Phosphates and Carbon

Ok guys my phosphates were at 2.0ppm for awhile, I did a 50% water change recently and also changed my carbon pouch. I am using aquaclear activated carbon. I rinse it well until it rinses clear-no carbon residue. I do rinse it in tap water which may be my problem. I figured it wouldn't add that much phosphates to my system. The 50% water change should have brought it from 2 to 1, I can't imagine the rinsed carbon adding another 1ppm to the tank...any thoughts? Thanks.

 

The carbon and food you are adding could be the problem. The tap shouldn't add that much if fact it shouldn't be noticed. If you are feeding frozen rinse it before adding to the aquarium. If the problem still persists you will need to start using granulated ferric oxide.

 

thank you. I haven't added any food since the 50% water change. It's been 24 hrs. I thought that alone would bring it down dramatically. If not at least cut it in halve. I did a good vacuum of my sand as well. no, it's not a dsb, just maybe an inch to two in some places.... I think my carbon is leaching phosphates, that's the only factor I can come up with.

 

You use ro/di water correct?

 

Yes ro

 

If you are not deionizing the water then you could be adding phosphates.

 

Good call, I buy mine from the LFS. I will just pure RO water from the LFS. Be back shortly with my findings lol. I'm hoping that's it. Because that's an easy fix!

 

More bad news, you don't know how often they change their filtration and maintain their membrane.

 

Nope water is at 0ppm from the LFS. I also dropped some activated carbon into the test tube hoping that I would see blue trails as it sank. No. color is still yellow indicating no phosphates... hmmm. Guess I will Keep an eye on it.

 

when you started the tank did you possibly use tap? When I started my 55g I dumbly used all tap and switched over to RO/DI after about a month & a half. At that point I had already saturated my system with PO4 and it took a while to lower it to under zero. I run Chemi Pure Elite in my skimmer's media compartment and had run it in a reactor, both worked great.

I also started rinsing my frozen foods and feeding less, also helped.

Rinsing carbon under tap water shouldn't really have much if any effect on the PO4 levels. I rinse my Chemi Pure Elite under tap for a while and my readings stay good.