Sources of phosphate

[nyshoots]

I I've been having a hair algae problem for sone time and I'm always looking for the source of my phosphates in my nano which hover around .07

I have a brs reator running gfo and when I test the water coming from the return its always 0 on my hanna meter. I get 0 when I test my RO water as well. I haven't tested my freshly made salt water in a while but its usualy very low .02 or 0

I recently decided to try something. I did a large water change and tested and got a .03 reading the next morning I was up at .07 again ??? Is this proof that my rock is leaching phosphate ?

I only have 1 clown fish in this tank along with a big cuc

 

[nyshoots]

I also feed very little only the spectrum pellets and cyclopies every other day

 

[piranhapat]

If you put new GFO and check you phosphate. Within 24 hours it should drop. Check so offen if you see it go up put new GFO. If you had TDS meter on RO unit. It would be another reading to make sure Hanna tester is working. Do you have a DI unit with RO.
Make sure your not over feeding. Even if your rocks are leaching GFO should have it in check. I remember I was going nuts with this problem. It was my DI unit which I put brand new DI reside. Was still getting high phosphate reading. T'll I got TDS which showed my unit was .08. Changed DI problem solved. Had bad DI reside.

 

[SteveZ15]

AlSo If The Rock Is Leeching Slowly Up The Amount Of Gfo.If U Dont Use Enough Its Get Burnt Faster. Just Add A Few Grams Extra And Change Often Till Resolved

 

[nyshoots]

Tank is looking better a lot less hair algae but sps still looks kinda dull here's a pic from this morning. For some reason I get a lot of HA on the back wall

 

[nyshoots]

 

[nyshoots]

:banghead:

 

[Gabe]

Phosphates are my nemesis, I understand your frustration.

 

[bertyboy69]

Sand rock and water it has to be one of them ! Start with the water use a different tds meter someone close by im sure will let you borrow to check , if you used live sand in the bag that coukd also be a source sand bonds with phosphates and leaches over time , depending on how old it is and where you got the sand from , and the last to check is rock which is probably the hardest to get rid of

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Reefs

 

[tomtoothdoc]

it's even a little harder for a smaller tank, imo.
i have a 15 gal nano in the office that's been running for about 5+years with hardly any major problem. i didn't keep up with the maintenance for a couple of months after sandy, now i'm battling hair algae on the rocks and walls just like your pic.
i think the phosphate built up the months that it was neglected and now saturated in the rock and leaching out?
for the last 3-4 months, i've been doing 10 gal changes every week or two plus increasing the gfo amount and also scrubbing the rocks and walls. still struggling but getting better.

 

[reefer4eva]

Ever consider dosing with hydrogen peroxide?it worked for me without any harm to my sps dominant 34 solana

 

[bertyboy69]

Hydrogen peroxide is great to kill the algae and ive used it before as well , however it doesnt treat the problem so if his rock is leaching phosphates the hair algae will come back in no time

You have to take out a small piece at a time and "cook" it or just keep running gfo and add a fuge if possible to battke the phosphates until they stop leaching but it coukd be forever since the tanks still being fed

I would suggest if you can take out any rock and cook it or replace it with dry rock slowly its very hard in a nano since usually its one big piece of rock or the corals already so grown onto the rock , it could be the sand as well though you could try taking out the sand and replacing it

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Reefs

 

[nyshoots]

I was thinking of adding a fuge but I have no space. There are some nice looking hob fuges on ebay from clear tides which are thinner and don't require as much space behind the tank I may pick one up

 

[SanmanReefer]

+1 on the fuge, i know it's tight but I would get one even if it is small. I run a variety of macros in mine, Cheato Ulva, Glacinaria, Kelp and codium. Some are high, medium and low nutrient macros. I don't run GFO but carbon in a reactor (just half a cup) and replace it once per month. Hope this helps.