Adding new water to the aquarium. Phosphates??

[chicap29]

I have a 90 gal. saltwater aquarium. It has about 120 pounds of live rock in it. I'm having a problem keeping the phospates out of the water. I have a phoslock granual in the water now. But it seems like every time I have to add water to the aquarium the phosphates come back.

I have a whole house filter that takes out the chlorine and other stuff out. Are you suppose to boil the water before you put it in?

 

[blue_eyes53813]

Im not framiliar with that kind of house filter. Test the newly mixed saltwater before you add it to the tank. If it has a phosphate reading the house filter isnt doing the job.

I use phosban . It does a very good job. I have a couple bags in the sump.
Also rinse all foods before feeding the tank.

 

[chicap29]

Thanks. I just tested my fresh water it's at 0 to 0.03. Then I tested my saltwater & it's still b/w .1 to .25.

I have been using PURA Phoslock, granules. However, my boyfriend didn't put it in the filter we have it in a bag in front of the filters blower (half blows out and have sucks in), sorry not sure what it's called. It's connected to a biowheel filter.

But I was also wondering if you should boil water first before you add it to the tank (I don't have a closed top so my water evaporates and I have to add water weekly)?

 

[Scouter Steve]

Do not boil your fresh water. It will concentrate anything that is bad in the water. My guess is your whole house filter is filtering out particles but doing nothing for TDS (total disolved solids). Get an RO/DI system for your tank and you will be very happy. A plus with your whole house filter is less work for the RO/DI.
Evaporation is your friend. Down the road it makes room for adding supplements. Also aids in cooling if you have good lights.

 

[BigAl07]

But I was also wondering if you should boil water first before you add it to the tank (I don't have a closed top so my water evaporates and I have to add water weekly)?

Weekly? I know this isn't part of your PO3/4 problem but most of the time WEEKLY top off isn't enough. Your salinity will swing slowly up as fresh water evaps and then when you add Fresh Water for top off you'll cause it to swing wildly back down to normal. How much do you have to add?

 

[chicap29]

Thanks Scouter Steve!

Big Al07, I just had to add about 8 qt.s of water.

 

[searoyalwulf]

I'd have to agree with Scouter... I believe a whole house filter will only remove sedimentary items in the water. I purchased a pretty good RO/DI unit from a seller on ebay. I was worried about wild swings in salinity as well, so I have my ro/di unit on a steady drip (approx 30drps a min) it seems to keep my salinity very stable and makes up for the evap and the skimmate..

Take a look at some of those RO/DI units. I think I got mine for less than $110 with shipping. It has 3 filter stages 1 RO membrane and two DI canisters.. .