Reef Discussion

Adam_w

Member
Jul 6, 2016
203
52
Bit Of Help I Think I Thought Too Hard
So basically I thought too hard now I'm too far down the rabbit hole and and confused myself

I've been reading a lot up on Carbon dosing slin said I should try Zeobak and Zeostart so looking at picking some up after my holiday just going to let the tank cruise until I can spend some more time on it.

Just after reading through stuff like this the bacteria seems to eat up the nitrate and phosphate, but using more nitrate than phosphate. So what happens when it runs out of Nitrate to eat?? I guess the phosphate just sits there and the balance keeps getting worse

The question is would it be better to then dose a phosphate remover or dose KNO3 to raise nitrates to give the bacteria some more food?

I've been following the ultimate aquacare guys on facebook and they're getting a bit of a following going of people using their phosphate remover so i was leaning towards that option. But then maybe that would be more likely to strip my whole system, instead of dosing KNO3

Probably the same risk either way but just 2 different ways to get the same result
 

slin1977

Member
Jul 13, 2011
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Sydney
Yap you hit the nail on the head when you dose the KNO3

Say you are at 0.00 nitrate and 0.10 phos the best way is to dose the KNO3 To get your phos levels down.

It's going to be up to you if you go chemical or bacterial.
 

ReeferRob

Solidarité
Oct 22, 2014
2,661
931
Bel Air
I usually add a few drops of lanthanum chloride to knock the phosphates down. Do be careful doing that, you need to dose LaCl SLOWLY till you get to where you want to be.
 

slin1977

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Jul 13, 2011
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Sydney
I usually add a few drops of lanthanum chloride to knock the phosphates down. Do be careful doing that, you need to dose LaCl SLOWLY till you get to where you want to be.
Indeed LaCl used in some famous brand aquarium chemical formulas.
It works well as seen on many of the tanks shown in our journal sections.
I used LaCl rather heavily on my previous tank. I have avoided using it on my current tank.
 

ReeferRob

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Oct 22, 2014
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Bel Air
The problem people have with LaCl is they use way too much at a time, you need to drop it slowly. 10 drops will bind up a hell of a lot of phosphate. When I dose it, I add a bunch of filtre floss to my filtre sock, remove that after 48 hours.
 

Adam_w

Member
Jul 6, 2016
203
52
Yea I think the Ultimate aquacare phos remover is based on LaCl they say you dilute it with Rodi which sounds like an alright plan to make the doses smaller. Because I still don't have many corals i've got a few empty dosing channels I just can't decide if I go phos remover or dose nitrates and use bacteria. But if they both work I'll just look into which is easier to do, bit scared of the LaCl buildup of precipitate over time so will look into the nitrate dosing
 

slin1977

Member
Jul 13, 2011
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Sydney
While @ReeferRob was dripping 10 drops I was pouring 10ml in at a time.... the tank could manage it but the coral growth was thin and brittle. And, the glass was a bit affected at the waterline with build up. Enough for me to stay off the lanth.
 

ReeferRob

Solidarité
Oct 22, 2014
2,661
931
Bel Air
While @ReeferRob was dripping 10 drops I was pouring 10ml in at a time.... the tank could manage it but the coral growth was thin and brittle. And, the glass was a bit affected at the waterline with build up. Enough for me to stay off the lanth.
Remember the old mantra mate, nothing good ever happens fast in a reef tank which is why I did 10 drops EOD to drop it slowly. I have a collection of 38 different leather species that I would be hard pressed to replace. It's taken me 5 years to get them and I have 3 more coming next Sunday.

If you use it, put some filtre floss in the sock to catch it, you'd be surprised how much phosphate will bind up and get caught in the floss. I change it right before the next dose.
 

slin1977

Member
Jul 13, 2011
3,476
1,661
Sydney
Remember the old mantra mate, nothing good ever happens fast in a reef tank which is why I did 10 drops EOD to drop it slowly. I have a collection of 38 different leather species that I would be hard pressed to replace. It's taken me 5 years to get them and I have 3 more coming next Sunday.

If you use it, put some filtre floss in the sock to catch it, you'd be surprised how much phosphate will bind up and get caught in the floss. I change it right before the next dose.
Great advise for all on taking things easy. I love leathers too. Pity I don't have the space or a tank to collect/ keep them.
I should have listened to my wife and built the 8 foot like she said to.
 

ReeferRob

Solidarité
Oct 22, 2014
2,661
931
Bel Air
If we had an 8' wall, there's an 8x2x2 for sale locally I could get for $1000USD. We had one back in the 80s. I need to go dig up the photos of M standing in it placing the rock.
 

Adam_w

Member
Jul 6, 2016
203
52
So with the Lanth option, because I'm pretty sure I might at least start with this, the KNO3 seems quite hard to get a hold of here and this Phosphate remover seems relatively cheap.

I can drop dose it pretty easily, was going to dilute 1 part phos remover to 3 part rodi and dose 1/2 the recommended amount into a drip container.

I don't run any filter socks or anything at the moment so would I drip this before or after my skimmer, or directly into the display? Or should I install a filter sock somewhere in the sump and drip it into that?

I'm pretty sure at this stage my Cyano is being caused by the misbalance between NO3 and Phosphates so my rock could be filled with some excess phosphate as well
 

slin1977

Member
Jul 13, 2011
3,476
1,661
Sydney
So with the Lanth option, because I'm pretty sure I might at least start with this, the KNO3 seems quite hard to get a hold of here and this Phosphate remover seems relatively cheap.

I can drop dose it pretty easily, was going to dilute 1 part phos remover to 3 part rodi and dose 1/2 the recommended amount into a drip container.

I don't run any filter socks or anything at the moment so would I drip this before or after my skimmer, or directly into the display? Or should I install a filter sock somewhere in the sump and drip it into that?

I'm pretty sure at this stage my Cyano is being caused by the misbalance between NO3 and Phosphates so my rock could be filled with some excess phosphate as well
I could knock you up a year supply of KNO3 and KH2PO4 if you send me a PM - I am going to start dosing these this weekend - I quit dosing them at the beginning of the year.