Need Help with High Phosphates
 

I haveI been having water quality issues for awhile and I have finally got an R/O water system now. I have an 86 gallon tank with a hammer coral, frogspawn and a candy cane coral. They have not been doing well and I now have a reading of 1.0 for phosphates.
Other parameters are:
PH-8.1
KH-8
Ca-390
Mg-1300
NH4, Nitrite and Nitrates all 0
I just did a 23 gallon water change a few days ago and plan to do another 15 gallons on Tues. or should I do another big one again.
I strain all my frozen food to reduce phophates. I am sure that this is from the water I was using as my cartridge filter did not seem to be doing the trick lately because our water is so bad here.
In the short term I was wondering if any one has used the phosphate removers to get my number down and how safe they are or is there a better way of getting the numbers down so I don't lose my corals.
Leanne P

GFO is the safest and easiest way to help out IMO since you are already changing water.

There is a sponsor on the boards that sells it wholesale.
Or you can purchase it from a store under brand names like Rowaphos or Phosban.

I used Phosbuster Pro to knock my phosphates down (in addition to changing my ROWAphos). But! I dosed very conservatively: 1/4 dose or less, two days apart, and I watched my phosphate readings closely. It is one of those things that seems to trigger tank crashes when a whole dose is used at once: especially when a big reduction is required.

+1, use some GFO in a reactor or in the short term just in a sock. Perhaps start with a half dose. You may also want to test your RO water for phosphates, you may be surprised. I opted to add DI to my RO system. RHF wrote an article http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2012/3/chemistry on phosphate sources that suggests rinsing foods has negligible benefit. The rest of the article is pretty good too.


Dan

I am still kind of new to salt water so excuse my ignorance but what is GFO? I am sure it is something simple but I not figuring it out.
Leanne

Gfo- granular ferric oxide or phosphate remover.

It's also commonly known as rust. =)

I used pellets and grew chaeto in my sump before I started using a reactor.
I use all 3 now. phosphates might show up once in a while at 0.01.

Leanne, how are you testing phosphate and nitrate (which kits)? Which fish do you have in your tank? What type of skimmer do you use?

I find that a bit odd that you have 0 nitrates and 1.0 phosphates...seem strange.

Yeah I agree Daniella. I have a hard time believing there is "zero" nitrate with that much phosphate. That's why I'm questioning the testing method.