quick way to lower phosphates?
 

I recently started a 230 gallon tank. I had to use tap water for the first 170 gallons or so, and then was able to use LFS salt water for the remaining fill. I should have not used any tap and I realize this now.

Anyhow my levels are all within range except for phosphate, which is around .25 if I had to guess. The issue is the test kit I has shows color readings of 0 and then .25 with no color in between, so I'm not sure exactly the levels, but its higher than 0. I know this will dissipate over time and the diatom issue I'm having will go away, but I'm not really that patient. I do have an RO unit up and going now so I'm wondering if 25% water changes would help lower the phosphates or if there is an alternative method that might work as well.

Using the on the top ATS as sole filtration.

probably GFO would be your quickest phosphate reduction method

GFO, water changes, and cutting back on the feeding.

Yes - water changes will help now that you have an RODI system. +1 on the GFO...

You had better learn to be patient if you want to be successful...

Whatever you do, don’t do it to quickly. Take your time.
GFO and water changes are your best bet. You will have to change out the GFO pretty frequently until you are getting close to your desired PO4 leverl

Phosphates do not dissipate over time, in face they typically increase without any export method.

If your tank isn’t cycled yet then just wait until that’s done. If it is ****ed already and no corals then go ahead and use the gfo. However, gfo has its own issues so I would highly suggest some sort of natural nutrient export after the gfo.


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I tested the RO water for phosphates today and the levels were almost as high as the tank water based on the kit i have. I think before i do anything drastic I will buy a hannah phosphate meter. All the Diatoms have dissapeared almost overnight. Corals that were in the tank are doing fine and all other levels seems fine. I have about 40 gallons of RO water warming up to do a water change in the next couple days, i figure it cant hurt to displace the large amount of tap water with fresh RO but aside from that Im just going to wait until i get a better tester before i do anything else

^^^smart decisions... I wouldnt do anything

this is the meter you want. Hanna phosphorus 736. It's more precise and accurate at low levels...


https://hannainst.com/hi736-phosphorus-ulr.html

Thanks I hadn't pulled the trigger on it yet but most likely will tomorrow. Did a 30 gallon water change which is close to 10% and levels are pretty much the same 24 hours later. I did find a chart that says the salt I use is high in alk 13 and I'm at 15 and calcium 480 I read 520 and phosphates I can't remember but I'm sure they are high based on the salt. Salt I'm using is the reef crystals brand

I'll probably order a different brand of salt and do small 10% water changes over time to help lower the levels to what I'm reading other sps tank owners are at. I feel it is directly related to the salt I used to begin with

Your likely below .25 based on your view of the colour.
To me, that's not abnormal at all....I was there for a couple of months until the system stabilized.
I have seen numbers like 20-30 and sometimes people use an LC like agent green which can reduce phosphates by 1 ppm per day.
When my tank was young....after two months and the cycle....I carbon dosed rea sea no pox daily for 4 months....since then and for A year now....nitrate phosphate....0..

Water changes are almost useless to export large quantities of phosphates as most of the phosphate is bound to the calcium carbonate surfaces and not free floating in the water. You could change 100% of the water and the next day have the same exact tested number. Once they are under control and your bacterial colonies are strong regular water changes can help maintain them.

Definitely get the hanna 736 ulr phosphorus checker.

GFO is the best bet once you are in the tank but at this point like some others have said I wouldn't think too much about it if the tank was started recently. I would worry about keeping the tank stable and get into a regular maintenance routine. After that I would start investigating phosphates and dealing with them as you see fit. Sometimes it can take a long time to get them in check.

I got the wrong one, I ordered the 713.

The readings were .85ppm which is actually higher than I thought they were based off of the Api test kit.

Nitrates were at 0, ALK is at 12.5 ppm

My next thought was water changes but as you pointed out they might not help. So from here it seems the consensus is GFO. Anyone have a reactor they recommend so I don't buy junk?

I forgot to mention, I am running the dup bucket style ATS from inland aquatics, they are only 3 miles from me and the tank was one of their setups here locally. They have went out of business now but did give me a seed screen when I restarted the tank. The ATS is about half covered and currently growing GHS like wildfire.

At some point will this take care of my phosphate issue or is it going to take GFO to get it under control initially. Tank has been running around 6 weeks now.

hair algae on an algae reactor can reduce phosphate very quickly, but only to a point where it is limiting the algae's growth - it won't drop it below that point. For most people, that point is a healthy number, so it is OK.

The quickest method is probably LC dosing, but as others have mentioned, quick can be dangerous.

GFO is fine, too.

Many proponents of turf scrubbers will tell you to not use ANYTHING to reduce phosphate, as you'll be inhibiting the algae scrubber's growth and/or throwing nutrients out of balance. Algae scrubbers are great, but they can be finnicky in terms of interference with other nutrient control methods. Turf scrubbers target all the major nutrients but they need to be available in roughly the right proportions, if you're driving a single nutrient to zero (or close) through some other method, you'll ruin the performance of the scrubber.

That said, it is somewhat common for people to use (lower than normal) GFO or other phosphate control methods if phosphate is way out of control compared to other nutrients.

Which raises the question, what are your nitrate levels like?

The nitrates look to be between 0 and 5ppm