.41 phosphate. Is it time for GFO ?

[wwcgroupie]

Little update.

phosphate are holding at .40 and nitrates at ~5. That’s after a week of heavy feeding, longer refugium lights scheduled, lights at 50% and skipping my weekly 10% water change. I order a GFO reactor and a UV sterilizer from BRS. The reactor arrives today and UV in 3 days.

the plan is to get the reactor to drop my Phosphate. With the phosphate and nitrates in check I’m hoping the Dino starts to give up. If not the UV should be able to finish the job.

I’m aware there’s a lot of debate on UV but at this point I can’t stand to look at this Dino anymore. Plus BRS had a little 10% discount so

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Thanks for the update.

 

[wwcgroupie]

ran the GFO in a BRS Media reactor for 24 hours. As per the recommended dose: 1 T spoon for 4 gallons. 113g /4= 28 tspoons. I went with 24
Tspoons just to test out how fast it would lower my phosphate. Before starting I tested at .41 now 24hrs later I’m at .08

Does that seems a little extreme?

I shut the media reactor down to give the tank a day to adjust before doing a water change.

 

[131696]

Keep the ratio right ,you should be at 40 nitrates then if you are your good.

 

[wwcgroupie]

Just checked nitrates and they’re at 3 on my nyos tester. So I’ll skip this week’s water.

Hopefully I can start seeing the Dino disappear. if not the UV sterilizer and I are going to start plan parenthooding in this tank

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Keep the ratio right ,you should be at 40 nitrates then if you are your good.

Why do you think he would be better off with nitrate at 40 ppm given his phosphate level, than at 5 ppm nitrate?

 

[fryman]

ran the GFO in a BRS Media reactor for 24 hours. As per the recommended dose: 1 T spoon for 4 gallons. 113g /4= 28 tspoons. I went with 24
Tspoons just to test out how fast it would lower my phosphate. Before starting I tested at .41 now 24hrs later I’m at .08

Does that seems a little extreme?

I shut the media reactor down to give the tank a day to adjust before doing a water change.

Yes. IME dropping phos that fast has a risk of killing certain types of sps.

But now that I read back sounds like you may be fish only. If so it's fine.

 

[wwcgroupie]

No I have lps and zoa. But yeah I didn't mean to drop them that fast

At the moment, everyone things happy. I feed a good amounts of reef rodi to slow down any other drop-in phosphate

 

[minus9]

ran the GFO in a BRS Media reactor for 24 hours. As per the recommended dose: 1 T spoon for 4 gallons. 113g /4= 28 tspoons. I went with 24
Tspoons just to test out how fast it would lower my phosphate. Before starting I tested at .41 now 24hrs later I’m at .08

Does that seems a little extreme?

I shut the media reactor down to give the tank a day to adjust before doing a water change.

Uh, yeah. I hope there

No I have lps and zoa. But yeah I didn't mean to drop them that fast

At the moment, everyone things happy. I feed a good amounts of reef rodi to slow down any other drop-in phosphate

You’re better served by using less gfo and replacing more frequently, then purging the system so quickly. Remember, nothing good happens fast in reef tanks. It took a long time for PO4 raise, it should take some time for it to be reduced. That’s why I like to use PNS Probio for this, plus you get the added benefit of feeding your corals in the process. Win, win!

 

[fryman]

No I have lps and zoa. But yeah I didn't mean to drop them that fast

At the moment, everyone things happy. I feed a good amounts of reef rodi to slow down any other drop-in phosphate

Yeah it happens. I've done it as well with GFO. Lesson learned.

I've not lost zoas or lps this way so hopefully you will be ok. But a caveat is that coral reactions often appear delayed. As in, something I did last week may appear to tick off my coral this week (or even next week). Hopefully not in this case.

 

[wwcgroupie]

Maybe the last update.

After a few days after using GFO for 24hrs a did a 10% water change waited 24hrs and retested. Phosphate is at .06 (using Hannah ULR) and nitrates are holding at 3. Dino is still the same. I don’t see any difference now vs when I Add low nitrates and high phosphate. Time for UV!

Super happy with how things look and how easy it was to lower phosphate with GFO. I would definitely recommend anyone else to use a 12 hours on 12 hours off rechecking inbetween to avoid dropping the phosphate so quickly like I did.

In regards to my “low” nitrates. I don’t really wanna feed more, I only have 6 small fish in a 113g. Maybe I’ll add some fish in a month or so.

for now I’m going to wait and see how things play out.

thanks again y’all!

 

[fryman]

Glad to hear. I don't think your numbers are low and think it's a good plan to stay the course.

 

[Floyd-]

Just get the stuff in check and the tank will take care of the rest. Ive had really bad hair algae and cyano, once I got my stuff in check it went away in a month or two. Just keep them stable and in check.
Personally I shoot for .1 phosphates and 10 nitrates in my LPS/softie tank.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Just get the stuff in check and the tank will take care of the rest.

A curious person might ask what stuff in check to take care of what else? lol

 

[Floyd-]

A curious person might ask what stuff in check to take care of what else? lol

Get your parameters in check. Personally I check temp, salinity, PH, Nitrate, Phosphate, Alk, Calcium and Magnesium.
For me it took care of all algae and cyano issues.

 

[Tankkeepers]

Water changes do essentially nothing to lower phosphate. It will lower nitrates though. Feeding more can raise your nitrates level, maybe switch to every other week for water changes. A bag of phosguard in your sump will walk the phosphate number down.

As far as dino cure, getting parameters correct will help. Cut lights to 6 hours with only blue and UV no whites. Dose bacteria like PNS probio to increase your biodiversity.

Water changes do lower phosphates over tome if done correctly the reason you don't see a huge reduction in the water is

phosphates are stored in your rock and sand and they balance themselves with the water so if the water is higher then it'll add to the rock if the rock is higher then it'll leach into the water

You have to leach the phosphates out of the rock and it can take a month or more durring this time you can't let the water get over the amount in the rocks so a binder is best at keeping it from reversing temporary between water changes

Also raising nitrates does not lower phosphates in the way you want

Yes it'll lower them but you will have a ton of algie

Also diatoms is not nessisarly a nitrate issue

If you have any silicates in your water it'll show up pretty quick these also have to be leached from the system over time

 

[Tankkeepers]

Water changes do essentially nothing to lower phosphate. It will lower nitrates though. Feeding more can raise your nitrates level, maybe switch to every other week for water changes. A bag of phosguard in your sump will walk the phosphate number down.

As far as dino cure, getting parameters correct will help. Cut lights to 6 hours with only blue and UV no whites. Dose bacteria like PNS probio to increase your biodiversity.

Water changes do lower phosphates over tome if done correctly the reason you don't see a huge reduction in the water is

phosphates are stored in your rock and sand and they balance themselves with the water so if the water is higher then it'll add to the rock if the rock is higher then it'll leach into the water

You have to leach the phosphates out of the rock and it can take a month or more durring this time you can't let the water get over the amount in the rocks so a binder is best at keeping it from reversing temporary between water changes

Also raising nitrates does not lower phosphates in the way you want

Yes it'll lower them but you will have a ton of algie

Also diatoms is not nessisarly a nitrate issue

If you have any silicates in your water it'll show up pretty quick these also

 

[Lavey29]

Water changes do lower phosphates over tome if done correctly the reason you don't see a huge reduction in the water is

phosphates are stored in your rock and sand and they balance themselves with the water so if the water is higher then it'll add to the rock if the rock is higher then it'll leach into the water

You have to leach the phosphates out of the rock and it can take a month or more durring this time you can't let the water get over the amount in the rocks so a binder is best at keeping it from reversing temporary between water changes

Also raising nitrates does not lower phosphates in the way you want

Yes it'll lower them but you will have a ton of algie

Also diatoms is not nessisarly a nitrate issue

If you have any silicates in your water it'll show up pretty quick these also

Interesting, everything I've read indicates water changes do virtually nothing to lower phosphate. I know I've tested before and after with no change at all. I do agree with phosphate leaching from rocks but seems to take much longer then a month to reside. Mine finally stopped and there was a noticeable improvement in phosphate stability for me.

 

[Tankkeepers]

Interesting, everything I've read indicates water changes do virtually nothing to lower phosphate. I know I've tested before and after with no change at all. I do agree with phosphate leaching from rocks but seems to take much longer then a month to reside. Mine finally stopped and there was a noticeable improvement in phosphate stability for me.

Took me a month of 50 percent water changes every day then 50 percent ever 3 days then 7days and now at 40 percent every 2 weeks for over a year and a half

I cycle my tanks hard tho

Fully stocked but I burn threw the ugly stage doing this in less then 2 months and have never lost anything

I drop phosphates and establish the biological process at the same time

 

[juarec0201]

I have been wondering the same thing. Though I’ll accept hobby recommendations as I’ve only been doing this for just over a year.

I’ve had sustained elevated phosphates of 0.4 for over a month or so. Probably closer to our over two. I’ve been trying to deal it with it slowly by reducing dry feeding, changing refugium schedule, PNS, and ever added a reactor for GFO.

My values start to decline slowly. Only by a few hundredths if a point, though. Nothing to where I’d like it. But just as slowly as they do drop, they start to rise.

At this point I think I’m going to let it ride and try to remove what I can as I think I’m seeing phosphate leech from my rocks after months of probable over feeding.

During this time I’ve lost seven LPS. After just over a year of being apparently healthy. Among them some of my favorite.

I got worried when I first noticed my duncans looking upset. They only do that when someone is out of whack.

Before then, my lobophyllia we’re getting visibly irritated and slowly started to recede. Then pectinia. By the time duncans were impacted they we’re all beyond recoverable. Then the duncans (two colonies not in proximity) both contracted BJD.

Total losses:
2x lobophyllia
2x duncanopsammia
1x euphyllia ancora
2x cynarinas



What it the sustained high phosphates?

I can’t be certain. Even if everything else in the tank appears happy, I’m not willing to risk it.

You ask “how did you over feed?”

When I made my last batch of food mix for the AFS I inadvertently added reef roids. I guess I was in a rush or something because I always feed reef roids sparingly and only before I was recommended better alternatives.

Whatever you do, good luck!

I am experiencing similar symptoms and am not sure if its my elevated phosphates. Since my major params alk etc have been stable for quite some time. Only fluctuations have been rising po4. Sent off icp test but corals are irritated and I'm trying to bring down slowly. Initially dealt with low nitrate and phosphates. Now sustained above .38 via hannah for several months. From what I have read most people don't have a huge impact from that phosphate level. Had a dino battle that I'm finally out of from low nutrients. No visible nuisance algae either.