a WTF moment, brought to you by phosphate and in part by Instant Ocean

[Poseidon]

po4 has been rising in my dt for reasons unknown
nov 17, p04- 0.00
dec, 6,  po4- 0.06
Dec, 17, po4, 0.18
when i tested that this morning i naturally freaked out and got a water change all ready to go,
but it struck me to test my RODI storage water, to see if for some reason 0 TDS did not mean 0.00 po4
70g fresh rodi storage container, 0.04, SHIT, is my food safe barrel, thats been 0.00 for almost a year leaching?!?
didnt make sense to me, so i tested my NSW
35g GLASS NSW mixing tank, 1.18po4,
no lie... 1.18ppm on my hanna checker, i tested 3 times in a row...

WTF?!?!, in a glass tank no less, so leaching is out of the question......
my only thought is... bad salt batch???
i use the same hose and pump for everything so some saltwater does get in my rodi storage... which could explain my po4, in the rodi storage....

needless to say im:
not very happy,
not going to be doing the water change
changing my gfo out as we speak on my dt
hooking up my new skimmer
fastening my bio pellet output to the skimmer pump input


on a side not, the only side affect in my tank is a slow in growth ( a rise in alk and cal levels reflect this as its not being used up as fast)
and lots of red and brown cyano on the sand bed....
no deaths, no browning, no bleaching.

any comments, suggestions are very appreciated.

 

[harleymike]

hmmmm
I have too get me a good checker. Are you using phosphate or phosphorus checker.
I am fighting hair algae. Not crazy, but have enough. I do water changes on a regular basis, run gfo reactor. I even stopped using my brute storage tank for rodi water. No change.
All my levels are bang on.
I know you have fought the algae issue for a while now. Hope you figure it
out.
Funny thing is, I took a water sample from my tank too work. Checked it on our labs equipment. Got 0.00 ppm phosphate. WTF.
Then why do i have hair algae.
Good Luck

 

[jroovers]

Could be a bad batch of salt... if you mix it up right away and get high phosphate numbers directly from the NSW, what else could it be?  For phosphates and other things to leach from a container etc. at all, you'd have to let it sit for a while before getting anything entering the NSW, let alone the high numbers you are speaking of.  I'd crack out another batch of salt just to be certain. 

 

[theyangman]

1. Check the battery in the hanna checker. Toss in a fresh battery and re-test everything. They can start going wonky near the end of the battery life.

2. Remember that Phosphorus checker: ±5 ppb ±5% of reading accuracy, and the phosphate  is: ±0.04 ppm ±4% of reading accuracy.

 

[harleymike]

Could it be in the rock you have added in the past. Maybe some bad rock.

 

[Reef Hero]

Brandon,
I have been skeptical of the po4 and phosphorous checkers for some time now..... i have seen my readings vary greatly within just minutes between tests. I have bought a few reagents from diff sources as well and tried diff reagents and same thing....varying results....sometimes twice as much or half as much just between tests. And just so you know, tds meters usuallu reaf only to the closest 1ppm....so try sticking your tds meter into the water that is reading over 1ppm in po4 according to hanna checker....let me know what reading u get....should be atleast 1ppm no? If it still reads zero then u know something is screwy.....this has been my own little experiment over the past few months because i just cannot understand the po4 readings i am getting as eell as others sometimes.

 

[TORX]

Great to read that you understand that a TDS will only round to 1ppm, therefore if you are 0.40ppm of some crap, it may not read on a TDS.
Try another checker/tester, guys have a good point, could be bad salt...or a bad tester.

Oh wait, you are using the same tester for your DT and reading lower...your tester is probably working then.  :\

I guess that only leads to the salt...

 

[Boga]

I will check my nsw tonight.  What salt do you use?

 

[Poseidon]

I will check my nsw tonight.  What salt do you use?

normal instant ocean, never had a problem...

 

[Boga]

Ha. It was on title. My phone cut the end of the row. I use the same.

 

[Reef Hero]

1. Check the battery in the hanna checker. Toss in a fresh battery and re-test everything. They can start going wonky near the end of the battery life.

2. Remember that Phosphorus checker: ±5 ppb ±5% of reading accuracy, and the phosphate  is: ±0.04 ppm ±4% of reading accuracy.

Hmmm....batteries eh? I wonder is this will help fix my wonky readings....because i swear it used to be much more consistant.

 

[Salty Cracker]

Mine went wonky and a battery change brought it back in line.

 

[unibob]

Mine went wonky and a battery change brought it back in line.

Have heard this as well, however have never has a problem.

 

[Pistol]

Could it be in the rock you have added in the past. Maybe some bad rock.

Also a drop in ph can caused bound up po4 to be released from rock and substrate

 

[Jewel]

Could be the battery, Last test I did was pretty wonky as well, 1st test was 0, 2nd same vial 10 minutes later.18, 3rd test same vial 10 minutes later 0, I'm still experiencing Cyano, not as bad but it's constant, I'm gonna replace my bulbs this weekend and start using GFO. I have no other Algea issues at all.

 

[Boga]

20G new saltwater freshly made
SALT: Instant Ocean (200 G box)
Water: RODI, TDS=0 ppm
SG: 1.027 (little bit higher)
Tester: Hanna Phosphorous ULR

Results: 20 ppb, 37 ppb
equivalent  PO4 = 0.6-0.11 ppm

Conclusion: WTF moment 

Tested the battery voltage  = 1.525 V, does not look bad at all.

 

[Salty Cracker]

Check the water with the tester pre and post salt addition. 

I just don't think IO would screw up and allow phosphate, of all things, into the salt they sell to reefers. 

 

[Boga]

Is the Hanna HI 736, ULR good for fresh water (RODI), too? I've learned that Alkalinity and pH can influence the measurements.

 

[Pistol]

Found this
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=20004170#post20004170

 

[Boga]

Wondering for the folks that are using Hanna ULR HI-736, what is the reagent Lot #. Currently I am using H 025. Possible a bad reagent lot?