Rising po4

[Proteus]

Noticed that my bonsai started to discolor a little and decided to check po4. Came out .16
The only thing I've done is move a few rocks around and tried using aquavitro fuel 2x a week

Has anyone here used that product. And found any phosphate from it

[Magickiwi]

The phosphate was likely in your system before you started rock-scaping and was released into the water column when you disturbed the rock. I had the same thing last week when I did some work on the rock and my sand bed. Of course they had to spike just when I ran out of Rowaphos.

Water changes, GFO and more water changes in my future. Sounds like the same for you.

[Proteus]

Yes today is a 25% wc.
I haven't run any Gfo in over a year either. I use prodibio and it's done good. But I added some chemi pure elite into reactor yesterday. To help out

In the past I have tried cheato but it would just dissolve. I'm contemplating trying again though I'll wait to see if it drops or rises with the wc and chemi pure
My skimmer does not pull much unless I add coral snow. I only have three fish so I don't expect it to pull much
I don't know a lot about phosphate. I know there is organic and inorganic.
Are inorganic phosphate able to be removed by bacteria or macro?

[Magickiwi]

Yes today is a 25% wc.
I haven't run any Gfo in over a year either. I use prodibio and it's done good. But I added some chemi pure elite into reactor yesterday. To help out

In the past I have tried cheato but it would just dissolve. I'm contemplating trying again though I'll wait to see if it drops or rises with the wc and chemi pure
My skimmer does not pull much unless I add coral snow. I only have three fish so I don't expect it to pull much
I don't know a lot about phosphate. I know there is organic and inorganic.
Are inorganic phosphate able to be removed by bacteria or macro?


Good question, I don't know if it would. If I had to guess I'd say yes it would but I'm only basing that on algae blooms found around river deltas due to farm water run-off.

I'd use a pouch of GFO or Phosban and change it out every five or six days for a few weeks. That should set things right.

[ashr]

I have been also have my purple bonsai start browning a bit after redoing my rock work and my Phos is at .20. I started running a new batch of RowaPhos and will run water changes over the next two days.. I hope it colors back up!


I also have SeaChem Phosguard Phosphate Remover but not sure if I should use it or not..

[Magickiwi]

I have been also have my purple bonsai start browning a bit after redoing my rock work and my Phos is at .20. I started running a new batch of RowaPhos and will run water changes over the next two days.. I hope it colors back up!


I also have SeaChem Phosguard Phosphate Remover but not sure if I should use it or not..

Some people claim that the phosguard can irritate their corals but I haven't seen evidence of this myself. I like it because it's a lot less messy to set up, wash, etc. than GFO. Seachem is a brand I trust for the most part so I'm confident using it.

[Koleswrath]

I don't know a lot about phosphate. I know there is organic and inorganic.
Are inorganic phosphate able to be removed by bacteria or macro?


Yes, inorganic Phosphate (orthophosphate) can be utilized by algae, bacteria, phosphate removers, etc. Inorganic cannot and cannot be tested for but can break down to form inorganic phosphate which will in turn be taken up by the above (almost as quickly as it is released).
Greg

[Koleswrath]

*edit:
I said inorganic twice. Meant organic the second time. Organic phosphate is bound within organisms or organic compounds and isn't free in the water column for algae, gfo, etc.

[Proteus]

So I did a 25% WC and this brought po4 down to .08
That was yesterday. I check today and again it's back up to .16.
I cleaned out my reactor full of hydroton and am preparing another WC.

Why does the phosphate keep rising.

I have three fish, no sand blow off rocks 2x a week and employ prodibio.

[wreck]

hmm thats weird tagging along

[Koleswrath]

With the low bioload I'd be looking at your rock/sand. Moving the rock may have opened some new areas to increased flow which could now be purging. Prodibio might need some time to catch up.
Greg

[Proteus]

With the low bioload I'd be looking at your rock/sand. Moving the rock may have opened some new areas to increased flow which could now be purging. Prodibio might need some time to catch up.
Greg

No sand but yes I did move rocks. Also blaming aquavitro fuel. Lol

[asylumdown]

Aquavitro fuel - their website says that it's a vitamin, amino acid, carbohydrate, vitamin and trace element supplement. This is going back to first year organic chem, but I didn't think phosphorous was a significant component of any of those molecules, they're predominantly made of H, O, C, N, and S. Though I suppose 'trace elements' leaves the door wide open for just about anything to be in there.

Unless there's something else in that product with phosphorous in it, I wouldn't suspect it would be the culprit.

[Proteus]

Fuel has a substantial amount of cholera(bad spelling) when it breaks down and is not skimmed out would this not turn into po4

Good read on phosphates
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-09/rhf/

[Proteus]

Finally

After cleaning the reactor and another WC. Along with another shot of prodibio and coral snow. I am back down to .02.

It's amazing how fast my garf lost color now to get it back

[mrhasan]

Finally

After cleaning the reactor and another WC. Along with another shot of prodibio and coral snow. I am back down to .02.

It's amazing how fast my garf lost color now to get it back

And you will be amazed how slow they get back their color :lol: I find bonsai to be a very slow color gainer.

Another coral that I found to loose color in matter of hours is red planet. Took few hours to go from deep red to pale green (if you remember, you called it pink lemonade or something :razz:)

[Proteus]

Yeah my red planet lost color. I have another that was given to me as a red planet but I believe it to be a selago.