Reef nutrition

Bigfish's swim into the sea - a tank journal

MichaelB said:
Are you saying your p04 is that high in your rodi water?

I would except you have very high TDS, and likely source is rodi filters are spent or something isn't functioning properly with in ur rodi setup.

Do you have a tds meter, even one of the cheap ones from Amazon would help give you some kinda idea if your rodi setups doesn't come with one.

If your starting with rodi water with that much po4 your only adding po4 with ever water change and with rodi auto top offs.

Using gfo or LC to try to counter that is like trying to swim through the air. Solution would be tk address rodi water to get to zero TDS.

Once there I would dump all existing ato water and exchange it with 0 TDS water. Also plan for massive water changes.

It's also likely you would have tons of po4 inside rock structures that may leach for a while until things eventually level out.

1st step check rodi TDS and address it.

***Don't over dose The LC, trying to rapidly fix the problem.

Again address rodi water first so you’re not just adding po4.
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@spuri87

I mentioned in my other posts I’m waiting for new resin my current TDS is at 1 ppm. Once my new resin comes in I will test again I fully expect it to be 0 ppm

I just didn’t want to wait and wanted to get an idea of how high my phosphates actually were around

Once I fix my RODI water I will test it again purely for any phosphate (my RODI water only) and report my findings. Then mix a fresh barrel of saltwater to 1.) do a massive water change and 2.) check my more accurate phosphate level with fresh saltwater and my tank water
 
Umm Im not no chemist but pretty sure you can not test phosphates in our RODI water using any of our standard testing kits. If so you will get inflated numbers which negates any testing. As @H2OPlayar quoted “ Ultra pure water out of RODI will fool many test kits as it doesn't have the ions needed to make the reaction happen that the test kit is looking for”
This topic has been discussed on BAR along with several other forums across the country within the last 10+ years..

I believe the only way is to send your RODI in for an ICP test. Straight from your RODI line rinse out the sample tube several times then add the sample. Do not take samples from your RODI storage barrel/bin otherwise will contaminate the sample. Think their still can be phosphates in the RODI water even though TDS meters read Zero as many reefers have posted their RODI ICP tests showing phosphates with zero tds readings. Kinda like tds pens will read zero with chloramines present in RODI water since they’re not charged molecules..You need a pool chlorine test to make sure..Now if their rodi samples were contaminated? Who knows..
A standard freshwater kit can tell you phosphate levels beforehand of the tap water for curiosity sake..
I don’t think you can get phosphate creeps in stored saltwater since Ive stored saltwater for over a month with zero change in sealed 5g containers. Other stuff can be absorbed from the air but don’t think phosphate solids can but no chemist here! Anyhow hope this helps or maybe someone who knows more can correct my 2cents
 

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PjFish said:
Umm Im not no chemist but pretty sure you can not test phosphates in our RODI water using any of our standard testing kits. If so you will get inflated numbers which negates any testing. As @H2OPlayar quoted “ Ultra pure water out of RODI will fool many test kits as it doesn't have the ions needed to make the reaction happen that the test kit is looking for”
This topic has been discussed on BAR along with several other forums across the country within the last 10+ years..

I believe the only way is to send your RODI in for an ICP test. Straight from your RODI line rinse out the sample tube several times then add the sample. Do not take samples from your RODI storage barrel/bin otherwise will contaminate the sample. Think their still can be phosphates in the RODI water even though TDS meters read Zero as many reefers have posted their RODI ICP tests showing phosphates with zero tds readings. Kinda like tds pens will read zero with chloramines present in RODI water since they’re not charged molecules..You need a pool chlorine test to make sure..Now if their rodi samples were contaminated? Who knows..
A standard freshwater kit can tell you phosphate levels beforehand of the tap water for curiosity sake..
I don’t think you can get phosphate creeps in stored saltwater since Ive stored saltwater for over a month with zero change in sealed 5g containers. Other stuff can be absorbed from the air but don’t think phosphate solids can but no chemist here! Anyhow hope this helps or maybe someone who knows more can correct my 2cents
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interesting definitely something to think about, I'm really thinking about doing a ICP test regardless I need to learn how to do it.
 
MichaelB said:
I'm assuming you have a ro membrane? Just not in the picture?

Seems like you have other parts if the system on the ground to the right di resin maybe?
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Yes those are the ones I will be replacing the resin on, to be honest I'm not sure about the RO membrane this is what I inherited when I bought the tank and this was what was being used since the tank was made without issue, I believe the other parts were replaced not too long before I purchased the system, just that the resin has to be replaced.
 
BAYMAC said:
I don't think its a RO system. Go check out their website. It looks like one of their whole house systems, non RO. https://www.ispringfilter.com/ac/3-stage-20-x-45-whole-house-systems
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I believe this is the one I have based on the model number RCB3P I have to lower the quality of the image when I post here unfortunately, I can check the back when I go home for lunch

iSpring RCB3P 300 GPD Light Commercial Reverse Osmosis Water System W/Booster Pump and 20"x 2.5" Pre RO Filters

RCB3P 300 GPD Commercial Grade RO System. Provides up to 30,000 gallons of filtered water, twice as much as the industry standard 10" filters. Buy Now!
www.ispringfilter.com www.ispringfilter.com
 
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Patio said:
I was thinking same as @iani start with all fresh. Otherwise you may learn after burning quickly through the DI resins that new carbon blocks and membranes were needed further up stream from the DI.
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I personally would replace everything as well especially with a inherted system. Than you 100% know your good for a while instead of guessing. Water quality is as important to living things in the tank as the air we breathe after all.
 
MichaelB said:
I personally would replace everything as well especially with a inherted system. Than you 100% know your good for a while instead of guessing. Water quality is as important to living things in the tank as the air we breathe after all.
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@Ayman got burned with the same issue when he got his second hand RODI. Always swap membranes and resin.

Edit: I also don't like these systems where you can't see your resin since you don't know what's exhausting first.
 
PjFish said:
Umm Im not no chemist but pretty sure you can not test phosphates in our RODI water using any of our standard testing kits. If so you will get inflated numbers which negates any testing. As @H2OPlayar quoted “ Ultra pure water out of RODI will fool many test kits as it doesn't have the ions needed to make the reaction happen that the test kit is looking for”
This topic has been discussed on BAR along with several other forums across the country within the last 10+ years..

I believe the only way is to send your RODI in for an ICP test. Straight from your RODI line rinse out the sample tube several times then add the sample. Do not take samples from your RODI storage barrel/bin otherwise will contaminate the sample. Think their still can be phosphates in the RODI water even though TDS meters read Zero as many reefers have posted their RODI ICP tests showing phosphates with zero tds readings. Kinda like tds pens will read zero with chloramines present in RODI water since they’re not charged molecules..You need a pool chlorine test to make sure..Now if their rodi samples were contaminated? Who knows..
A standard freshwater kit can tell you phosphate levels beforehand of the tap water for curiosity sake..
I don’t think you can get phosphate creeps in stored saltwater since Ive stored saltwater for over a month with zero change in sealed 5g containers. Other stuff can be absorbed from the air but don’t think phosphate solids can but no chemist here! Anyhow hope this helps or maybe someone who knows more can correct my 2cents
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Sorry, my instructions were wrong. If the phosphate level on the tester is at max, then I believe you are supposed to dilute with fresh saltwater not RODI. That means you need clean saltwater though! This was a suggestion I have seen from Randy Holmes Farley from the R2R board in the past.

If your fresh saltwater has 0.05ppm phosphate that is a problem. Very challenging to run a reef tank with starting phosphate like that since it suggests the water you are starting with is not clean. Even if you do zero water changes, if your RODI water has phosphates then you are essentially dosing phosphates to your tank non-stop via your ATO.
 
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