PO4 pegged at .17 will not drop

[jacky]

You are wise, I am not so smart.

And raise PO4 to .32 (I pass Coral vitalizer and AA and it will return to .17 but not low at the end of the day)
＊ This is not a very good phenomenon. For the ups and downs of PO4 in a day, try not to let this happen every day.

＊It is difficult to say the life of Zeo, usually the first time on the 30th day. With the reduction of NP, it is usually 6~7 weeks after each change. The continuous flow of Zeo zeolite is also very important.

I will end the sand this week, I believe this is a big part.
＊I am with you, try to improve from this part.

The skimmer becomes moister, its green tea color is very good, I have to empty the cup every day.
＊ Don't forget the attention of potassium, K+~380-400 mg

Live rock and dry Live rock have their own advantages and disadvantages. For the current situation, PO4 has become a "main" reason.

I looked at the picture. My first instinct told me that there is no low nutrient salt in the water quality of the tank. For the sps tank, the water quality is too nutritious. Try to change the water to refresh the balance and vacuum the sand Zeo CS. Certainly reduce PO4.

The current water quality is not suitable for sps

[daghostryder]

K is at 350-380 mg- what effect does K have on PO4??

you are still losing me on the LR. Dry rock becomes live rock especially after a year, no? If the Rock was the issue why would i not have had the problem within the first 6 months of the tank rather then after 1 year after??

The 'spike' in PO4 is something I have always noticed after dosing. I thought that was normal since we are artificially adding Aminos to the water. Keep in mind before i was dosing from .03-.07 so the increase would be an increase to .20-.22 approx. and then once the AA or CV did its thing it was either utilized by the tank or pulled out by the skimmer so that when i returned home the tank was tested at normal ranges.

I hear ya on the PO4 that is what i am here for to get that reduced LOL.

You mentioned refresh the balance. Are you suggesting a larger water change?? If so, how much would you recommend?? I have a brute 50g or something like that i can create as much water as needed to change out if you think that will help. I currently have been doing 10% water changes weekly and every other week two changes one on Saturday and one on Wednesday or Thursday

[jacky]

In my tank, there is no measurable PO4 because of some nutritional supplements.

The issue of Live Rock is not discussed for the time being.

I don't have any experience with the effects of potassium and PO4. My idea is that supplements for color nutrition usually perform better in low-nutrition stable water quality.

Start with water quality improvement - if it is me, I will do this

In Sump, only skimmer, Zeo zeolite reactor, Zeo activated carbon, and other items removed
Starting from Kz basic products
Zeo bac, sp, start3, BioMate, zeolite flow, activated carbon, application

Change the water every week to vacuum the sand, clean the glass, strengthen the water circulation in the tank, the toothbrush slightly cleans the sediment on the Live rock, and use Zeo CS twice a week.

After doing this for 2~3 weeks, the water quality will definitely improve.

I am not sure 100% reduction of PO4, but PO4 is definitely reduced. This is definitely positive for the water quality of tank.
If you look at the coral after doing this, the coral will definitely return you in a beautiful state (the water quality is getting better)，Let time and Zeo basic products slowly improve water quality, don't worry too much Keep water parameters stable

[daghostryder]

Consider most of that done. I will stay the course.

Flow ranges from 90-130 turn over per hour. So I think we are good unless you think I should go higher. Dont want to have a sand storm-lol

Aside from that I will check in in another month.

@ G. Alexander I would not mind your second or additional opinion as well please.

Thank you!!

[G.Alexander]

Thank you for the detailed information, I really appreciate it. I can not see anything unusual in the pictures but it looks like something is going wrong as your dosing regimen is correct and the fish load is not to high (nutrient import).

Can you tell me which kind of sand and which carbon brand you use ?

A couple of posts back you told that you keep live rock and algae in the sump but I can not see them in the picture. Have you removed them or is it just the picture quality ?

Have you already measured if the ZeoVit reactor flow is high enough and how much ZeoVit have you used of the material ?

G.Alexander

Originally Posted by daghostryder

Hi G. Alexander.

Yes, Zeo was run on the system from day one. I started up the system per instructions including the on off period for set hours. This was all started about 1 year ago. System was online sep-oct 2017.

Overall the tank looks GREAT. I have good PE and everything is growing, but I have noticed the ALK starting to increase- a possible effect of the increased PO4 slowing the growth of corals

I have well over 50 SP, plenty of Zoa and nothing that I can think of has changed on my end.
Pics attached.

The flows scaleable as I have 6 wav pumps four on the sides running at approx 50 percent and two on the back wall running at roughly 25. Overall flow in the tank can range from a low of 6.5 to a high of 8 at night for nutrient export, BUT I am not noticing the export. lol

My problems occurred after my trip and then gradually picked up after vacation and for the life of me I do not read anything in my notes that suggest a problem. So that is why this is so confusing to me.

All items are being dosed per your recommendations. I have used coral snow twice to remove extra particles from the tank. I have my filter socks back in, BUT I do not run my system with all three filter socks. I removed them all when I went on vacation to avoid the person I had watching the tank the hassle of watching that. When I returned I had huge growths of Yellow sponge and feather dusters in my tank. PO4 was still rather normal .07 which was an ideal number for me. I had the system as low as .03-.00 and was intentional increasing it to feed the tank regularly. My intention was to stop at .10- .08. We are a touch over that now LOL

Hmmm I have my pics but they will not drag and drop. How do I do this? I added a link to my facebook if that will work.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=3&theater

there are 7 photos there. a few corals to show PE, color is still there and three of the tank from the left right and center one of the sump. you are looking at the reservoir on the far right, then the sump. Main pump in the last chamber, zero and skimmer in chamber two, and cheat and LR only in chamber 1 the water enters in the far L which I do not think you can see. but that is where the filter socks are typically placed. Again I water change 10-12% weekly, I use HW Reefers Salt and I test my water, my RO/DI is tested as well. I have 00's across the board on all water sources so I have eliminated the obvious- although there was a time early on my cartridge was the culprit lol. (that was when I first started the hobby rookie mistake) lol

Thanks again for your help . I hope you are able to get to my facebook for the pics if not let me know what I should do to upload an image.

[daghostryder]

Greetings- Sand was one of the non-live sands- I bought it from LFS. I can not remember the brand but I had to make sure it did not have the silica -the original Southdown Play sand was great then they changed the formula and PO4 issues arose for people. So thank you for asking but we can "hopefully" safely cross sand off as the culprit

Carbon is the KORALLEN-ZUCHT activated carbon- changed as deirected.

Yes, the quality of the pic is poor, should have turned the light off- in the 1st bay is the LR and Cheato all still doing well. NO sand or MUD in the sump. FYI- The sump is a Trigger System Emerald 39 sump. so it has the various bays for me already.

I have the APEX flow meter so I know I am at 150-148. I am maxed out on flow so I may need to buy a pump if we need to go more flow. lol ugh!!!!

I received my vacuum last night so I gave the tank bed a good vacuuming- normally I just turkey baste the sand and allow the flow to pull everything up and out. I will continue this over the next few weeks hoping to see an improvement.

Thanks for chiming in.

[G.Alexander]

Ideal flow would be 170 US gallons per hour in combination with 1.6 liters ZeoVit material. To be 100% sure your flow meter is working correct I would recommend to measure the flow manual once. Vacuum the sand is a good idea, would recommend to do this while each water change weekly at the moment for some time.

Lets continue dosing as follows:

ZeoBac – 7 drops 2 x weekly
ZeoStart – 0.7 ml 2 x daily
BioMate – 14 drops every other day
CoralSnow – 14 ml 2 x weekly

Clean the filter socks every other day.

G.Alexander

[daghostryder]

UPDATE: Doing routine maintenance I recalibrated my doser. I noticed that according to calibration it was dosing .08 rather then the set amount of .06. NOT sure if that could cause the flux in increased PO4 but just wanted to throw that out there. The doser has been calibrated and is now consistently dosing .06 and I have it set for twice a day. Thoughts??

[G.Alexander]

Does the dosing system is used for ZeoStart ? If so the higher dosage should not be the reason for the elevated PO4 level.

G.Alexander