Phosphate Reactor

[mapes]

Hi All,

I have had an increase in algae growth lately for an assortment of reasons, which I have since resolved. It hasn't gotten too out of hand (yet), but I wanted to get on top of it now. My phosphate levels are currently untraceable, per my Salifert test kit, but I have read that the algae may be consuming the phosphate, which ultimately gives me a false reading of 0.

I have a dual chamber reactor that is not running, but is hooked up to my system, and I was thinking about running some GFO through one of the chambers. My question is: should I start with half of the recommended dosage of the GFO and see if the algae subsides, or should I just start with the full recommended dosage? If I do start with the full dosage, will that have an adverse effect on things like the coloration of my SPS colonies?

Thank you

 

[Ishai Thatcher]

Hi All,

I have had an increase in algae growth lately for an assortment of reasons, which I have since resolved. It hasn't gotten too out of hand (yet), but I wanted to get on top of it now. My phosphate levels are currently untraceable, per my Salifert test kit, but I have read that the algae may be consuming the phosphate, which ultimately gives me a false reading of 0.

I have a dual chamber reactor that is not running, but is hooked up to my system, and I was thinking about running some GFO through one of the chambers. My question is: should I start with half of the recommended dosage of the GFO and see if the algae subsides, or should I just start with the full recommended dosage? If I do start with the full dosage, will that have an adverse effect on things like the coloration of my SPS colonies?

Thank you

I’m not an expert, but i don’t see how starting with half the dose could be bad. If it were me ide just start with the half dose and see how it does. You could also try a product like microbacter clean or vibrant. Those are heterotrophic bacteria that compete for the same real estate as the algae, and often outcompete it. Just be careful if you have a refugium because it could mess with your macro algae.

 

[mapes]

I’m not an expert, but i don’t see how starting with half the dose could be bad. If it were me ide just start with the half dose and see how it does. You could also try a product like microbacter clean or vibrant. Those are heterotrophic bacteria that compete for the same real estate as the algae, and often outcompete it. Just be careful if you have a refugium because it could mess with your macro algae.

Thank you for the response. I will look into those products, and that is a great point with the refugium. I will keep an eye on it as I go.