Cant drop PO4

[slythy]

I have been struggling with po4 for a littlw bit. I connected my old frag tank and my phosphates skyrocketted sadly.

They went up to around 0.45 and have been working on bringing them down semi slowly but my SPS are not super thrilled.

I am currently sitting around 0.16 but can not bring them much lower than that. I am changing a cup of rowaphos every couple day.

Total system volume is 280gal.

Keep on pace for this or add something? Im scared of lanthium dosing because i have lots of tangs.

Thanks!

 

[Formulator]

Stay the course, my friend. It took me 2 months to bring mine down with GFO because the rock was so saturated in my 9 year old tank. You are on the home stretch at least.

 

[slythy]

Stay the course, my friend. It took me 2 months to bring mine down with GFO because the rock was so saturated in my 9 year old tank. You are on the home stretch at least.

Its fate saltwater.com had 20% off rowaphos right now so got a 5 liter bucket lol

 

[Uncle99]

I have been struggling with po4 for a littlw bit. I connected my old frag tank and my phosphates skyrocketted sadly.

They went up to around 0.45 and have been working on bringing them down semi slowly but my SPS are not super thrilled.

I am currently sitting around 0.16 but can not bring them much lower than that. I am changing a cup of rowaphos every couple day.

Total system volume is 280gal.

Keep on pace for this or add something? Im scared of lanthium dosing because i have lots of tangs.

Thanks!

Maybe let .16ppm stand and stabilize for some weeks.

Then GFO from .16ppm to your target.

.16 not bad, I’ve ran that 5 years.

 

[Formulator]

Maybe let .16ppm stand and stabilize for some weeks.

Then GFO from .16ppm to your target.

.16 not bad, I’ve ran that 5 years.

Agreed. 0.16 is not the end of the world. I ran above 1.0 for several months with no ill effects except for browning out my acros. They recovered their color when I got below 0.3-0.4 ppm. Growth rates get better down at 0.1, but unless you are in a competition, not significant enough that I would stress over any number below 0.2 or so.

 

[slythy]

Copy, my acros that were growing really well, no longer have any polyp extension.

I have been at around .16 for since august 1st. It dropped from .4 to .2 fast but havent moved.

Just worried about all my expensive acros being angry lol.

 

[Formulator]

Copy, my acros that were growing really well, no longer have any polyp extension.

I have been at around .16 for since august 1st. It dropped from .4 to .2 fast but havent moved.

Just worried about all my expensive acros being angry lol.

Phosphate will make them angry but they just brown out and go kind of dormant in my experience. It won’t kill them. Good news is that they completely recover pretty quickly when it drops. Mine went from 100% poop brown back to their full color in just a week or 2 after getting the PO4 down.

 

[C2CCoral]

Im having the same issue.

 

[slingfox]

It is possible that your acros don't like the sudden drop in phosphate , but note that GFO also strips other elements out of the water column. There are many who avoid GFO for this reason.

 

[slythy]

It is possible that your acros don't like the sudden drop in phosphate , but note that GFO also strips other elements out of the water column. There are many who avoid GFO for this reason.

I am dosing a small amount of fauna marin A + B every day so as long as its not stripping all of those im adding a little trace.

I am not sure I would call 3 weeks quick drop from .4 to .16 but idk lol

 

[onlyreefers]

My phosphate is 0.30 on the Hanna ULR. I’m trying to find the root cause. My sps have been stagnant 1-2 growing ok. Did a big water change, brightened up and now they’re browning and tissue necrosis, from presumably swinging back up.

I’m curious if it’s just this carib sea base rock that they say leeches phosphate for a long time, over feeding - the fish eat it all but maybe translate through their waste.. idk..

On the other hand I read something regarding the high phosphates being a byproduct of “things” making waste from excess nitrates. If that’s the case, I’m curious if adding more rock slowly, after cycled, giving more surface area, would help hold more bacteria to process more.. hopefully not just have the rock leech more..

So much to consider.. ughh

 

[Formulator]

My phosphate is 0.30 on the Hanna ULR. I’m trying to find the root cause. My sps have been stagnant 1-2 growing ok. Did a big water change, brightened up and now they’re browning and tissue necrosis, from presumably swinging back up.

I’m curious if it’s just this carib sea base rock that they say leeches phosphate for a long time, over feeding - the fish eat it all but maybe translate through their waste.. idk..

On the other hand I read something regarding the high phosphates being a byproduct of “things” making waste from excess nitrates. If that’s the case, I’m curious if adding more rock slowly, after cycled, giving more surface area, would help hold more bacteria to process more.. hopefully not just have the rock leech more..

So much to consider.. ughh

You can get it out of the rock, it just takes time. The more you pull out of the water, the more comes out of the rock into the water for you to remove again. Keep doing this long enough and the rock will run out of PO4 so you can stabilize. GFO is a good option.

 

[slythy]

You can get it out of the rock, it just takes time. The more you pull out of the water, the more comes out of the rock into the water for you to remove again. Keep doing this long enough and the rock will run out of PO4 so you can stabilize. GFO is a good option.

Changed my rowaphos yesterday. My trident NP seems to drop a couple points everytime i change it but my Hanna checker stays pretty consistant around .15-.18 ppm. Wonder how long its gonna take, seems like its gonna be a long journy haha. Corals still mad