Can Live Rock Leach Phosphates

clown-lover

clown-lover

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May 26, 2007
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Fargo, ND
So here I sit have gotten quite a bit of recommendations from my local club on my tank here recently and am wanting verification of the information that I have received.

For those of you who don't know my tanks past, it was purchased from a friend who had the tank for several years. He maintained it for quite a few, but pretty much the last year he let it go and it turned into a Long Hair Algae factory. When I'm talking long hair some of the pictures that have been shown on this website aren't even close. It was every where, the Rock, the glass, the substrate (Crushed Coral) and was about 4 to 6 inches long.

So now I have the tank and I cleaned it out really well. Cured the LR in the dark to kill off the LHA and then started the tank. I use RO/DI water that I test for TDS before I ever add the salt to make sure I have a good product to start with... I have also tested it to make sure I'm not getting things like Phosphate from the RO/DI Water.

But within the last month and half I've had a film algae on my glass that I have to clean off almost daily (yes this was before I bought those metal halide bulbs on ebay). Its green when I see it on the side walls, on the front it looks like dust on the glass. It wipes away easily with my magnetic scraper.

I have been told that my Live Rock is leaching phosphates and is what is causing the algae to form in my tank. The recommendation is that I place a phosban reactor in the tank to remove the phosphates from the water supply thus stopping the algae growth.

Is this a good idea? Are you a naturalist like I am and don't like adding chemicals to your tank unless you have to? Or is this just something I should live with and get more glass cleaners?
 
Hi Ya

we've had the same problem!!

We were told the same as well apparently Phosphate comes in all forms into the tank and the rock will hold it and leach it back.. We didn't know anything about phosphate but we got a test kit and it was sky high!

We've now got phosphate remover in our tanks. The dusty green algae you are talking about I have that too I clean it and then it's back the next day, so I've cut down the lighting, I turn the lights on at 12 p.m now and they go off at 8.30 p.m it's started to go now which is good.

The new tank we are cycling now, I have put a phosphate remover in there already before I add any livestock.
 
Get a magfloat and don't worry about it. Sure, the rock probably is leaching phosphates, but your tank is new (to you, which means basically new) so it's going to happen until it runs out of juice...so to speak.

When you put food in your tank, it leaches phosphates, too.

When you wipe away that stuff, it releases phosphates.

There's nobody out there that I know of who never has to clean their glass. I mean, I guess it's possible, but not probable.

My scooter blenny will swim up the glass and pick pods out of the stuff if I don't scrape it for a day or two.
 
I'm having similar problems and I'm pretty convinced my phosphates are due to my rock. The algae seems concentrated on all my original rock which came out of my 60 gal. It was while it was in the 60 gal that I had problems with Phosphates for around 12 months. My LFS is pretty convinced that it can leach into the rock ( a bit like copper) and then leach back out into the water. I'm hoping it'll all leach out in around 12 months or so!!!! In the meantime I'm using Rowphos!!!
 
Nope, it will not leach back out. The only way phosphates are going to get bound to a "rock" is if you have calcium carbonate precipitating out of the water onto the rock. As the calcium forms, it takes phosphates (and a number of other elements) with it. In short, for the phosphates to leach back out, the "rock (calcium carbonate) would have to be dissolved again. Which can only happen in very low pH, not something that is going to happen in a normal system.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-09/rhf/index.php

" A second mechanism for potential phosphate reduction when using high pH additives is the binding of phosphate to calcium carbonate surfaces. The absorption of phosphate from seawater onto aragonite is pH dependent, with the binding maximized at around pH 8.4 and with less binding occurring at lower and higher pH values. "

"many aquarists find that calcium and alkalinity levels are stable over long time periods with just that scenario. One way this can be true is if the excess calcium and alkalinity, which such additions typically add to the aquarium, are subsequently removed by precipitation of calcium carbonate (such as on heaters, pumps, sand, live rock, etc.). It is this ongoing precipitation of calcium carbonate, then, that may reduce the phosphate levels; phosphate binds to these growing surfaces and becomes part of the solid precipitate. "

"Simply keeping the pH high in a reef aquarium (8.4) may help prevent phosphate that binds to rock and sand from re-entering the water column. Allowing the pH to drop into the 7s, especially if it drops low enough to dissolve some of the aragonite, may serve to deliver phosphate to the water column. "

Chuck
 
Thanks everyone for the comments. With Chucks last post I guess that means my LR isn't leaching phosphates because I keep my PH at 8.4.

With that being said then somewhere after my RO/DI Unit and from my tank Phosphates are appearing. I have done this test and posted it where I took my tap water, showed it had phosphates, my RO/DI which had none, and my tank which had about .25 ppm.

The only thing then I can think of where it is coming from is my food. I use DT's right now as my own Phyto is still brewing (thats another post for later) and home made frozen sea food mixture (muscles, octopus, scalops, etc etc.. It was a frozen bag from the chinese food store), with some krill, mysis, blood worms and Sally's Seaweed. I haven't tested this for phosphates but I guess its about time I soak some of it and test.

I realize that I'm going to have to clean the glass but there has to be a way to "slow" down this process. Ultimately the question for me being someone who wants to do things a natural way, is should I attempt to use a phosban reactor or am I better off getting more cleaners? I am attempting to reduce the amount of nitrates in my system by growing Mangrove Trees but that is going to take some time until they are effective.

What other choices do I have??

Again thanks for the input guys and more would be appreciated greatly :)
 
Food additions are THE biggest source of phosphates, and rightly so since everything that is or was alive is chock full of phosphates. To feed my fish and corals, I use a small shrimp species (krill?) from the local market and rinse it twice with distilled water before freezing. Once frozen, I shave it with a knife to create small bits / particles and rinse it again. I just recently tested the rinse water and was shocked to see phosphates off the scale. I rinsed it four more times and still got very elevated readings.
About the best I can do to keep phosphates under control are water changes, growing algae and trim it back and toss it out. Running carbon may help a bit as well as kicking in a skimmer. If that all doesn't get you where you want it to be, then I might consider using a phosphate binder. Oh, and not getting crazy with feeding also helps...lol

Chuck
 
I had the exact same issue...

I was using tap water, but it tested for 0 phosphates and i also tested my tank and it tested 0 phosphates... so i was puzzled... it was exactly how you described the film algae...

silicates can also be a reason for film algae... phosphates aren't the only culprit... but RO/DI removes both silicates and phosphates from the water....

i got an RO/DI unit, (so basically im where you are at)...

well i was scraping my glass like twice daily otherwise the film algae got really bad... i soo know how you feel...

after tons of reasearch, i ended up getting a small pack of phos-ban...

within 2 days, the film algae is gone... completely... i can feed all i want, no algae anywhere... almost to a bad level... my clean up crew is runnning out of food....

i have carbon running and phos-ban at the moment... i will replace the carbon and phosban every month... its totally worth it just to have those in there and make it much easier on you...
 
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