almost giving up on the hobby

[Amadod2]

So i have reached a point in this hobby where i have no idea what to do next! its just one problem after the next and the worst part is i cant seem to get a hold of the problem then a new one comes out. i was having a phosphate issue, so i decided to do more water changes and invest in a brs rodi unit, after two months of water changes my phosphate went from .25 to .15ppm i couldn't really figure it out until i tested my rodi water and it was .15ppm, so i called BRS and they told me it was the water in my are wasnt good, i live in surrey/langley area so that waster isnt that bad. their solution was from me to add gfo to my rodi water storage container and get a TDS meter for my rodi unit.
im just frustrated as it seems im losing corals every week, cant get my phosphates in check and im being told that theres nothing really that can even measure the phosphates in rodi water.

my tank:
cal 450
alk 8.5
mg 1400
phosphates with hanna checker .15ppm-.25ppm

if anyone has any tips im more then willing to hear them out, please and thank you!

[Slyguy00]

What about nitrates,nitrites, ammonia, ph and salinity?? have you tested these? If not I would suggest starting there. Also what do you have for lighting and flow? More info about your tank would help us all answer ur questions better.

[Amadod2]

0 nitrates,0 nitrites,0 ammonia, ?ph and 1.25salinity last time i checked all of these was a month or two ago

i have a 6 bulb tek t5 fixture and a jabao wp40, a tunze thats the same size, as i cant remember the model number and a small korelia

a vertex doser, a swc 160 protein skimmer, and im running rowaphos in a phosban reactor at a "simmer"

i have no algae blooms

[Wheelman76]

You say that " you can't seem to get a hold of the problem " yet you haven't checked ammonia , nitrites , nitrates , ph or salinity for a month or two? I would at least start there , so you can rule out any of those parameters.

[Spyd]

BRS is full of it if they are saying it's your water in the area... There is no way you should be getting anything more than 0.00ppm through your RO/DI unit. I live near Kitchener, ON and we pull water from the Grand River that is nasty as can be and I still get 0.00ppm from my Vertex unit.

Test your tap water for PO4. A lot of regions have very little PO4 actually in your water source. The PO4 comes from bioload and feeding. Are you over feeding your tank? How often and what do you feed your fish?

How many fish do you have and what size is your tank? Do you rinse your mysis, etc before feeding it to your fish?

How often do you replace your rowaphos and how much do you use at one time? It looks like you are making progress from reducing PO4 down to .15. I would suggest replacing GFO once a month for the time being.

Finally, what skimmer are you using? Before water changes, I would consider blowing off your rocks with a turkey baster as well to get out any trapped dietritus. How often are you changing out water and what percent of water volume are you roughly changing out?

HTH

[Reef Pilot]

You should definitely have a TDS meter and test your RODI output (should be 0), and also your RO (before DI) if you can. I have an inline meter on my unit that does both.

But yes, you need to get your P04 down if you want to have good SPS growth. Surprised you're not having any algae problems?

Yup, it's a challenge, and that is also part of the fun with this hobby. You'll figure it out, I'm sure.

[Amadod2]

I have a 75g the rowaphos is changed monthly and I use about two full table spoons. I been only checking phosphates as that's the problem I been having. The tap water test for phosphates with the Hanna checker was .25ppm. What I'm trying to do is get my top off water and water change water to 0ppm. Because as of now I'm just adding phosphates into the tank

[lastlight]

Two tablespoons seems like way too little if you're asking it to last a month. Hang in there it's too rewarding a hobby 25% of the time to let the 75% of heartbreak and frustration get you down lol.

[Amadod2]

im just baffled on why my rodi unit isnt removing all the phosphates?!?!? does something need to be changed? should i add two more canisters one with gfo and another with di??? what everyones thoughts? i live in the gvrd the water shouldnt be that bad!

[straightrazorguy]

I have a 75g the rowaphos is changed monthly and I use about two full table spoons. I been only checking phosphates as that's the problem I been having. The tap water test for phosphates with the Hanna checker was .25ppm. What I'm trying to do is get my top off water and water change water to 0ppm. Because as of now I'm just adding phosphates into the tank

I live across the river from you; if you are on GVRD water, there's no way your PO4 is 0.25. But even if it was, once you put it through a RODI unit it should be 0.

[Amadod2]

another thing i heard was not to use a hanna checker as its not meant for fresh water and the readings could be completely wrong. i havent tried testing a fresh batch of saltwater mix. i have also used the salifert test kit and its reading 0 for rodi water o for tank water??? im not sure how accurate that kit is.

[Reefer Rob]

You definitely should have a TDS meter. Get the one that tests your water before and after your DI canister.

I don't see the size of your tank, but 2 tablespoons of GFO would be way too little unless the tank is a small nano.

If your nitrates are truly 0 with a reliable test kit you could dose amino acids to bring your nitrates up without raising PO4. This will allow you the remove PO4 biologically if your system has become nitrate limited.

[Simons]

by definition, an RO unit should strip everything out of the water. If you are testing your RO water and it has PO4 et al then your RO unit is not working. The only real way to test your RO unit is with a TDS meter. You can get one and put it into your BRS system. If you have anything other than 0.00 then your membrane etc may need replacing.

I have BRS 5 stage 150GPD RO/DI unit with the inline TDS meter, and it is 0.00 before DI and 0.00 after DI. How long have you had your RO unit? if it doesn't have a flush value, the life of the membrane can be substantially reduced with regular use.

I know Calgary's water is relatively hard, on average in my area I have seen it as high as 175ppm before going through a water softener, after my water softener I have 10-20 ppm on the TDS going into my RO unit. However; it sure is 0.00 on the way out.

[Amadod2]

My rodi unit is four months old but I only started using it late December 2013

[canadianbudz604]

Hey, I live In newton and I just use one of those API tapwater filters and my water tests 0ppm always. There's something else going on.

[toytech]

The brs calculator says 18 tablespoon of regular gfo for a 75 gallon so 2 isn't enough . Water quality this time of year is bad due to the runoff , here in Edmonton I tested tds of 340 ppm the other day but im still getting 0ppm out of my rodi unit so I don't think that's your problem.