Reef Discussion
GFO or Nopox won't address the cause of the problem and you will then continually need to run these or alike systems. If you've run your system without these issues for the last 7 years I don't seer why you need to reinvent the wheel. Good water changes would be the way to go as its the cheapest option and a 50% change will reduce your phos by about 50%. Depending on your exposure time and levels your phos will most likely rise again if you rock is loaded with phos but regular changes will correct. In the mean time reduce you light period and feeding to help slow the algae. Good Luck
@Polyps is right about it not addressing the issue but aside from changing the rock completely there's no real way to address the cause of the rock leaching, if the algae isn't harming anything then manual removal is the best way to remove it but to help combat the rocks leaching (nothing else has changed recently?) would be to add a reactor to soak up the excess phos present in the water without having to change too much else. It's pretty much a wait to ride it out and if you have something actively removing phos then it'll happen a lot quicker! Bumping up your water change amount would also be a good idea, nothing major but maybe a 5-10% increase so that you're changing about 15-28% a week :) unless you have a different routine? Hopefully we can get this fixed for you pronto! Awesome work on having it running for 7 years too :D
I had my tank for the same time without phos control and had the same issues occasionally. Introducing phos reduction and maintaining that worked for me to keep levels down. Some people have taken the rock out @macca_75 and run it with lanthanum for a few months. But that is pretty extreme.
I'm going to slightly disagree here. The cause is probably just years of over-feeding. A 50% water change will drop phosphate by 50% for like an hour, then it will rise back up to where it was again. It will continue like this for a long time and that would be a pretty hard way to get phosphate out of your rock. All of a sudden, water changes quickly become one of the most expensive options (when you consider that you would have to do hundreds of large changes to beat it) and also a fair bit of work. For around $120 you can set yourself up with a small GFO reactor, a small pump and some rowaphos and that will tick over for a good 4-6 months without any further action required. All whilst slowly reducing phosphate and bringing colour back to your tank.
Note - still keep up with decent water changes!!!!
Sam
Don't forget to test your ASW or NSW before using it for phosphates, i have read numerous stories of peopple not realising that it was their ASW mix or NSW supply adding the phosphates into the water
You can buy a small amount of rowaphos for $30. Comes with a filter sock and just pop it in your sump. It won't be as effective but will work somewhat in reducing your phosphates.
what about getting a bottle of lanthanum from masters or bunnings and adding that to remove the phosphates? will it pull it from the rocks?
Hey Sam, I don't think its wise to presume when advising. Water change and GFO work in the same way. Both will drop levels which later may rise pending the concentration embedded within porous objects. Once GFO is loaded porous object will leach phos into the water column till a new balance between the two is found, same as water change method or for that fact lath dosing or carbon dosing. Furthermore to claim that water change method is more expensive than GFO, Not certain what your paying for NSW but, what the??? Lastly and this is generalising, GFO in a system with Phos issues will not last 4-6 months unless your talking nano.
@newbiereef, top job with the lanth. just a suggestion, try dosing 2ml every two/three days or so rather than 5ml one a week. Normally proves to be more efficient and provides better stability. Why two reactors?
@newbiereef, top job with the lanth. just a suggestion, try dosing 2ml every two/three days or so rather than 5ml one a week. Normally proves to be more efficient and provides better stability. Why two reactors?[/QUOTE]
the guy was selling 2 for 60 bucks comes with pumps one is dead but other works i am going to modify so the tap is on outlet side not inlet as all the ones i have seen are like this. they are a reef occy one i think ???
the guy was selling 2 for 60 bucks comes with pumps one is dead but other works i am going to modify so the tap is on outlet side not inlet as all the ones i have seen are like this. they are a reef occy one i think ???
I apologise - kind of hard not to presume some aspects when trying to give advice over the internet.....
I'd going to have to disagree again, I don't think water changes and GFO work in the same way. They will eventually achieve the same result, just one seems a lot less efficient than the other.
To bring the phos levels down by water changes alone would take thousands and thousands of litres (as you said yourself, nothing has changed in 7 years of running the tank - so the phos would be soaked so heavily into the rocks and sand..) and take a heap of time and effort. A phos reactor doesn't cost much and requires very minimal effort in setting up and maintaining.
I'm not advocating to stop water changes, in fact, doing more would be a good idea. I'd certainly ease up on feeding as much as possible, bump up water changes and fit a phos reactor.
If you lived next to the ocean and got quality water for free, then sure - go with just water changes as that will be easy. But otherwise, based on approximately a 450l tank - you'd be looking at (a total guess here) of around 60-80 50% changes over the course of a couple of months. 18,000l of NSW will run you at about $1,800 - or the price of about ten top quality phos reactor setups.
You don't actually think that by doing a 50% water change you will remove 50% of phosphate locked in the system? If a system has been running Phosphates of 2ppm for several years, it's going to take a lot more than 8 water changes to revive it...Thousand and thousand of litres, lmao., BTW check you math. 450L (50%) 225L x 8 (couple of months, weekly water changes) = 1800L, (Accoridng to your costs Lx$) $180.
Checked my math, looks good: 450L (50%) 225L x 80 = 18,000l = $1,800 @ 10c a litre.
How many weeks in a couple of months, 8 or 80???? It's your analogy we quoting. You clearly believe that you have a clear understand on the effect of waterchanges vs phosphate, theoretical or practical???? I don't know; but if you feel your correctly advising people on the many ways to skin a cat then well done.
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