Need Help with High Phosphates

[LeanneP]

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

[FitoPharmer]

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.

[Enigma]

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.

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by FitoPharmer

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 dont think phosban is gfo is it??? i thought it was aluminun based??

[FitoPharmer]

Originally Posted by reefwars

i dont think phosban is gfo is it??? i thought it was aluminun based??

I thought it was just the brand name Two Little Fish co. sold their GFO under.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...fm?pcatid=8996

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by FitoPharmer

I thought it was just the brand name Two Little Fish co. sold their GFO under.
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...fm?pcatid=8996

i guess they changed it ,its been years since i used phosban and it use to be aluminum based but looking at that says they changed to ferric oxide(iron)??

[reefwars]

which is good because the aluminum based stuff was ....well....CRAP lol it had the potential to leach back once full.....glad to see they came to their senses

[FitoPharmer]

Personally I have only used Rowaphos and bulk GFO.

[FragIt Dan]

Originally Posted by Enigma

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

[LeanneP]

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