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View Full Version : How long will phosphates leach from rocks and sand?


JMartin104
06/07/2011, 12:40 PM
I know this is a tough question. But I've been battling P04 issues since my tank was setup (July 2010). It' hovers around .14. I've added Chaeto, GFO and skimmer but it does not seem to take it down to 0.

My RODI comes out 0 for P04 and I feed lightly. I'm wondering if the rock were used in a tank that used tap water, would the rock absorb phoshates (which I think it does) and how long it would take to leach it out. I'm beginning to think I need to start over and get fresh, safe and trusted rock.

disc1
06/07/2011, 12:42 PM
It will continue to leech out until the concentration in the rock is less than the concentration in the water. The short answer is that there is no answer. It depends entirely on the particulars of the situation.

chuckdallas
06/07/2011, 01:16 PM
I just went through your phosphate hell. I didn't know to start removing phosphates early, so I went 2-3 months without worrying about it. I figured that since I didn't have any SPS'es, it wouldn't matter. After a couple of corals and 2 nems died early on int he first 6 months, I started reading more and more, since the LFS didn't explain the concept of phos to me and I hadn't grasped that concept from my readings here. I thought 0.1 was okay for LPS'es, a nem and some fish. I had an algae turf scrubber and the phos was staying around 0.1 to 0.2. I was cleaning that thing EVERY 7 days and it was a pain. I switched to a fuge with chaeto AND bought a solid media reactor (SMR) for some Warner Marine ECO-bak pellets. The bio-pellets take 4-6 weeks to become fully effective, so I was buying Rowaphos and Phosban every 2-3 days and still getting 0.1-0.12. I cut feedings in half (even though the wife bought 3 clumps of Sun Polyps) and started doing 5-10% water changes every DAY, as was suggested by Jonathan Bertoni here.

Well after about 6 weeks of chaeto in the fuge, the bio-pellets in the SMR, the GFO in the SMR and the 5-20% water changes every other day or so, I'm now down to 0.03 or less. Whew!! That was a tough 6 weeks and it doesn't stop there. I was using PE mysis shrimp ground up really fine to feed the Sun Polyps and that caused the phos to shoot up to 0.15 the next day. Here, in Fort Lauderdale & Pompano Brach, we have a company called Eco-Reef. They have this product called Phosphate Super Nuker (www.reefresults.com). The label says in 3 places not to overdose, so I called. They explained that people with our problem tend to dump a whole bottle in, which causes a whole set of other issues. They told me to dose a capful (10 ml) for each 50 gallons. I have a 120 gallon DT and a 25 gallon sump, so I used 10 ml (lower than recommended) in the afternoon for 2-3 days. Didn't see very much downward movement (lowering) in phos, so I switched to 10 ml in the morning and 10 ml in the afternoon for 3-4 days and the phos went back down to 0.03 or less. I only use it now if I get a small spike after a good feeding (now only 2-3 days a week). Yesterday, I had a spike to 0.2. I'm not sure if if was an errant reading because I didn't re-test right away, so I used 10 ml of the Super Nuker and then did a 15% water change. Did another test after the water change on the Hanna 736 meter and the phos was 0.03 (+ or - 0.02). I think that may have been a little too much too fast, but I didn't think the Super Nuker and water change would make that much of change. HTH. Larry and Kyle run their shop and they are nice guys, as far as I've seen. (No compensation for mentioning their product).

allsps40
06/07/2011, 01:21 PM
It takes time not real answer for this, it can take months. Do regular water changes, run GFO in a reactor and change it weekly as it will exhaust quickly, keep feedings light and make sure then the chaeto is growing well.

canrio
06/07/2011, 01:26 PM
I had the same problem so I added a phosban reactor my PO4 went from 2.0 to .5 in less than 24hrs. Now I'm wondering if I can mix carbon and phosban in the same reactor??

JMartin104
06/07/2011, 01:27 PM
It takes time not real answer for this, it can take months. Do regular water changes, run GFO in a reactor and change it weekly as it will exhaust quickly, keep feedings light and make sure then the chaeto is growing well.

And this is one of those things that stumps me. I got my chaeto the size of a golfball and after 4-5 months, it's barely the size of a grapefruit.

MilkWeed18
06/07/2011, 01:45 PM
What kind of light are you using for your refugium?

JMartin104
06/07/2011, 01:56 PM
What kind of light are you using for your refugium?

I had a Coralife 10k and thought it might have been too old. So I picked up a Coralife 10k in Nov 2010. I run reverse lighting and the 'fuge is lit about 10 hours.

milesofreefs
06/07/2011, 03:03 PM
+1 for chuck i live a couple blocks away from eco reef so ive been using there products from day one. super nuker works great for me and they also have this phos extract its a filter media i have a 29 gallon tank and the phos extract keeps my phos at 0 so far its been a little over a month and only 1/4 the bag has been used one bag can treat up to 250 or 300 gallons something like that but ive had straight 0 for over a month with only 1/4 a bag.

the way it works is you use the phos blast to lower your phos then when you getting readings of .05 or less you can add the extract bag to your sump/DT in a high flow area it it should keep your phos down for quite some time

but truth is completely getting rid of phos without some type of constant media is pretty much impossible seeing that you add phos at every feeding or any time you dos coral food or anything like that...