phosphate tester

[elvis142]

hello to all, i am currently testing with salifert test kit and the results are below .03. i have a little green hair problem and just like everyone else i want to get it out of my tank! at the last meeting i had my water tested with a hanna meter. the test result was not good. so, i am throwing out my salifert test kit and want to get the hanna. its kind of $$$ and i would like to maybe split the cost with someone close to san clemente. or, i can buy into one. send me a pm if interested.

thanks,
john

 

[Aquafrags]

It is a great investment, I have had mine for a year, I love it.

 

[RTG]

Keep watching the boards for used ones. I sold mine about a year ago for 1/3 new and it was on the boards for less than 10 minutes.

SteveU

 

[elvis142]

alrighty, i will keep an eye out. thanks

 

[Wes]

testing the phosphate levels in your actual tank is worthless IMO. If you have algae growing, the free phosphates are bound in there, and rather quickly. Your water will read clean because the algae has sequestered that phosphate. Take preventative steps before you see algae and even more aggressive techniques when you do. make sure your RO has 0 TDS, rinse your frozen food, refugium, vodka dose, etc, etc.

 

[elvis142]

hello wes, my di water tests 0 on my meter, i have a refugium, i don't rinse my frozen mysis or brine. vodka dose? i have never tried that, i have read about a little. more research is needed for me. any idea on how much vodka? also how do you rinse the tiny shrimp without loosing half of them?

thanks
john

 

[Wes]

I feed mysis shrimp--do a touch of research and you'll see that they're much more nutritious than brine. I put a chunk into a net, rinse with warm tap water, squeeze and rinse again, then plunk it into your tank. All that pack juice is just algae fuel anyway. If you're dosing any supplements for amino acids or anything other than calcium, alkalinity or magnesium, cut those out. anything by marc weiss is junk, too, IMO.

here's a good article on vodka dosing
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-08/nftt/index.php

be warned, you'd better GO SLOW and have a good skimmer. It is fantastically powerful. Also, skip UV sterilizers while vodka dosing.

 

[elvis142]

hello again, thanks i will try that.

 

[RTG]

I dosed Lanthanum Chloride in my systems to control phosphates so knowing the exact PO4 level was important to assure the correct dosage. IMO if you are trying to keep some corals exceptionally colorful by the time you see an algae outbreak your corals will already be declining. With reagent based, color chart comparison tests I never wasted my time testing since they are so subjective. With the Hanna I could get repeatable results and that gave me some assurance I was on the correct path.

I would regularly test both source and RO/DI water, AFSW, NSW, calcium reactor output and the tanks. With the NSW I'd find many times it had 3-4 times the PO4 level over the system water.

SteveU

 

[Wes]

elvis-be very careful with lanthanum chloride. dripping it slowly over time is best; too fast and you'll precipitate out alkalinity. It's an incredibly effective phosphate removal method, but yanking out too much too fast and you'll be in trouble quickly. one of my favorite phrases for reefkeeping is "nothing good happens fast"

RTG--I've only heard of people using lanthanum chloride on FO tanks; yours was on an SPS tank? would you explain your protocol a bit for me?

 

[RTG]

Yes... SPS. It was about 300 gallons. About 1-3 ml per dose diluted in a gallon of RO/DI. That was dripped into the BK's input chamber over a period of 2-3 hours. The scum on the side walls of the skimmer would be noticeably lighter after treatment so I assumed it was some precipitation. At those dosages the alkalinity test results were in line with the test noise and not measurably changed.

I found it much cheaper than the costs of a dedicated fuge with related expenses or any of the absorption media.

SteveU

 

[Wes]

very cool. I've only got a 40br, so I'm going to stay away from it for now, just to be on the safe side. GFO works well enough for me, and if need be, vodka is super cheap... Anyway, how long did you use LaCl3? any long-term issues? Anything else to report on it?

 

[RTG]

At least a couple years. Worked with it in conjunction with a company now bottling the product for hobby use.

In smaller systems I know other methods can be fine. I've heard more horror stories with vodka though dating back to 2003-2004 both here and abroad. The lanthanum was used after I did the zeo thing for a couple years and found it cost prohibitive and time consuming for 300 gallons. With zeo you needed all these other concoctions to overcome problems that may have been caused by another.

SteveU

 

[elvis142]

i have some liquid phosphate control made by blue vet rx. it does'nt have the active ingredients listed. the instructions are 6 drops will ower .o5ppm for every 10 gallons. i have a 260g total so, thats about 2 teaspoons. like i said i would like the hanna meter before i start dosing with vodka or this stuff. i do have some gfo on the way from bulk reef supply. the gfo will only absorb the phosphate not cure the problem, right?

 

[RTG]

I'd bet the product is lanthanum. Have no idea on the dosage since all of them are mostly water anyway.

Lanthanum unlike the GFO will not remove the PO4 but will bind it. PH must drop ridiculously low for that to ever be released, not even in the depths of a DSB or the guts of the animals in a tank.

SteveU

 

[elvis142]

so, i guess i will try the gfo first. do you have a hanna?