Phosphate

[gasman]

I have a 20g reef tank and haveing problems with phosphate. I have a trickel
filter and was wondering if I can use phosban in it after I take the carbon out
to reduce the phosphate. I have made 1 change I am feeding every other day insted of every day. I use formala 1 frozen food. I am fighting red slime algae and I belivr it is comeing from the phosphates. I am making water changes 10% every other week to try to reduce it. With system being so small dont want to use chem. to fight it. Please Help

 

[Bifferwine]

You can put the Phosban in a filter bag (or the end of some nylon panty hose) and put it wherever water will flow through it -- the inside of the filter works well, some protein skimmers have a place where it will fit. When I had phosphate problems I put it inside my canister filter instead of charcoal. So putting it in your trickle filter should be fine. You may have high nitrates too. Check those because that's an algae nightmare (I had a nitrate spike three months ago and am STILL battling the algae that resulted from it -- I can't seem to get my nitrates down to pre-accident levels no matter what I do). For red slime algae, try more circulation -- aiming a powerhead at the area.

 

[gasman]

I know that every thing else is good Amm. nits. are all 0 the only thing a little high was the phos. I test and will also let the lfs test to make sure my test match. The red slime might be coming from my lights I am trying to fix that now I work 7 on and 7 off when I work they stay on for about 16 hrs ( pc) when I am at home about 8 hrs maybe 9 total.

 

[animalwhisperer]

I would suggest getting a timer to put your lights on and checking nitrates. Algae loves light and leaving the lights on for extended periods will not help. You can put phosban anywhere with flow. A better way to fight algae is cutting out the source of the phosphates. Whether its from top-off water or water used in water changes. If you use buckets you can "pre-filter" the water with a whisper type filter, with phosban in it. Just hang the filter off the side of the bucket. Changing of the photo period will flip out anything including fish. I work 18hr shifts and my tank is better now due to the timer. If you use frozen food wash it. Fill the cup with tank water and the cube and then let that water sit and them empty just the water, and put in new from the tank. Hope this helps. Just a ? Full reef or fish only? Oh and Bifferwine I feel your pain with the nitrate spike problem. Same problem here, just takes time to get the levels to pre-spike levels.

 

[gasman]

It is a reef I have 1 coral taking time to get stock and want to make sure I know what I put in the tank. I have a chromis and a pepperment shrimp 18 turbo snails. I am trying to get the lights on timers now. The lights are about 10 months old. They are pc's. 10000 and antic. About 6 to 7 watts per gallon.
I do feed frozen which when I started to use it that is when I noticed the problem thinking about going back to flake food.:frustrat:

 

[Bifferwine]

You can still feed frozen food, just thaw it in water and then rinse it off before you feed it to the fish. I use one of those little strainers to rinse it.

 

[gasman]

The other problem that I am having with the frozen is it is not floating long enough my fish will not touch when it hits bottom. I am planing to get a red leg hermit and put in the tank to maybe help some.

 

[Ironman]

normally flake food is much worse on phosphates do to having high ash concentrations. If your having trouble try a different kind of frozen food (brand) I like hikari brand. also try and get some artic pods from reef nutrition or something like that. rinsing your frozen food will also be fine just alittle extra work. as for the phosban, when you say trickle filter would the pouch of phosban be submerged in water or just have water trickling over it? It would do best submerged and preferable with some decent current passing threw it. I would recomend getting a phosban reactor. they are cheap and work really well especially for a small tank. chemi clean should wipe out the red slime no problem, and not hurt the reef. water flow is also important for red slime outbreaks. Is the algae growing in a certain part of the tank were there is les flow? and lastly the timers may help also lights can also cause it. good luck and keep us posted

 

[Bifferwine]

Are you using Formula 1 or Formula 2 frozen foods? Because those aren't meant to float around, they will sink straight to the bottom. For those foods you need to attach it to the glass with one of those suction cup holders. Other types of frozen foods (like the ones Ironman mentioned) that are just mysis or brine shrimp don't sink quickly. My fish also like the San Francisco Bay brand frozen foods, they make special herbivore and carnivore diets.

 

[gasman]

I am using formula 1 I cut the cubes up a little at a time 1 cube for 5 feedings. Every other day only have 1 fish chromis. I added 2 hermit crabs (red leg) and they are eating the red slime. I also did a water change (10 %) and sucked slime off most of the rocks still on the sand trying to find a way not to suck sand up also. I am hopeing the hermits will keep the sand some what cleaner and stired. I have a better skimmer (i hope) comming soon. I hope that will also help. I am also working on putting lights on timers. Will keep everyone posted.

Thanks

 

[Bifferwine]

That's why the cubes keep sinking to the bottom. Try attaching them to the glass instead, your fish will feed off of them throughout the day.

 

[gasman]

Well update I have the lights on a timer and the new skimmer is running. The pos. are at 0 but still fighting the red slime (some days look better then others ). I feel like I have good water movement and added 1 cleaner 2 red legs and 2 pepperment. I am running the lights total 8 hrs. To try to get rid of the red slime. I have been doing a 10% water change a week sucking up as much as possable. The red slime is takeing over ( on sand, snails, crabs, rocks). I need help!!!!

 

[Bifferwine]

Sounds like you're making good changes. You may note from reading older posts that red slime sometimes has a nice habit of mysteriously "disappearing" once water conditions improve. Give it a little time, good things in this hobby seem to take FOREVER to happen, whereas when bad things occur, they spread through the tank overnight! If you don't have snails already, you might want to think about buying some astraea, trochus, conchs or cowries, they all (supposedly) eat red slime.

 

[jhnrb]

What are your nitrates, and silica levels?.

 

[jhnrb]

The article in the helpful articles forum "cynobacteria and red slime algae" is a rather long article but I believe it addresses your problem. It seems that you either have a very high organic load, but, most likely a high level of co2 which means your system is not degassing properly. The article details some tests you can do to determine the problem, and some things that can be done once the culprit is identified/the cause of your problem. hope this helps. keep us posted. To affect better degassing is to have good surface movement as one item that is cheap to accomplish. good luck. let us know how things progress.

 

[djpj001]

Your problem seems very similar to what I had in the past. My advice would be to probably feed less, since you only do a 10% water change every other week. I usually do a 20 % water change weekly or 10 % water change twice a week. I also was using a wet/dry trickle filter- got rid of that crap and made a sump refuge with chateo macro algae( they remove phosphates and nitrates). Don't use tap water, becuase they may contain phosphates. Get a good skimmer, and get rid of any sponges or filter pads which retain nitrates and phosphates. I once had high phosphates and nitrates about 6 months ago and now I don't. hope this helps good luck

 

[gasman]

Thanks djpj001 I have cut back to feeding every other day. I only use RO/DI water. I am working on trying to get the refuge together so I can get rid of the trickle filter. My pos and Nitrates are at 0. I am going to check out other things and see what I come up with. I added a condi which I later got rid of and after that started seeing the red slime. It might be my lights pc is 9 months old. Will keep fighting and changing till something happens

 

[gasman]

I did a test today.

Ammo - 0.25
PH - 8.6
Nitrite - .05
Nitrate - 0
Cal - 220
KH - 13
Phos - 0
Salt - 1.021
Planning to do a 25% water change tomorrow.

 

[djnzlab1]

HI,
If you have the room maybe a small sand sump, I ve heard that most critters that live in the sand sump help with phos, if your algae dies it will release the phos back to the water and re-start that cycle.
I ve used phos ban it works great but will really bring it down fast and my algae all died this was a shock to my LM bleeny..
But the tank looks great.
Doug

its another spin on that sand filter, I like the idea.
its pretty interesting...

Ronald L. Shimek, Ph.D. - The Why's and How's of Sand Beds - Sept. 6th 1998 - www.reefs.org

 

[jhnrb]

As you are probably aware your ph is too high and your calcium is too low. you are also reading ammonia. My recommendation is to get your water parameters back in sinc. ammonia - 0, nitrites - 0, nitrates below 5ppm, calcium 420 to 450, alkalinity apprx. 8-10 dkh. once parameters are in check you can better deal with the algae problem.