I Have an Impossible Phosphate Problem.

ivasawajin

Member
I have a 230G reef ... i had 44 fishes in it and the bioload was too much and i sold them a=nd reduced them to almost 30 , and i have many corals . but its been 3 months that i have a brown algae ( which i think its diatom problem ) and my tank is more than a year old .my PO4 in very low and my light time is 7 hours Metal halies and 3 more hours altcit blue t5's , I dont over feed and my circulation from sump to display is 8000L/h and my i have 9 power head in every direction with gives my a lot of current and circulation on the sand and LR and 2 of them are on the surface for CO2 exit . and i have more than 120KG of LR and i have a refuguim and i have posed many PO4 reducing liquids and i have a PO4 resuder in a mesh bag and i have some buipellets and i have 2 550 phospan and one 150 phospan reactor with GFO's in them and i do 10% water changes every month and i try do wipe the algae from the LR with a tooth brush and siphon it out but after a day or 2 it comes back AND I DONT KNOW WHY ?? and all my stats are OK and i use RO water for topof . and ideas why it s like this ?
 

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by IvasawaJin http:///t/389195/i-have-an-impossible-phosphate-problem#post_3437628
I have a 230G reef ... i had 44 fishes in it and the bioload was too much and i sold them a=nd reduced them to almost 30 , and i have many corals . but its been 3 months that i have a brown algae ( which i think its diatom problem ) and my tank is more than a year old .my PO4 in very low and my light time is 7 hours Metal halies and 3 more hours altcit blue t5's , I dont over feed and my circulation from sump to display is 8000L/h and my i have 9 power head in every direction with gives my a lot of current and circulation on the sand and LR and 2 of them are on the surface for CO2 exit . and i have more than 120KG of LR and i have a refuguim and i have posed many PO4 reducing liquids and i have a PO4 resuder in a mesh bag and i have some buipellets and i have 2 550 phospan and one 150 phospan reactor with GFO's in them and i do 10% water changes every month and i try do wipe the algae from the LR with a tooth brush and siphon it out but after a day or 2 it comes back AND I DONT KNOW WHY ??
and all my stats are OK and i use RO water for topof . and ideas why it s like this ?
 

luvmyreef

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by IvasawaJin http:///t/389195/i-have-an-impossible-phosphate-problem#post_3437628
I have a 230G reef ... i had 44 fishes in it and the bioload was too much and i sold them a=nd reduced them to almost 30
, and i have many corals . but its been 3 months that i have a brown algae ( which i think its diatom problem ) and my tank is more than a year old .my PO4 in very low and my light time is 7 hours Metal halies and 3 more hours altcit blue t5's , I dont over feed and my circulation from sump to display is 8000L/h and my i have 9 power head in every direction with gives my a lot of current and circulation on the sand and LR and 2 of them are on the surface for CO2 exit . and i have more than 120KG of LR and i have a refuguim and i have posed many PO4 reducing liquids and i have a PO4 resuder in a mesh bag and i have some buipellets and i have 2 550 phospan and one 150 phospan reactor with GFO's in them and i do 10% water changes every month and i try do wipe the algae from the LR with a tooth brush and siphon it out but after a day or 2 it comes back AND I DONT KNOW WHY ?? and all my stats are OK and i use RO water for topof . and ideas why it s like this ?
How did I miss that??? LOL
 

2quills

Well-Known Member
We had the fish discussion on his last thread that had to due with uncontrollable algae. He likes the over stocked look I guess, whatcha gonna do?
Brown algae could be a diatom bloom. Did you make any changes inside the tank lately, stir up the sand bed somehow?
 

2quills

Well-Known Member
Just out of curiosity, what are your phosphates reading? I'm sure the reading won't be entirely accurate since it's hard to account for how much of it is being consumed, but might as well share with the group. How often do you change the phosphate media?
 

ivasawajin

Member
some tangs do alot of it , me a littlle on the surface to balance the sand . and my clown fish for some reason always keepsswushing the sand under the anemone . but nothing huge to bing the waste out
Quote:
Originally Posted by 2Quills http:///t/389195/i-have-an-impossible-phosphate-problem#post_3437698
We had the fish discussion on his last thread that had to due with uncontrollable algae. He likes the over stocked look I guess, whatcha gonna do?
Brown algae could be a diatom bloom. Did you make any changes inside the tank lately, stir up the sand bed somehow?
 

ivasawajin

Member
i usualy feed frozen brin or mysis or blodd worms and i stir them 5 days in a huge glass so the water will ve crystal clear when i pour it in and i use algae sheet , pellets once a week and algae spinual flakes twice a week but they eat them in less than 4-5 mins .
Quote:
Originally Posted by luvmyreef http:///t/389195/i-have-an-impossible-phosphate-problem#post_3437631
What do you feed? And have you tested your newly made water for phos? Your source water?
 

ivasawajin

Member
i think its 0.05 , the lowest , and i change the media in the bag every week or every 5 days and its more media than it should , and about the GFO in the reactors around once every 40 days or a month but the problem is when there are algae , it getts into the buttom of the reactors and makes the media come up , even though i change the wool filter every 2-3 days .
Quote:
Originally Posted by 2Quills http:///t/389195/i-have-an-impossible-phosphate-problem#post_3437884
Just out of curiosity, what are your phosphates reading? I'm sure the reading won't be entirely accurate since it's hard to account for how much of it is being consumed, but might as well share with the group. How often do you change the phosphate media?
 

ivasawajin

Member
Can anyone give me an honest advise ? before you guys said 44 fishes is way too overloaded even though i have the best equipment there is ( without the scrubber ) and i did reduced them to 30 and added a lot more CUC . please give me something to work with . i hate does brown SH*T that is covering my purple green rocks
 

flower

Well-Known Member
Tangs are high bioload, and you have 9...30 fish are way too many.
The best I could offer for advice, since you like the working alive like maggots in a tank look....is to get a monster phoshate reactor, add an Aquaripure filter as well. Add lots of power heads to increase the water current so nothing can settle on the rocks. I run the aquaripure and no algae except coraline survives, no macros either, there just isn't enough nutrients in the water. It takes time for the algae to die off but it does go away after a few months.
 

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
Ok, so, you have a huge algae problem caused by excessive amounts of nutrients. You want to keep all of your fish that you have. You say you have the best equipment there is, yet you still have a problem. Hmm... Ok, lets see what I can do...
Here are a few methods that are "out of the ordinary" for waste control and management - if you do some or all of these things, I'm sure you can put a huge dent in it.
1. Increase your water flow 2x more than what it is now. The fish will be ok. One powerhead should point directly across your water. Not up at it or from top down, but ACROSS your surface water. This will increase gas exchange greatly, and build up aerobic bacteria to break down waste. Don't point any powerheads directly at soft or LPS corals.
2. Get an aquipure filter, as Flower suggested, and vodka dose your tank. Adding vodka to your tank increases the bacterial populations that break down waste into nitrogen gas. I list it as unconventional because not a whole lot of people vodka dose. In fact, research vodka dosing your tank, aside from the aquapure filter. You will need an oversized skimmer for this step, and the next step:
3. Drip calcium hydroxide and wet skim. Calcium hydroxide is sold in the aquarium trade as "Kalkwasser" it's also called "lime water." You may be able to find it in pure form if you look for it at a chemical company. Dripping calcium hydroxide in your system will precipitate phosphates out of the water column before they have a chance to be consumed by algae. The problem is that if the precipitated phosphate is not removed through "wet skimming" it's reintroduced into the water column over time. So, your protein skimmer must wet skim. That's why you need an oversized skimmer.
4. Have someone build you a scrubber. I'm sure you can have someone build you an acrylic box, and you can add some plumbing and lights. It's not a whole lot of work to do it at all, and shouldn't cost very much to get done. A scrubber will remove dissolved organic and inorganic nitrate and phosphate in your water column. The algae that you have growing in your display tank will grow on the screen and not in the tank. I'm not saying that a scrubber will "cure" your problem with that many fish, but it would definitely help.
5. To speed up the process of breaking down ammonia from your fish and leftover food, consider adding a fluidized sandbed filter. The sand in the filter builds up bacteria which when water passes through the filter, it instantly breaks down ammonia into nitrite and into nitrate. So, ammonia in, nitrate out. The quicker your tank can deal with excessive amounts of ammonia, the better. The fish may also be more comfortable with the additional help of the fluidized sand bed filter breaking down the ammonia quicker. I usually don't recommend this method for anyone, but with that amount of fish - I think it's necessary.
6. If you have the space, add two remote really deep sand beds to your system. Remote means that they aren't located in your tank, but behind or beside it or in another room - and they are connected to the main system. A small 30g food grade plastic trash can does the trick. Put one "water in" line, and one "water out" drain at the top of the trash can just above the sand. Have the water flow gently over the sand. The best remote deep sand beds are at least 20+ inches deep/tall. You have to run remote really deep sand beds in pairs. Every two years you must either wash and clean the sand in the trash can, or completely replace the sand. Hydrogen sulfide is left behind as black, foul smelling substance. You never want to stir up a really deep sandbed while it's still connected to your display tank, because the hydrogen sulfide can be very poisonous to the fish. sand beds build up anaerobic bacteria which naturally break down nitrate and other waste directly into Nitrogen Gas and hydrogen sulfide (and other by-products) The gas leaves the container, and the hydrogen sulfide stays behind. It's also the reason that you take one of the trash cans off the tank every two years and clean it separately , to wash the hydrogen sulfide out of the sand and start fresh. This method is not a quick fix at all, but will have a tremendous positive effect over time.
Is your sand bed made of true calcium carbonate live/dry aragonite sand?
 
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