GFO reduction how fast is too much

[blu3s94]

I recently upgraded from a 125 to a 215... upon doing that I waited a week and checked my nitrates and phosphates. Phosphate was at 0.184... pretty high. I'm sure between the move and getting rid of huge xenia colonies that contributed to it. So I went with GFO in a reactor and went by BRS recommended starting dose. In 1 weeks time it dropped all the way down to 0.049... seemed like alot to me. Using high capacity GFO and a ultra low hanna checker. Was that too fast?? Not wanting to go much lower. Should I shut down the reactor for now or see if it levels out?
Btw nitrates are 5 ppm. I have some diatoms on new rock and sand but I'm contributing that to excess silica of sand. Although it was live sand and the dry rock was cured by me.
Started at 0.184
1 week later 0.049

 

[eenoo]

I wouldn’t think tanking your phosphates quickly is a bad idea at all. I’d continue doing what you’ve been doing and get them down to a good level.

 

[Justfebreezeit]

Depends what kind of coral you have in the tank.

 

[blu3s94]

Depends what kind of coral you have in the tank.

Mixed. Mainly lps and sps. Only softies are zoas. My montipora doesnt look great but he has been harrased my rbt anemone. Everything else looks fine. I just worry about the phosphate getting to 0. I didn't think the GFO would drop it that much in just 1 week.

 

[Billldg]

You can shock your corals by removing nitrates and phosphates to quickly. To drop it roughly .14 ppm in a week is a little quick, I would remove the gfo now and see if it stabilizes. Yes , gfo is a powerful aid and does it job very well, if I use it I only use a 1/4 cup in a 120 gal tank.

 

[saltyhog]

I don't think there's any need to get too upset about 0.18, I certainly wouldn't try to go any lower than where you are. With any of the methods we have to check PO4 you're getting close to potentially actually being zero when it's reading around 0.03.

You do not want Zero PO4, I promise.

 

[blu3s94]

I don't think there's any need to get too upset about 0.18, I certainly wouldn't try to go any lower than where you are. With any of the methods we have to check PO4 you're getting close to potentially actually being zero when it's reading around 0.03.

You do not want Zero PO4, I promise.

Agreed. I'm basically at 0.05 right now but GFO is still running. I don't want to shut it down and it spike back up. Nor do I want to strip it down to 0. Guess I'll just check daily and make my decision then. Hoping it will stabilize around what its at now. Otherwise I'll have to play with how much I should be using. I have a a moderately stocked tank for a 215. 10 fish total. Although 3 of them are just 2 small clowns a goby who dont have much waste.

 

[saltyhog]

It's no big deal if it spikes up.....it is a very big deal if it bottoms out! My corals do great when it's where you started.

 

[blu3s94]

You can shock your corals by removing nitrates and phosphates to quickly. To drop it roughly .14 ppm in a week is a little quick, I would remove the gfo now and see if it stabilizes. Yes , gfo is a powerful aid and does it job very well, if I use it I only use a 1/4 cup in a 120 gal tank.

I went with Brs recommended starting amount. Which is why I was a little shocked it dropped so quickly. I may check whats coming out of the reactor and see if its completely stripping phosphate. Then I think I'll know I need to remove a good amount of gfo or turn it off. Would rather run some constantly then have phosphate fluctuations constantly.

 

[blu3s94]

It's no big deal if it spikes up.....it is a very big deal if it bottoms out! My corals do great when it's where you started.

Mine probably did too. But I know I deal with algae issues when my GFO gets that high. Mainly just having to scrape the glass 3x a week which is a bit annoying on this size tank.

 

[Billldg]

I went with Brs recommended starting amount. Which is why I was a little shocked it dropped so quickly. I may check whats coming out of the reactor and see if its completely stripping phosphate. Then I think I'll know I need to remove a good amount of gfo or turn it off. Would rather run some constantly then have phosphate fluctuations constantly.

I also looked into their calculations, but also saw where other reefers were saying how powerful it was, so I started with a half a cup and within a week it stripped my phosphates from .1 to 0, then another battle started not to long after which is why I totally agree with @saltyhog , you don’t want them to reach 0 and stay there. Which is why if I use it now I use only a 1/4 cup and closely monitor my phosphates while I use it. I’m not blaming the calculator or the GFO, just need to be careful with it as it is a very powerful tool.

 

[blu3s94]

I also looked into their calculations, but also saw where other reefers were saying how powerful it was, so I started with a half a cup and within a week it stripped my phosphates from .1 to 0, then another battle started not to long after which is why I totally agree with @saltyhog , you don’t want them to reach 0 and stay there. Which is why if I use it now I use only a 1/4 cup and closely monitor my phosphates while I use it. I’m not blaming the calculator or the GFO, just need to be careful with it as it is a very powerful tool.

Yeah I think I would have been better going with half the amount they recommend. Im going to dump half out of the reactor right now then check where we are at tomorrow.