phosphate proublems accoiated with net breeder and cuttlefish rearing

[William Tyson]

well i am having a serious proublem with phosphates in my 35 gal cuttle tank. Im showing .7 phosphates and i am having retarted corraline groth and expidited hair and brown slime algea groth. have any of the other cuttlebaby keeper had this proublem?

 

[DHyslop]

Have you thought about running Rowaphos or Phosban?

I have no experience with either, but apparently they are very popular products.

Dan

 

[William Tyson]

im using the kent phosphate sponge, but it doesnt seem to be working
I changed thier home from a netbreeder to a hardplastic kritter keeper in order to hopefuly lower the phosphates.

 

[DHyslop]

Is there a known connection between a net breeder and phosphates?

I would think a phosphate reactor would be more effective than one of those drop-in sponges. Do you use RO-DI water?

Dan

 

[Feelers]

Do you have a reef tank with the cuttles in it? Phosphate test kits arent very accurate, I think they are within .3 , so in an sps reef tank - if you have a positive result (ie not zero) you have a problem.

With those phospahte removers - do they last forever or do they need replacing? I know that apparantly some nitrate removers take out phosphates too - and they pretty much last forever(if flushed out once a year or so).
How good's your skimmer? Most of the high phosphate problems come from not enough skimming, or overfeeding. Dirty rocks can be a problem too.
Is your system newly set up? If it is the rocks could be doing the shedding thing, and youll have to wait till their phosphate stores are emptied and the system stabilises.

I would imagine cuttle fish arent the most discerning choice for the phosphate concious.

EDIT:, as Dan says above , tap water high in phosphates is another common cause of problems. Most town supplies would be high in Po4.

 

[William Tyson]

i use ro water with no detectable, the saltwater i use has no detectable phosphates, the kent medium is changed once a week as is directed, i have a cprbakpak skimmer, the tank has been setup for 3 years at different compacities. its not an sps tank, but i do like corraline algea and phosphates inhibits corraling groth while promiting hair and brownslime algea. i think the proublem was the kritter keeper, as the phosphates has lowered to .5 after only 4 hours. i think the proublem was that the netbreeder became a factory for phosphates as food and waste became traped in the net it self.

 

[Paradox]

I use a phosban reactor and it works great!

I use the two little fishes model which is inexpensive at 30-40 dollars. You will need a powerhead orrun it inline with your return pump if you have one. If you use a powerhead, be sure to safeguard the intake with more then just the given attachment for it has almost killed one of my adult bandensis before.

 

[Colin]

Sounds like typical messy cuttles to me...

The tank is only 35 gals so I'd recommend some water changes to lower the phosphates instead of or as well as the phosphate filters.

If you are feeding a diet mainly of crustaceans, that is where a lot of the phosphates come from; their exoskeletons.

with regards coralline, do you use a pH and KH buffer?

You could also try cutting back on the light by an hour or two and see if that at least slows down the algae a bit

cheers
C

 

[William Tyson]

i decided to follow paradox's suggestions and im now running rowaphos, i checked this morning and they were down to .1 thats down from .7 two days ago. and collin i believe you are rihgt, i may just move the whole thing into my 150