Phosphates

[gnorts]

I have high phosphates which is causing my tank to have a huge diatom bloom everywhere. Yes the tank is fairly new set up but everything was in a pre existing tank. Im not so worried about the diatom as i have been there and gone through it and with time will go away my bigger concern is I think the cause is high phosphates. I have a 20 gallon sump with a refugium with cheato but it seems that my nitrates and phosphate are staying relativly unstable nitrates bounce from 0 -5- 20-5- 0 through a cycle of two weeks is that common? I have been doing nothing really different in the tank. What type of "phos ban" or similiar product would you recomend putting in my tank?

[alextheromanian]

do you have any live stock?

id take it out

if youre feeding you may be over feeding.

id give it more time...its probably re-cycling/curing...if it was in a previous tank before how long was it out of the water before you moved it into the new tank?

[gnorts]

it maybe left work 10 sec all day when i did the move. Probably an overfeeding can cause the nitrate but I not so sure about phosphates being high.

My real question is more what do you use to export phosphate

[Michael]

i use a phosphan reactor with 1 third rowaphos, sometimes 1 quarter and change it out every 2nd water change, it works well imo, i used to let the rowa stay in the system for a month or 2 but find it doesnt last as long as most of us think, jmo, good stuff though and i recommend it

[gnorts]

thanks micheal where you buy it? how much?

[Michael]

well i cant say where to buy it tbh as im in the uk not NJ, but perhaps one of the sponsors here like bulk reef will sell it

[jdm01]

I have a 90 gal and have had a horrible problem with nitrate and phospate beginning about 3 months ago when it killed nearly everything in the tank. I switched to a vertex in sump skimmer and a TLF150 phosphate reactor. 3 months later nitrates are 0 and phosphates are 0. it took longer to get rid of the nitrate than it did the phosphate. I ran phosban the first 4 weeks (2 weeks between changes) and then i switched to phosguard. I have been running 4 weeks between phosguard changes. Most would recommend rowaphos or phosban over phosguard. i will probably switch back when the phosguard is gone, but I cannot argue the results. The phosphate reactor got rid of the majority of the phosphate in about 4 weeks. Weekly water changes are instrumental as well.

[jdm01]

By the way, I get most of my stuff from premium aquatics. Their prices are very reasonable.