Phosban question

BryanF

Butterfly Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#1
Hoping to get a little advice with phosphate issues.

My tank is several years old and I have only recently began using gfo. My phosphate got really high (2 ppm) so I started using phosban through a tlf 550 reactor. My levels dropped about 50 percent to 1ppm within about 5 days but havnt dropped since (about 10 days). Is it possible the phosban has absorbed all it is cable of and needs to be replaced? I though it lasts a little longer than a week or two..

Any advice is much appreciated.
 

jda123

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#2
Yes, very possible. Change it and continue to monitor.

Once you too much lower, don't drop it too fast if you have inverts in there... maybe take caution under .5, or so?
 
#3
If you had high phosphates it it possible to delete the gfo quickly. Once you have it under control it will last for months. May I also suggest reading up on no3pox4 by red sea. I stopped using gfo and use this now and am quite impressed.
 

cdrewferd

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#4
Like said above, change it out and it should drop some more. Once it gets to the level you want, change it again, but add less media. Then you can play with the amount needed to get your level steady.
 

BryanF

Butterfly Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#6
Kalgra;227733 said:
If you buy the BRS brand do not use thier recomended dossage. At most use half.
I actually just placed an order with brs so that's next. Thanks for that recommendation..
 

cdrewferd

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#7
Kalgra;227733 said:
If you buy the BRS brand do not use thier recomended dossage. At most use half.
Good point Kris.

If you pull the phosphates down too quick you could harm your corals. Go slow and steady.
 

Haulin Oates

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#8
Phosban question

I just looked on BRS, couldn't find phosban...? I had the same problem... GFO has never worked for me either. I used phosban to get to .5 and I changed it out, and only added half the dose. I change it every month. I'm thinking of pulling it and doing a Lanthium drip once a month instead though.
 

BryanF

Butterfly Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#9

djkms

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#13
2ppm phosphate is really high. It will exhaust very quickly with that number, the more flow going through the reactor the faster the number will go down the faster it will exhaust. Because the number is so high it will be very expensive at first until you get your "maintenance" amount of GFO running. Once your PO4 hits .02-.06, depending on feeding regime and stocking, the recommended GFO needed on the BRS calculator is pretty accurate.

I have a 225 stocked with 27 fish that get fed roughly 3 cubes of food a day. I change 2 cups of GFO every month.
 

jda123

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#14
...not to mention that you have not solved the issue of why it got that high in the first place. I might suggest sugar/vodka over GFO for everyday type of stuff, but either can work.

Do you happen to have a very old sand bed in the tank?
 

ValG

Tang
M.A.S.C Club Member
Platinum Sponsor
#15
BryanF;227748 said:
This is what I ordered from brs:

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/brs-bulk-gfo-granular-ferric-oxide-high-capacity.html

It seems to get really high reviews..
I ordered exactly the same thing and have been using it for about a month. My phosphates were at about .7 and now they have been hanging around .3 or so for the last two weeks. I think it may have something to do with live rock/sand releasing phosphates back into the water. i was thinking about doing a big water change this weekend and keeping the same gfo media in the reactor, testing water for PO4 right after the water change(would expect the levels to drop) and then checking it every day to see they they rise again and then go from there.
 

jda123

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#16
^ sandbeds don't release phosphates, unless it turns into buffer... which if this is happening on gross levels, then you have larger issues. Aragonite will bond with phosphate which masks issues as long as "clean" aragonite is available to bond with. Once the substrate has bonded all that it can bond, then levels start to rise.
 

ValG

Tang
M.A.S.C Club Member
Platinum Sponsor
#17
jda123;227772 said:
^ sandbeds don't release phosphates, unless it turns into buffer... which if this is happening on gross levels, then you have larger issues. Aragonite will bond with phosphate which masks issues as long as "clean" aragonite is available to bond with. Once the substrate has bonded all that it can bond, then levels start to rise.
This may be a dumb question... does live rock releases phosphates? thanks for clarifying the sandbed fact.
 

jda123

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#18
...what I was trying to say is that if your sandbed is old and your PO4 is high, then consider swapping out some sand. I suck mine out with 1" hose during a water change. I put it back in down a long, black oil-change funnel.
 

ValG

Tang
M.A.S.C Club Member
Platinum Sponsor
#20
Got it. My sandbed is about six months old so i wouldn't consider it old and it's not very deep either about 1-1.5". I feed my fish pretty heavily though and i think phosphate export is not keeping up with what's being introduced into my tank.
 
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