General care/phos increase/potential changes??? Opinions?

[Sdeluca10]

I know this had been brought up previously.. just looking to see opinions on my situation. Maybe someone knowledgeable about the subject hasn’t engaged yet.

Question is about phosphates. I am able to keep all other parameters in check. Tested tonight as follows

Calcium 438

Mag 1360

Nitrate 3.0

Alk 9.4

Phos 0.77



I have an oversized protein skimmer that works very well.

I change filter socks and other mechanical media every 3-5 days.

I don’t have reactors. (Cost gets in the way).

My sump isn’t setup with a spot for biological filtration. I have tried certain medias in cheese cloth and other housings directly in the sump but never saw a difference.

I feed mostly a variety frozen cubes with filters/pumps turned off while feeding and try to administer over time for minimal waste. Occasionally I’ll sprinkle some flakes to bring the fish out and give them a treat.

I guess I’m looking for opinions. At this time the budget isn’t gonna allow me to go out and buy any GFO reactors or anything like that. And the sump space is limited. It’s a 150 gallon tank with 60 gallon sump.

Brightwell phosphate Eliminator works wonders and i keep tank in check when using its However it’s expensive and if I go a month or 2 without it, I’m right back to having elevated phosphate problems with nuisance algae increasing over that time.

I have a refugium with healthy amount of chaeto and copepods I can literally see moving all around.

I feed no more than twice a day and do to working 24 hour shifts I never feed more than 5 days and week. And some of those days I only feed once. For reference, 2 weeks ago my levels were 0.13

I ran out of solution and have been noticing the increase since.

Once a week I’ll syringe feed reef roids.

I just don’t know what I’m doing that’s creating a rapid increase in phosphates.

Additionally, what do you consider unhealthy phosphate levels in a reef tank.

**I will add that I have been experiencing a minor red algae bloom. I have been using various tools to blow and brush all nuisance algae off the rocks.

Everything was going VERY well but the last month or so I’ve been struggling. I have the phos X on order and hoping that will bring me back to desired level and reduction of nuisance algae.

Question is:
Where do I focus to eliminate/reduce the manmade problem of phosphate increase without starving the fish and having them (specifically the tangs) fighting each other due to hunger.

I have an underwhelming amount of inverts. I do have shrimps and crabs and snails but prob not what my size tank would “prefer”. How much of a difference will additional, crabs, snails, ect make?

Where should my focus be??

 

[afboundguy]

With the 0.77 phosphate levels are you normally seeing nuisance algae? I know you said you're seeing a little bit of red (assuming cyano) right now but is that an issue all the time? If you constantly have 0.77 and tank looks great all the time I don't see an issue and I chase how the tank looks more than numbers personally.

Are you running your refugium on a reverse lighting schedule? How long do you run your DT lights?

I do think an adequate CUC would help eliminate excessive food before it decomposes.

I am a big fan of dosing phytoplankton for a variety of reasons and I dose heavily (400-450 ml daily in 60-65 gallon system with lots of NPS) and I have noticed an added benefit is significantly lower nutrients. It's almost too low and causing issues. In theory the live phytoplankton uses up the nutrients in the tank so they can't be used to fuel any nuisance

 

[afboundguy]

Also how long has tank been set up and fully cycled?

 

[BiGGiePauls33]

Skip the reef roids as they do elevate you po4 and a lot of flake has a good amount of po4 in it as well. I have a 240 gallon total water volume and used to struggle with high no3 and po4 but have since stopped feeding as much and introduced phyto dosing daily and the numbers have dropped significantly.

 

[dz6t]

What brands of frozen food are you feeding.
Frozen food can be the primary source of phosphate.
Just like the previous posts said, if your tank looks fine, I would not worry about it.

 

[Sdeluca10]

With the 0.77 phosphate levels are you normally seeing nuisance algae? I know you said you're seeing a little bit of red (assuming cyano) right now but is that an issue all the time? If you constantly have 0.77 and tank looks great all the time I don't see an issue and I chase how the tank looks more than numbers personally.

Are you running your refugium on a reverse lighting schedule? How long do you run your DT lights?

I do think an adequate CUC would help eliminate excessive food before it decomposes.

I am a big fan of dosing phytoplankton for a variety of reasons and I dose heavily (400-450 ml daily in 60-65 gallon system with lots of NPS) and I have noticed an added benefit is significantly lower nutrients. It's almost too low and causing issues. In theory the live phytoplankton uses up the nutrients in the tank so they can't be used to fuel any nuisance

The tank has been running for maybe three years now. When the phosphate is low I see very little to almost nothing of nuisance algae. That’s why I’m kinda attributing what I’m seeing now to the increase phos levels.
My DT lights ramp up and down from 10 to 10 and yes, my refuge lighting is on a reverse schedule.
I use hikari frozen food.
Sounds like I should look into regularly dosing phyto

 

[afboundguy]

The tank has been running for maybe three years now. When the phosphate is low I see very little to almost nothing of nuisance algae. That’s why I’m kinda attributing what I’m seeing now to the increase phos levels.
My DT lights ramp up and down from 10 to 10 and yes, my refuge lighting is on a reverse schedule.
I use hikari frozen food.
Sounds like I should look into regularly dosing phyto

I would also suggest shortening light schedule to see if that helps with nuisance algae. I only run 8 hours with about 30 mins of ramp up/down time on each end for about 9 total.

 

[Reefried]

I would definitely stop the reef roids. How many fish do you have? How many cubes per day are you feeding? Phosphate is almost entirely based on food you add to the tank.

 

[Sdeluca10]

I would definitely stop the reef roids. How many fish do you have? How many cubes per day are you feeding? Phosphate is almost entirely based on food you add to the tank.

I have a lot of fish. 4 tangs, foxface, anthias, gobies, firefish, mandarin, wrasses…
I dissolve 4 cubes and feed sparingly over about 20 mins with pumps turned off. Doesn’t appear there is much waste. I’ve discontinued feeding flakes for now. Phos X is working to keep levels down while I figure out what I have to do to adjust my own habits. I just don’t want my tangs to start fighting due to inadequate amount of food.
My next purchase with be a revamp of my cleanup crew.

 

[Reefried]

I have a lot of fish. 4 tangs, foxface, anthias, gobies, firefish, mandarin, wrasses…
I dissolve 4 cubes and feed sparingly over about 20 mins with pumps turned off. Doesn’t appear there is much waste. I’ve discontinued feeding flakes for now. Phos X is working to keep levels down while I figure out what I have to do to adjust my own habits. I just don’t want my tangs to start fighting due to inadequate amount of food.
My next purchase with be a revamp of my cleanup crew.

So how many fish total? If you want your phosphate levels to drop I would definitely stop reef roids, and feed less. Maybe also consider straining out your frozen cubes. I have 16 fish, and feed two cubes every other day, and I feed one cube, nori, and some pellets on the off day.

 

[Cpage101]

I have a lot of fish. 4 tangs, foxface, anthias, gobies, firefish, mandarin, wrasses…
I dissolve 4 cubes and feed sparingly over about 20 mins with pumps turned off. Doesn’t appear there is much waste. I’ve discontinued feeding flakes for now. Phos X is working to keep levels down while I figure out what I have to do to adjust my own habits. I just don’t want my tangs to start fighting due to inadequate amount of food.
My next purchase with be a revamp of my cleanup crew.

Using a little phosphate Rx will easily bring that down. You probably have some phosphate bound up in your rock too. I have gone from 2.5 ppm now at .41 ppm in 2 months time. Like others have said if everything looks good don’t sweat it.