Chemistry advice

sean9_man · Jun 17, 2015

Hi guys,

I need some expert advice. I've been in the hobby for about 4 years and I've had a 180 litre tank. So around 45-50gallon tank. I had a very healthy tank which was thriving until a few months back my tank complete crashed.

I had high levels of no3 and po4 which I've never experienced before. I lost all my corals and I've tried to slowly get my tank back into shape. I've got the no3 down to 2 but po4 is around 0.03-1 but I'm struggling to get it down further. My suspicion is that the phosphate is coming out of the LR and I'm wondering what is the best and quickest way to get rid of it.

I've read a lot about phosphate RX and it seems to remove it quick. There's also rowaphos and using a Gfo reactor. Would appreciate some feedback from the pros. Thank you in advance.

Sean

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jun 17, 2015

What is the phosphate level again?

sean9_man · Jun 17, 2015

I'm using the Salifert po4 tester and it's pretty close between 0.03 and 0.1

sean9_man · Jun 17, 2015

There's one more important thing I forgot to mention. I've got what I believe is cyno over my LR and I've used chemi clean and it's done nothing.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Jun 17, 2015

At 0.03 ppm it is OK, at 0.1 ppm it is on the high side, but in either case, using something like GFO is a fine plan.

I'm not a fan of the aluminum (white) phosphate binders. They work, but can release aluminum.