It reduces PH (which I am struggling to keep high enough. I just hit 8.3 today.. for the first time ever) It also reduces Alk, which I dose for. I gotta think about this one : )
Is the carbon necessary? I don’t know how to answer that : ) My first thought is... of course it is necessary! Lol... but if I am being honest, Anything else I say about the carbon would be me arguing from ignorance. It’s probably just polishing my water. I have thought that if I needed GFO, that I could just put the carbon in a mesh bag and drop it in my sump and then use that reactor for GFO.Is the active carbon necessary right now? Perhaps you could use that filter to GFO for a while?
GFO or aluminium based phosphate remover are good for getting the phosphate down from higher levels.
If you want to stay low, a refugium might be better at keeping it low.
If you want to reduce a lot of phosphate with a refugium you’ll need to run it “hard”. Adding Fe solution to keep the algae growing, running many light hours, probably need to add nitrate to avoid depletion of N, and harvesting daily. So it can be done, I’ve tried. But it take some work
You can also lower the phosphate by adding a carbon source plus nitrate. But that’s probably more suitable for just lowering a little bit.
So, I’ve would recommend installing a refugium but also running phosphate remover until PO4 gets under 0,10 ppm. Then hopefully the refugium is enough. Oh, and reduce the coral feeding for a while.
Good luck!
If you started with dry live rock it could be releasing phos....
My tank is now 7 months old. I start with two “types” of live rock. Half of it was cured in an LFS tank and the other half was fresh from the ocean. I do understand a little about phosphorous staying in balance between the live rock and the water. But I have no clue how to test for that.If you started with dry live rock it could be releasing phos....
Also as far as what I've read carbon is depleted within hours in most cases, so unless you are putting new carbon in daily it could be doing nothing. But carbon is good for softie and lps warfare
I also only have softies and lps at the moment, working towards sps and I'm battling the same thing. As well as a magnetic black sand problem our Phos was high and unreadable with Hannah checker in one of our tanks and the other was .9...I started slowly removing with phosgaurd and replaced every 4 days. Checking phose both morning and night so I didn't strip it too fast. Its taken about a 2 months but its down to .1 and .08 and holding steady. We did a water change last night and did not add any phos to see if the tanks hold. We started with dry live rock and found that to most likely be the main issue due to its ability to store and release phos.
Your are on the right track. I am a big fan of let your tank do the work and not add chemicals but phosgaurd worked and didn't disrupt any other elements in my tank.
You don’t have to start a refugium if you having a hard time finding room for it. You could keep running GFO or similar in the filter and just lower the amount when you get to the numbers you aim for. That is what many did before refugium got super popular
All I am doing on carbon is what Randy suggested. My reactor has 3 cups (Ish) of carbon in it at any given time. Every two week, I throw half of it away and add another 1 cup to it.You don’t have to start a refugium if you having a hard time finding room for it. You could keep running GFO or similar in the filter and just lower the amount when you get to the numbers you aim for. That is what many did before refugium got super popular
Find a amount of GFO and change it regularly, to stay around the level you want. Just don’t over do it, then phosphate depletion can be a problem.
Then I think you could look over the feedings and see what you could decrease. Perhaps coral food isn’t that important you your nutrients are high? I would have skipped that, unless you got NPS corals.
About active carbon, GAC. That is not necessary all the time IMO. I actually just use it if I think there is a problem that the GAC could solve. So mostly we don’t use it at work in reef tanks(even if we mix soft and stony corals).
Do you have a preference for controlling phosphates? It seems you may prefer GFO?
I will keep that in mind. I like the way you described you are using it. I never thought about dropping a bag in my overflow. That saves some much needed space!Add another voice to the list here . . .
I've been using Xport PO4 for years with great success. It's super easy and super effective. Put a couple cubes in a bag and put it in your overflow or sump where there's some flow and voila. Just gotta start with less than needed and work up to the right amount. In my 500 gallon system when I hit 30 ppb with my Hanna I change out about 2 cups worth of cubes and that's usually about every month. My PO4 goes under 10 ppb on the Hanna checker but I never get to zero.
Also I feed WAY less than you. Some might argue I'm starving my fish, but in my 2 decades I've come to the conclusion that under feeding is better than over feeding. I even just watched a ReefBuilders video where Jake said he feeds his pair of clowns once every other day, and they've still been growing. I feed 2 frozen Hikari cubes and one tiny pinch of dry pellets morning and night and I have:
1 Kole
1 Hippo
1 Aiptasia eating File Fish
1 Flame Angel
1 Banggai Cardinal
3 Chromis
4 Ocellaris Clowns
6 Sqaumipinnis Anthias
Anyways just a thought
Beautiful tank btw!Add another voice to the list here . . .
I've been using Xport PO4 for years with great success. It's super easy and super effective. Put a couple cubes in a bag and put it in your overflow or sump where there's some flow and voila. Just gotta start with less than needed and work up to the right amount. In my 500 gallon system when I hit 30 ppb with my Hanna I change out about 2 cups worth of cubes and that's usually about every month. My PO4 goes under 10 ppb on the Hanna checker but I never get to zero.
Also I feed WAY less than you. Some might argue I'm starving my fish, but in my 2 decades I've come to the conclusion that under feeding is better than over feeding. I even just watched a ReefBuilders video where Jake said he feeds his pair of clowns once every other day, and they've still been growing. I feed 2 frozen Hikari cubes and one tiny pinch of dry pellets morning and night and I have:
1 Kole
1 Hippo
1 Aiptasia eating File Fish
1 Flame Angel
1 Banggai Cardinal
3 Chromis
4 Ocellaris Clowns
6 Sqaumipinnis Anthias
Anyways just a thought
I am beginning to understand that I am over feeding a little. You are right. I have also begun to think I have not been feeding the Nori correctly. I put a whole sheet, folded up in my little net thing and just leave it in there until it’s gone. I’ve recently learned that can add phosphates as well. So, now I just put in like a 1/4 sheet and take it out if uneaten after four hours. (Hoping that helps too)
