Dealing with Phosphates?

Pheeshes

Reefing newb
How do most of you deal with phosphates in your tanks? reactors or sponges or ? i was looking into getting ride of our algea and thought that getting rid of some of the phosphates would help alot and just wanted to know the best way to do it for my 75. thanks guys
 
Use ferric oxide in a phosphate reactor so you can have a much longer contact time.The sponges are practically useless so I've read,never use them.
 
we already us RO/DI water. i'm glad you mentioned the ViaAqua Poly-Reactor cause that's the one i was looking at. it's one of the cheapest i've found and i've seen good reviews on it. do you like it?
 
A reactor is a good, inexpensive investment for a phosphate problem. I bought the Kent model and in a very short time the phosphate readings went to zero.
 
we already us RO/DI water. i'm glad you mentioned the ViaAqua Poly-Reactor cause that's the one i was looking at. it's one of the cheapest i've found and i've seen good reviews on it. do you like it?
Yeah, it works great. I like it cause it came with all the hoses, connectors, valve and pump and was pretty much the same price as the Phosban reactor.
 
Dont forget about the competion that a macro algae can do for a phosphate problem

Yup! Macroalgae is cheap and it doesn't involve any chemicals or hardware. Put it under a light and the phosphates will disappear.
Cut it back once a month, shake the pods out of it a bit and toss it in the trash.
 
we've got a pretty big ball of cheato in our fuge so we are already rocking some macro algea. i think the reactor is our next step
 
So...
1. You either need to have macro algae or a phos. reactor??

2.is it better to have both??

3.if you have chaeto, do you always keep it in your fuge, or do you use to remove the phosphates and throw it away??
 
So...
1. You either need to have macro algae or a phos. reactor??

2.is it better to have both??

3.if you have chaeto, do you always keep it in your fuge, or do you use to remove the phosphates and throw it away??

  • Both i would say is better. they both help to keep phosphates down which in turn helps avoid nuisance algae.
  • always keep it in your refugium as your tank is always producing phosphates.
 
You can add a phosphate reactor to a brand new tank, but I wouldn't add chaeto for a couple months. Chaeto sometimes dies in new tanks.
 
RODI water, RODI Kalkwasser for all ATO water and no fish with my corals. As most people have fish, I recommend using no dry food, not flakes, pellets or freeze dried. Use only live food and good quality frozen foods. Thaw all frozen foods before use, and feed only the particles not the fluids. When phospahtes, despite your best efforts, are still a problem then use ferric hydroxide. I use Drs. Foster and Smiths store brand when needed, and only when needed. It is only a bandaid not a repair. If you do not fix the problem it will continue to come back. My only exception for this is when getting new rock and sand, then I use Ferric hydroxide constantly for 10 to 14 days.
 
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