phosphate

[lilduud]

so i know that its a little counter productive to test for phosphate because you will almost always get a reading of zero because your algae eats it as quickly as its produced... welll would you only be able to test newly mixed water to see if your adding phosphates.. obviously no algae in freshly mixed water to eat the phosphates... otherwise what are some other ways phosphates can be added to a system.. the only way i can imagine are through water changes and lots of feeding..but my source water is great.. its RO water and even the tap here is very low on TDS although ill never use tap! haha

 

[coolhandgoose]

Like you said, food and water are about the only things that are added to the tank that would cause it. You're right, if you have lots of algae then there isn't much point in testing cause you can see that it's being used up. Where it is more of a problem is in a more established tank where there is little if any algae to use up the phosphates so you will actually get a reading. I think for people who are into more sensitive corals like SPS this is where the probelm lies.

 

[lilduud]

Oh well I'm trying to figure out where my algae is like exploding from... I suppose I could cut back on feeding and give them something like pods and baby brine to add less organic matter to the water. I don't wan to cut back my light at all tho it's already at 12/12 and my sps need it. We will see what happens when my new lights are on.

 

[coolhandgoose]

You're tank isn't very old, could just be part of the cycle. I think 12 hours is a long time for the lights to be on though.

 

[lilduud]

im going to cap it at 10 when my new lights get put on.. after working it up to that point obviously haha

 

[yote]

SPS will do just as good with 8 to 10 hours of light as they will 12.And even though they may get 12 hours of light in the wild,its not 12 hours of full mid-day sun light.They probably only get about 8 or 9 hours of full day light.
Plus its not bright and sunny every day of the year on the reefs.There are times when it'll be cloudy,raining,and storming.Sometimes for a week or even longer.So a few days of no light wont hurt any of your corals.But it'll sure be hard on most algae's.

 

[lilduud]

yea i know but i like to spoil them in light hahah

 

[bjohanson1234]

If your algea is bad, do a week long black out. This will kill alot of the algae. Just do like 3 or 4 water changes during the week. This really does get the algae under controll. The key is the water changes during the black out to remove the dying algae.

 

[lilduud]

should i also cut and scrape it off? or let it fall off as it dies?

 

[Bifferwine]

Is it hair algae? Remove as much as you can by hand. If you just let it die in the tank, it will re-release its nutrients into the water.

 

[lilduud]

ok i suppose that will be the water changes but ill pick it out... and my corals will be ok? will i have to re acclimate them with the light when i use it again?

 

[bjohanson1234]

yes you will. Just to be on the safe side.

 

[sen5241b]

ok i suppose that will be the water changes but ill pick it out... and my corals will be ok? will i have to re acclimate them with the light when i use it again?

No bad idea. BTW, 0.25 ppm phosphates will harm corals.

 

[bjohanson1234]

Thats what the water changes during the black out are for. TO keep the nutrients down.

But you also have to find the real source of the extra nutrients in your tank. Otherwise the algae will grow back.

 

[lilduud]

No bad idea. BTW, 0.25 ppm phosphates will harm corals.

Haha I know I'm trying to avoid phosphates that why I was saying I will be doing to constant water changes but what isn't a good idea?