phosphate remover use?

[deejeff442]

i am getting the start off green algea .i tested my phosphate it is up a little.
do i just buy a can of remover ,put it into a filter bag and set it in the wet/dry?
i wll do a water change also.

 

[40 galons]

put the phosphate remover where the water will pass threw it, these things work but for long term success you will need to find out where the phosphate is comming from . i could be over feeding or the water used to name a few.. you could also try doing more frquent water changes or larger water changes more regularly. i learned that my problem was feeding too much prime reef too often to be the problem. good luck!

 

[ilovemytank]

Originally Posted by 40 galons
http:///forum/post/2801185
put the phosphate remover where the water will pass threw it, these things work but for long term success you will need to find out where the phosphate is comming from . i could be over feeding or the water used to name a few.. you could also try doing more frquent water changes or larger water changes more regularly. i learned that my problem was feeding too much prime reef too often to be the problem. good luck!
in addition to the above good advice check to see if the water you are using to make water changes contains phophates.

 

[deejeff442]

i run all my water through a 6 stage ro.
i do not overfeed the fish eat all the food in 2 or 3 minutes
the phosphate test is 2.0 on the scale
is this really high ?
i added the phosphate remover yesterday.
will do a water change today or tomarrow.
the mh bulbs are only a month old also.
the tank does have 50 lbs of new rock could this be it?

 

[stanlalee]

2.0 as in 2ppm is very high. the target for a reef tank is 0.03ppm. which phospate remover did you buy? most will work pretty well the way you have it but a reactor is more efficient. depending on what you used and how much the phosphates should come down pretty quickly.
a few cut and pasted facts (from a damn good article I cant post) of why you want it down:
"Flake fish food is typically about 1% phosphorus (3% phosphate equivalent) by weight (and many products have such phosphorus data on their labels). Consequently, if five grams of flake food is added to a 100-gallon aquarium, there is the potential for the inorganic orthophosphate level to be raised by 0.4 ppm in that SINGLE FEEDING!"
"For example, one research group found that long-term enrichment of phosphate (0.19 ppm; maintained for three hours per day) on a natural patch reef on the Great Barrier Reef inhibited overall coral calcification by 43%"

 

[deejeff442]

i feed 3 cubes of frozen multi pack a day and put a little dried seaweed on a clip for the tang and foxface.
i do have some flake but as a back up if i run out of frozen.
i forget what remover i used i bought it at *****.
i think it was fluval .
so 2.0 is alot well that explains it .the algea has just barely started.
i will get the water chang tomarrow too busy today.

 

[40 galons]

aww man 3 cubes per day? how big is youre tank and how many fish do you have.may be over kill.

 

[deejeff442]

its a 150 gallon i have 6 fish currently but the tang and foxface and one of the clowns are pretty big.
they seen to eat it all up pretty quick
i tested the water testerdeay
the phoshphate are down from 2.0 to 1.0
so the remover is working the ammonia is at 0

 

[stdreb27]

I never had success with the pads. I never saw results.

 

[stanlalee]

Originally Posted by deejeff442
http:///forum/post/2804405
its a 150 gallon i have 6 fish currently but the tang and foxface and one of the clowns are pretty big.
they seen to eat it all up pretty quick
i tested the water testerdeay
the phoshphate are down from 2.0 to 1.0
so the remover is working the ammonia is at 0
I had two tangs, four anthias (fed at least twice a day) and a midas blenny (6ft 100 gallon) and ONE cube of mysis lasted me a week. 3 cubes daily is a huge amount of food. the tang and foxface should be sustaining primarily off of algae sheets (I know they are probably the greediest eaters even with meaty food). unless you have some sort of water column zooplankton feeders like anthias the clown and probably the other fish dont even need to be fed but every other day. certaintly dont need 3 cubes worth of food. the tang and foxface should be excluded from nutritional needs in regards to cube feeding other than making up for what they take away from the fish that actually need the cubed food). 3"x3" algae sheet daily per tang/foxface is plenty to sustain them and everything else is just bonus food.

 

[deejeff442]

wow i have read to feed the fish as much as they can consume in 2-3 minutes.dont ask me where i have read it i dont remember.
so what you are saying is one cube and a 3by3 sheet of seaweed if eneough?

 

[gatorwpb]

frozen prepared foods are notoriously high in phosphates

 

[deejeff442]

someone else wrote that flakes are high in phosphates also .
so what should i feed them then?

 

[stanlalee]

Originally Posted by deejeff442
http:///forum/post/2804723
wow i have read to feed the fish as much as they can consume in 2-3 minutes.dont ask me where i have read it i dont remember.
so what you are saying is one cube and a 3by3 sheet of seaweed if eneough?
pretty much ALL the food instructions say what they can eat between 2-3 minutes. DONT LISTEN! thats an eternity. 30 seconds. If there is still food in the tank a minute and two after you put it in there you can best believe its too much (the corals, clean up and hitch hikers will get some). I wouldn't even feed six fish a whole cube per day. Perhaps a 1/4 cube per day and the daily algae sheets.

 

[gatorwpb]

Originally Posted by deejeff442
http:///forum/post/2805064
someone else wrote that flakes are high in phosphates also .
so what should i feed them then?
I made my own food with fresh ingredients from the grocery store. You can do a search on the forums here for homemade food receipes. But I agree, it sounds like a portion control issue.
I vary between feeding my home made frozen food and formula 1 flake. I do overfeed but then my nutrient removal and skimmer are very efficient.

 

[rotarymagic]

get you a two little fishes phosban reactor and pack it with phosban or rowaphos! Problem solved! Feed however much you want... as long as you can export phosphates and nitrates, you're straight. Phosphates are always the harder of the two to lower. You can't get away from putting phosphates in the tank when feeding so don't stress, just address it and get something to export phosphates like what I already said. You could just put the media in a bad, but it works best in the reactor.

 

[deejeff442]

if i build a refugium would i still need the reactor?

 

[stanlalee]

Originally Posted by deejeff442
http:///forum/post/2806683
if i build a refugium would i still need the reactor?
not really but a reactor works faster initially and is probably cheaper/easier than a macro algae fuge. Macro algae has other benefits with pH stability, o2 exchange, pod hosting ect. Like stated there is no way to eliminate phosphates from feeding, its in everything organic and a tiny amount is even required for coral survival. its more important to not feed too much than to worry about which foods have phospates.