My GFO is on the way. Current po4 is 0.53. No3 is 0 I used neonitro to increase no3 from 0 to 0.5 but po4 still no change. Yesterday I did WC and added neonitro again and used red sea nopox. Today...po4 no change but no3 is 0 what should I do...thank you～
How to decrease po4?
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Sarah24!
2500 Club Member
Stop dosing the nopox, your stripping your water too clean. The nopox will remove both of them. I’d use phosguard instead. (Responded to your other one also). Your doing too much too fast, easy up just a tad. You need some nitrates and some phosphates. But dosing nopox decreases both, and if your doing water changes also, it’s best to stay w water changes. Because of the size of my tank I use the nopox, but once you start you can’t stop and unwise to miss dosages. Other tank parameters will help, size of tank what kind of coral fish you know the usual stuff 
Tomorrow I will try 50% water change. Thank you for typed lot to help me. Have a nice holidayStop dosing the nopox, your stripping your water too clean. The nopox will remove both of them. I’d use phosguard instead. (Responded to your other one also). Your doing too much too fast, easy up just a tad. You need some nitrates and some phosphates. But dosing nopox decreases both, and if your doing water changes also, it’s best to stay w water changes. Because of the size of my tank I use the nopox, but once you start you can’t stop and unwise to miss dosages. Other tank parameters will help, size of tank what kind of coral fish you know the usual stuff
Sarah24!
2500 Club Member
Hey there,
Don’t do a 50% water change, your getting rid of the good bacteria too fast. Even if you do one, it’s not gonna drop it right away anyway. I’m trying to help, (which corals do you have and how long has it been set up?)
Don’t do a 50% water change, your getting rid of the good bacteria too fast. Even if you do one, it’s not gonna drop it right away anyway. I’m trying to help, (which corals do you have and how long has it been set up?)
SPR1968
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I think you need to sit back a little and consider what your trying to achieve.
You don’t say the size of the tank, but if you’ve ordered GFO just wait for it to arrive and then use it in a media bag (much less effective) but ideally in a reactor to tumble it. If you have corals you may need to use the GFO in smaller amounts to start so it doesn’t affect their health by stripping the phosphate quickly if they’ve become accustomed to the higher levels
There’s no point adding Neonitro in one hand, and then stripping the nitrate back out with a 50% water change, and in addition using Nopox which reduces nitrate . It won’t touch the phosphate levels as it’s not very efficient at that even when nitrate is present.
So my advice would be to sit back, maybe add the neonitro, or more fish to bring nitrate up, and then use the GFO to bring phosphate under control
Identify each problem, research what to do, and then implement the solution. And be patient, levels won’t change necessarily overnight.
You don’t say the size of the tank, but if you’ve ordered GFO just wait for it to arrive and then use it in a media bag (much less effective) but ideally in a reactor to tumble it. If you have corals you may need to use the GFO in smaller amounts to start so it doesn’t affect their health by stripping the phosphate quickly if they’ve become accustomed to the higher levels
There’s no point adding Neonitro in one hand, and then stripping the nitrate back out with a 50% water change, and in addition using Nopox which reduces nitrate . It won’t touch the phosphate levels as it’s not very efficient at that even when nitrate is present.
So my advice would be to sit back, maybe add the neonitro, or more fish to bring nitrate up, and then use the GFO to bring phosphate under control
Identify each problem, research what to do, and then implement the solution. And be patient, levels won’t change necessarily overnight.
Stop dosing the nopox, your stripping your water too clean. The nopox will remove both of them. I’d use phosguard instead. (Responded to your other one also). Your doing too much too fast, easy up just a tad. You need some nitrates and some phosphates. But dosing nopox decreases both, and if your doing water changes also, it’s best to stay w water changes. Because of the size of my tank I use the nopox, but once you start you can’t stop and unwise to miss dosages. Other tank parameters will help, size of tank what kind of coral fish you know the usual stuff
Not all types of po4 will bind to phosguard, but definetly quit the nopox.
If phosguard has worked for you before, continue using phosguard, but if it no longer works, try rowaphos.
I've tried both, phosguard doesn't do anything for me, and rowaphos is a miracle, it lowers PO4 EXTREMELY quickly, so watch out.
Michael Gray
Valuable Member
Ive dosed No3 and it in turn lowers my po4.....
Auto-pilot
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If you have corals keep the nitrate detectable. I wouldn't freak out and do anything to fast. Add something to slowly bring it down and control it. There are alot of ways to bring it down. I use phosphate RX
Pntbll687
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If you do decide to run the gfo use HALF or less of what is recommended. I can almost predict that if you use the full amount of gfo you will strip all the p04 out of the water and combined with low nitrates cause a dino bloom.
Is the high p04 causing issues right now? I'm asking because I've had my phosphate up near 1 before without any issues.
If you're not having significant issues right now, try to lower the phosphates down to where you want them over the next couple of weeks to months.
Is the high p04 causing issues right now? I'm asking because I've had my phosphate up near 1 before without any issues.
If you're not having significant issues right now, try to lower the phosphates down to where you want them over the next couple of weeks to months.
Michael Gray
Valuable Member
well both were low.. so next day
Dr. Dendrostein
Marine fish monthly
How do the corals look, happy , sick looking , you know
As has been suggested before: while you wait for the GFO, I would dose nitrates each day. This will eventually get nitrates >0 and will also reduce PO4 some. Unless you are overdue for a 20% WC, I would wait on that.
Once the GFO arrives, run 1/2 the amount recommended and test every other day. You want to reduce PO4 slowly.
S-L-O-W-L-Y.
Once the GFO arrives, run 1/2 the amount recommended and test every other day. You want to reduce PO4 slowly.
S-L-O-W-L-Y.
Good progress. What nitrate test kit are you using?
As to how to keep the balance there are many different methods and tools available. Too many things we can buy and deploy.
Each tank is different, but to simplify the nutrient equation: Nutrient Input minus Nutrient Export = Plant/Animal growth in tank.
You get to chose the kinds and amounts of food input, and you get to choose which export tools/methods.
Water change, skimmer, filter socks, refugium, bacterial dosing, carbon dosing, GFO and more.
For me and my systems I feed a lot, WC 15% every 2 weeks, keep a lot of rock and ceramic media, run a skimmer pretty dry 24/7, and run a smallish refugium 6 hours, and a GFO reactor very infrequently when PO4 starts to rise.
My goal is fat fish and well fed corals. I test ALK, PO4 and NO3 every 2-3 days to keep 8-8.5 dkh, .04-.1 PO4, and nitrate of 5-15.
When something starts moving toward the higher end, I will add some light time to the refugium, and/or replace or run GFO and extra couple hours each day from my controller. Little, slow, changes. And test.
As to how to keep the balance there are many different methods and tools available. Too many things we can buy and deploy.
Each tank is different, but to simplify the nutrient equation: Nutrient Input minus Nutrient Export = Plant/Animal growth in tank.
You get to chose the kinds and amounts of food input, and you get to choose which export tools/methods.
Water change, skimmer, filter socks, refugium, bacterial dosing, carbon dosing, GFO and more.
For me and my systems I feed a lot, WC 15% every 2 weeks, keep a lot of rock and ceramic media, run a skimmer pretty dry 24/7, and run a smallish refugium 6 hours, and a GFO reactor very infrequently when PO4 starts to rise.
My goal is fat fish and well fed corals. I test ALK, PO4 and NO3 every 2-3 days to keep 8-8.5 dkh, .04-.1 PO4, and nitrate of 5-15.
When something starts moving toward the higher end, I will add some light time to the refugium, and/or replace or run GFO and extra couple hours each day from my controller. Little, slow, changes. And test.
I am using red sea for nitrate and hanna for phosphate. Should I turn off refug light？ I did test a few hours ago. No3 0.5 and po4 .36 And my corals look like suffering right now hanmer is getting thin and sps corals look like losing tissue and getting light
