High phosphates - a couple of questions please.

Hello to All,

I got a bit of a shock earlier when I took my water in to the LFS to be tested on their Hanna unit and my phosphate reading was close to .5 UGH.
Everything else tested fine.

I have had my new T5 lights up and running now for almost two weeks.
Had a couple of snails die in rock crevices and didnt find them til i did a huge cleaning and water change etc on Wed night. The smell was awful when i removed them.

That said, since the lights were finally installed i had noticed GHA starting to show on my tank glass in little separate filaments. That alerted me that something was off. I had also figured it was because of the lighting being so much better.

I can definitely be faulted for overfeeding now and then. I currently use Rod's food and Ocean Nutrition flakes / alternated etc. I had NOT been rinsing the Rod's food once it was thawed.

This most recent cleaning and water change was about 6 gallons (my tank is a 29 gallon) and i had dismantled my HOB skimmer etc and took a toothbrush to my Koralias etc. Turkey-bastered the rocks etc etc... I do this thorough cleaning about 3-4 weeks apart. The water changes are weekly with a light vaccuuming / rock blowing.

For the record, this was my first water change using Oceanic salt. It has gotten a lot of positive feedback on the forums so i decided to switch over to it from Reef Crystals.

I use RO/DI water purchased from my LFS. I always use the same container - they refill it for me.

The action I took so far:

Picked up some Pura Phosphate eliminator and slipped a little bag of it in the return chamber of the skimmer along with a small bag of charcoal.

I dont have a sump / refugium etc. - but i did place a ball of chaeto in a fine stretchable clear mesh bag and have that floating in the tank as well.

I will cut the lighting down considerably and will feed every other day and try rinsing the thawed food.

Questions:

1. Was that the right thing to do with the two bags of media?

2. Regarding water changes in order to try to reduce the phosphate reading considering its so high - how often and how much? can it / should it be daily until i get this situation under control?

3. What else can i / should i do ?

Thanks to all for your comments. I feel terrible about this - but need to accept it and deal with it while considering it a good learning experience.

Just want to be sure i am on the right course of action.

Many thanks in advance.

 

if you dont have a sump or anything then yes putting the media bags in the return line of the skimmer will work out, thats what i do it took a little while for my readings to go down but it definitely works. as far as the WC go i would just do what you have been doing, the phosphate media should do the rest

 

I prefer reef crystals.Make sure you rinse your media in ro/di water especially phos media.The dust from it can kill corals quick.

 

you may also want to test the new water from the lfs, the RO unit may need some maint. I would assume they would be cool about testing their water for you.

 

Thanks to all who responded. It is much appreciated. I have a feeling that my course of action is the right one. Now it becomes a matter of how long it will take for the number to go down.

I appreciate you advice and feedback!

 

A phosphate reactor will all but eliminate phosphate from the tank. A small hang on like this will work; ViaAqua Poly-Reactor Multi-Media Reactor

 

awesome suggestion this will be a good and worthy investment. Looks really versatile.

thank you

 

oh....while we are on the topic - overfeeding leads to detritus.
I thought detritus was a Nitrate producer - is it related to spikes in phosphates as well?

Just making sure i understand that relationship.

thanks again

 

Sort of, the phoshate is from the digested food and urine of the inhabitants of the tank. Phosphate would be more compared to a metobolic waste ase compared to a degrading waste (as with detritus). Here is the first definition as reguarding phosphate;
" a salt or ester of a phosphoric acid (2) : the trivalent anion PO43− derived from phosphoric acid H3PO4 b : an organic compound of phosphoric acid in which the acid group is bound to nitrogen or a carboxyl group in a way that permits useful energy to be released (as in metabolism)."

 

Well, brief update, had the water retested on the LFS's Hanna last evening and the phosphates are down by .03 in the course of 4 days.

Wish it would drop a bit faster. Tonight is another water change.

Does anyone have some spare patience they can offer up?