Phosphate o

[Mkeller088]

New to the forum. I’ve been using zeovit for over 2 years. I ran a uv sterilizer for about 2 years , shut it off 2 months ago. Ran a small Refug with sand, rock and chaeto. Removed the sand 2 months ago. I follow the dosing to a T. Skimz reactor for zeovit.
Tank is kept very clean. 144 gal , reef octo 150skimmer temp constant 78. I use a clarisea 5000 roller mat (love). Also dosing coral snow, and iodide. Auto water change, 1 gal. Per day. Mixed reef. Ca- 450, Alk-11:0, Mag 1320, salinity 35, live rock- a lot! Start 1ml / day. Bac every 3 days 8 drops. Food 11 drops 3 times a week. Snow every day 6ml.
How am I doing so far?
PH 7.8-7.9
9 hour light cycle/ alternating with fudge light. Tunz cheap fudge led water proof light. Seems to work fine. Harvest 1 handful of chaeto per week.
Nitrate 5-7
Nitrite 0.3-0.8
Phosphate- 2.0 UN ACCEPTABLE!!,
Using hanna testers for all but ca. Use sievert for Ca.
After 2 dosing of ultra life phosphate reducer, I get a nice big zero po4.
I wait a week or 2, and po4 is right back.
I’m lost......no clue what to do. The strangest thing is my glass stays clean, my sand, and rocks. No blooms?
I will say that the glass used to get brown blotches daily until killing the sand in the fudge, and U-v. Same with sand.
Fish and corals doing okay, blue max clams (small) not so good. 2 rose tip anemones show stress.
HELP PLEASE

[G.Alexander]

Welcome to <zeovit.com !

If PO4 does increase quick after using a PO4 remover PO4 is bound in the system released back in the water column while you do not run a PO4 remover. A common source for this problem is rocks / sand which does leach PO4.

Can you tell us something more about the live rock you use, where it is coming from, how old it is and how much you have in the system ?

Please also tell us how much ZeoVit media you have running and what the water flow through the reactor is.

For a later reference it would also be good if you could copy and paste and answer the questions to your system:

https://zeovit.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14

The KH fo your system is really high, would recommend to slowly decrease it to ~ 7 - 7.5

G.Alexander

[Mkeller088]

Some of the live rock is 10 years old, some of it is three or four years old. I’m not sure how to guess the weight, but it looks like 20 to 30% volume. I will target my Alec to 8.0 if you think that will help. I measured this morning, phosphate was at 1.3.
I have a flowmeter on the output of the reactor, generally stays between 90 and 120 GPH.
Zeovit media is 1500 L. Changed out 10 days ago.
I will go look at the questionnaire now

[Mkeller088]

No ozone, no UV, reef crystals salt, no ca reactor, no po4 reactor. The rest of the questions should be answered.

[Mkeller088]

I’m going to dose ultra life today, get to zero, and moniter exactly how much it rises every 2 days. I will report back. Any other suggestions are welcome.
Thank you for your help, and walking through this with me.
I’m cutting way back on feeding as well.
About 20 fish. 1 large box, 1 med. tang, 1 med coral beauty. The rest are small.
Corals are mostly LPS. Some small SPS frags, the rest is soft.

[G.Alexander]

Lowering the KH will not be helpful with the PO4 issues, but higher KH in a nutrient poor system does cause issues to SPS corals so it might be better to slowly bring it down.

I fear you will need patience until the bound PO4 is processed, but this can relay take a couple of month until you notice a slow decrease. It might also be helpful to vacuum the sand once weekly for a while when a water change of 10 – 15% is done to remove the sediments from the deeper sand layers. Replacing some of the old rock with good quality live rock can be helpful also.

G.Alexander

[Mkeller088]

Thank you for your input. I will take your advice and keep you posted.

[Mkeller088]

Po4 0.79. Yay! Now IYO, dose again or leave it and measure in 2 days?

[G.Alexander]

BioMate might also be helpful in your situation, if you like to give it a try you can start to dose 2 drops / 25 US gallons every other day.

G.Alexander

[Mkeller088]

Ordered

[Mkeller088]

Bio mate will be here tomorrow. Will it kill the good bac? Will it bother clams?
Po4 creeped up tp 1.79 as of tonight. Re dosed with ultra life. Should take it back to almost zero.
When I start biomater, should I continue ultralife?

[Mkeller088]

Also, is this something I should continue after po4 is down?

[G.Alexander]

The product does not have any kind of a negative impact to any kind of animal or the biology. You can dose 2 drops / 25 US gallons every other day for some time. It is a bacteria based product so the reduction if not already to much has accumulated will take time.

I have no experience with Ultelive so I can not give you any first hand recommendation but personally I would not mix different products / systems with each other.

Later on you can continue to dose BioMate at the same quantity 1 – 2 x weekly.

G.Alexander