that excess use of Rowaphos will raise your iron levels somewhat so keep that in mind!

 

[Subsea]

I don’t see .1ppm of phosphate as excessive high, I do see 1ppm of nitrate as TOO low.

It would be difficult to have too much iron in a marine tank.

“My tank looks very healthy and I have no signs of algae, my nitrates are at 1, my other parameters are all good. Not sure what to do from here.“

Instead of chasing numbers, trust the bioindicators in your tank.

Keep up the progress, your tank looks very nice.

 

[Dburr1014]

Nothing wrong with 0.1 po4
Frankly, nothing wrong with 1.0 no3 either.
You could dose no3 and then carbon dose... But I don't see the need here.
Tank looks great BTW.

 

[mtraylor]

Why are you chasing a phosphate phantom when your tank looks fine? As others have said .1 is fine. In my old tank I tried to keep around .05 to .1 p hosphates and my nitrates were around 20ppm.

My current tank runs around 14 nitrates and not really detectable phosphates to like .02.

I think you are good at .1 but sounds like test kit is bad since you are running gfo with no change. Be careful before you actually cause a problem with your chasing

Nitrates are low at 1ppm. I agree. Keep an eye on them and just make sure they don't drop out on you which can cause major issues. I b would get some new test kits and test everything

 

[Nano_Man]

Hi your corals look happy every tank runs different. I only test if I see a problem if everything looks happy don’t change it there happy. Regular water changes and that’s it for me . Keep a eye on your nitrate and phosphate don’t bottom out because that will give you a problem. Your phosphate reading if everything looks good I would be happy with that in my own tank and I would have nitrate 10 to 20

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

IMO, there’s no reason to assume any error, although there always may be.

Phosphate can rise or fall or be steady when using GFO. It all depends on the relative inputs and exports.

 

[Seansea]

Ya .1 is not a big deal. Mine right now is .25 down from .6. Everything looks happy so im not worried.

I dont bother with gfo anymore. When i would add it to my tank the corals would react negatve. I switched to lanthunum and its way better imo. I use tropic marin ephos and when it gets to a number i just cant live with i give it dose in my sump before the filter socks and skimmer. I half dose it over a couple weeks and see no negative effects. Brings phos right down.

 

[exnisstech]

Tank looks good. I say roll with it.
My oldest tank (8yo) had po4 0.5 last week when I tested. Everything is thriving so I just plug away. I have 3 tanks running and it seems like each one eventually settles in with parameters different for each. In addition to the tank above one had po4 of 0.1 and another 0.04. If anything the tank with po4 of 0.5 looks better than the others but it is an older tank and I'm of the belief that maturity helps with stability and stability leads to a nice happy tank but only if the tanks are allowed to mature with the least amount of intervention from me. I will dose no3 and po4 in one tank if it gets too low but rarely have I had to take action because levels are too high.

 

[kevgib67]

I would consider.1 phosphates in the normal range. My tank has been running over two years with nitrates about 15 and phosphates.1. Sometimes higher but never lower. As stated before, I would be more concerned or at least monitoring closely, your nitrates. If I tested and my nitrates were that low I would have a panic attack.

 

[Dburr1014]

If I tested and my nitrates were that low I would have a panic attack.

Oh?

 

[Nano_Man]

Oh?

Do you dose is your tank stocked well with coral

 

[kevgib67]

@Dburr1014 see, you just gave me a panic attack!

 

[iwnltom]

Why are you chasing a phosphate phantom when your tank looks fine? As others have said .1 is fine. In my old tank I tried to keep around .05 to .1 p hosphates and my nitrates were around 20ppm.

My current tank runs around 14 nitrates and not really detectable phosphates to like .02.

I think you are good at .1 but sounds like test kit is bad since you are running gfo with no change. Be careful before you actually cause a problem with your chasing

Nitrates are low at 1ppm. I agree. Keep an eye on them and just make sure they don't drop out on you which can cause major issues. I b would get some new test kits and test everything

They are running at 8.2 no, much better. My skimmer is broken tho, ****** Red Sea, every water change just stops it from working

 

[iwnltom]

I would consider.1 phosphates in the normal range. My tank has been running over two years with nitrates about 15 and phosphates.1. Sometimes higher but never lower. As stated before, I would be more concerned or at least monitoring closely, your nitrates. If I tested and my nitrates were that low I would have a panic attack.

Yeah they r running at 8.6 now everytbjng good, probably because my skimmer is busted

 

[Dburr1014]

Do you dose is your tank stocked well with coral

No dosing.
Packed!