Phosphates Prevention and Removal? :grumble:

Savannah

Savannah

Reefing newb
So since I have started to have a normal light cycle in my tank 9 hours on 15 hours of moonlight. I have noticed an algae bloom... I see a couple of live rock pieces have very small areas of hair algae, I see brown algae on the glass that I have to clean daily, I also bought live rock with the red turf algae.... So I have my hands full.... I have a lovely snail that has almost eliminated the turf algae :bowdown: "I love that snail" My readings have been zero across the board however I havent been able to lower my phosphates/ nitrates (Phosphates have been 0.25-1.0 at the highest... and Nitrates 5.0) I recently put the PhosGuard in my HOB filter and it has helped a little. I want to know what the long term solution for this problem... I want to start adding some nice corals but I want this straighted out first! I was considering a phosphate reactor but would this eliminate all algae... so I will have to find a new home for my beloved snail... and is that two much for my 28 gal? Or will I just have to keep adding the phosguard to my filter... I do water changes every 2-3 weeks... My Ammonia 0 Nitrites 0 pH 8.2 I feed once a day... just a little mysis shrimp and Rods coral blend (very very little :D) for my two zoa's. Thank you very much and I hope I can get this under control!
 
Depending on how much you feed and what you feed, as well as your source water, its possible you may need to constantly run phosphate removal such as GFO. Before going that route, have you thought about setting up a refugium with some of Bifferwine's magical Chaeto and / or some Caulerpa? That should help with nutrient export (both phosphates and nitrates)

And no, 2 snails is not too many for your 28 gallon tank. I think I'm up to about 150 snails / hermits in my 180
 
You dont need to feed the zoas, and that uneaten Rod's Coral food is not helping your situation. Rod's food is amazing stuff, but in your case i dont think you should be feeding it, especially the coral mix. If you do want to feed Rod's food i would suggest just sticking with the standard mix. It will have food enough for your corals and fish.
 
I agree you dont need to feed the zoas. I use coral food once a month and only a fraction of what it recommends.

Do you change the phosguard out every couple of weeks? It gets pretty saturated and nasty turning brown then its time to change it out.

As for the snail I put in a small piece of seaweed paper every other week. I hold it down using a rock so they can get to it easy. The crabs and snails really like it but its not so much that they stop doing their real jobs.
 
I have a pink spotted goby, fireshrimp, 1 turbo snail, 5 dwarf hermits, 1 Astraea Conehead Snail, and 3 Nassarius Snails. I use RO/DI water now... but when I started the tank back in Nov. I used tap.... but I have been using RO/DI for 3 months now. I guess here is my question " Do you think I can bring down my Phosphates with just replacing my Phosguard in the filter, doing water changes, and with the CUC? Or do you think a phosphate retractor will help... and if I do get one... will it do its job so well that I wont have enough algae to feed the snails? " I didnt feed much of the rods food anyway... but I will stop all together.
 
I would try regularly replacing the phosgaurd first and the water changes, if that doesnt solve the phosphate issue, then i would move onto the heavy duty stuff.
 
Since I have a AquaMaxx HOB-1 proteins skimmer do you think... I could just take out the Carbon Filter in my HOB Marineland filter and just put the PhosGuard? Any other Recommendations of Filtering Media to bring down phos/nitrate readings?
 
The reactor with GFO in it is only going to pull out the Phosphates (which cause Cyano). If you are experiencing other types of algae growth it is most likely from another source. Also, how did you get your photo period up to 9 hours? What was it before? If you suddenly changed the cycle from say 6 hours on to 9 hours on over night, that could also fuel the algae growth.
 
I think you can do that, but im not really familiar with how filters work so someone else might have to conform that.

Have you thought about getting a fuge going? Macro algae is supreme for removing phosphates and nitrates.
 
You probably mistaked your red cyano for red turf algae. Many people do. Phosphates at 0.25 ppm will make most stony corals sick. Your choices are a phosphate reactor or cheato.
 
Little fish told me it was red turf algae in a photo she saw... but.. whatever it is I want to lower my phosphates.... and I want to prevent further phosphates because I want to add corals!!! I want a refugium but with the space I have...it would have to be a HOB. Then would it be okay to get rid of the HOB marineland filter?
 
Unless you are cleaning the filter every 3 or 4 days, the filter is causing you more issues than its helping because all the particles it traps are rotting, releasing the nitrates and phosphates back into the water column.
 
So with what I have to work with.... the idea would be... the HOB refugium and protein skimmer.... and that is it.... with the amount of live rock and having the two power heads... I dont need a mechanical filtration?
 
If you were to run a HOB refugium with some sort of macor (such as chaeto) and a protien skimmer, you would not need your mechanical filter. Mechanical filters are used much more for freshwater than they are for saltwater. Many people with salt tanks only run a mechanical filter part time when they want to run carbon or some other chemical media

And I just noticed you're a fellow Wisconsinite, its nice to see another 'local' here
 

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