getting rid of phosphate

[chrisritson]

could someone recomend a good phosphate filter pad or some other relatively simple way of getting rid of phosphate. i know i need a bit, but i have too much. my top of water contains none and i dont really know how it got in my tank. thanks a lot

 

[hippocrazy]

I had the same problem awhile back and had an awful green hair outbreak.Anyway what I used was phosguard by seachem and within a week my phos was back to normal and almost all of my hair is gone.Ive tried the pads and other brands of filter media and nothing compared to the phosguard. I hope that helps

 

[Ben B.]

I've had really good results with the red slime pads from Tropical Science. Drawback is they're a one shot deal (you get two pads: use one for 24 hours and then the second for 48 more). If you need one that can be left in the system longer term, try the Polyfilter pads.

If you're running a constant level of phosphate without any in your source water, chances are it's from your foods or additives.

 

[danmhippo]

Either the phosguard, absorption pads, or other chemical/biological additivers, none of the above is a match for something a bit old fashioned but always fool proof.............................Good Old RO/DI water change.

 

[AnotherGoldenTeapot]

Phosguard is the quick solution.

You must wash it free of all dust otherwise some soft corals (especially leathers) will close up for a few days due to irritation. Properly washed it will have no negative effect on corals.

 

[mweber]

Add a refugium with caulerpa and plant growth lights. The hair will grow in the refugium untill the caulerpa takes off. Some hair may still grow in the main tank but not as fast. Keep a couple of tangs to eat it as fast as it grows. Preferably yellow and Kole yellow eye.

 

[reefhope]

I've had good results using PhosGuard as mentioned but one thing wasn't addressed. PhosGuard will remove inorganic phosphates (such as that in tapwater or unfiltered water) but it will not remove organic phosphates (such as those resulting from unused nutrients in your tank,i.e. overfeeding).

You should try to balance out nutrient import/export. Growing macro (perhaps 24/7 in a sump), using cleaner crew to remove uneaten food in the tank, DSB for nitrate conversion...Just some examples. Otherwise you will Always be battling the buildup of nutrients. If hair algea or red slime is using the nutrients up as they are being manufactured you may not even get registered reading with your test kits. Just my 2cents...

 

[jdvalero]

Damn that's a lot Hippos in one thread.

 

[danmhippo]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by jdvalero:
<strong>Damn that's a lot Hippos in one thread.

</strong><hr></blockquote>

damnhippo?

 

[bowfront]

<blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by AnotherGoldenTeapot:
<strong>Phosguard is the quick solution.

You must wash it free of all dust otherwise some soft corals (especially leathers) will close up for a few days due to irritation. Properly washed it will have no negative effect on corals.</strong><hr></blockquote>

That's not been my experience. The last time I tried Phosguard it closed up all of the leathers in the tank (about a dozen) for several weeks. This was after running it for only one day. I believe it cotains Aluminum Oxide which I understand can actually cause death to some leathers due to aluminum poisioning. If your tank is devoid of leather coral the product does remove phosphate (at least temporarily).

 

[afss]

From what I have heard and experienced I have to agree with bowfront. Aluminum oxidex doesn't make for happy leathers. Doesn't seem to bother the other corals, but leathers really hate it.. IMO anyway.
Scott
_________________
og kush strain

 

[Hippocampus]

I wish that macroalgae would take care of it -- I have a plethora of caulerpa that was daily covered with new hair algae. My problem is necesary overfeeding of my seahorses -- the aren't very aggressive eaters and the other fish in the tank would steal the food before it reached them. I essentially have to feed twice as much as the fish end up consuming. Oddly enough, I have zero nitrate in the tank but phosphate shot through the roof.

I was able to make a huge dent in my hair algae in less than a week using the following regimen:

I vaccuumed out all the hair algae I could get.
I've run carbon and Green-X (phosphate remover).
I've changed 20% of the water every day.
I've reduced my photoperiod to 6 hours per day (temporarily only).
I added four mithrax (emerald crabs).
I added Seachem Reef Builder and Reef Advantage to jump-start my coralline growth.

Green-X is a product by Hagen -- not to be confused with Greenex the ich medication that will wreak havoc on a reef.

I'm not sure if any one of these played the biggest role, just that after three days, there was a noticable reduction and it was down to about 10% of the original amount within a week.

Donna

 

[Ben1]

Off the topic

eereefer, be sure to watch the leather doesnt stay slumped at all and stands up as full as before, other wise it might be suffering from an internal infection and be rotting where you cant see it. IMO the best solution to this is to split the leather, clean off the damaged tissue and cut area get good current untill it heals.

About P02 the best way IMO to reduce it is through regular RO/DI water changes, a proper amount of algea grazers, and if you have no reactor dripping kalk perticipare some P02.
HTH

 

[EEreefer]

Purely anecdotal, but, I used Phosguard for a couple of days, a month ago. Almost to the day my xx-large toadstool leather closed up. It allowed itself to be covered completly with algaes and began to shrivel. Thought it was dying for sure. Not for the leather, but for other reasons, I've done multiple 30 gallon water changes and several carbon changes over the same time period. Only yesterday, for the first time in that month, I began seeing some slight polyp protrusion and the leather has a good slough going and most of the agae is gone. It's about 2/3 it's previous size now

. Without knowing the actual cause, after reading a few posts about Phosguard and leather irritation I feel this may have some merit. JME. HTH.

 

[nm]

I am currently using phosguard and I do hane leather coral. The leathers did not seem overly irritated. The instruction did say to use small quantities rather than large amount. I've been fighting diatom for months, I decided to use phosguard to reduce phosphates and silicates. It worked, it took about a week. I think the use of small amounts are important. check there website www.seachem.com

 

[AnotherGoldenTeapot]

if you have any leather close up then you have fine particules of the dust cirulating in the tank. That means you did not wash the resin properly.

You can't blame the product if you didn't follow the instructions.

 

[drtango]

Monolith Marine Monsters has a phosphate lowering additive that works great--increases phosphate export via the skimmer. I have had great results with the product (called PO4-)