Po4 drop

cilyjr · Mar 20, 2016

Po4 drop from .07 to .02 in just a day and a half using 1 cup of GFO in an upflow reactor? , 180 display, 75 sump 20l frag, 220g total system volume with rock ect.

It seems fast to me. I expected a week.

The results were double tested both times using the Hanna phosphorus ulr test then math to get the Po4 number.

Anthony Wood · Mar 20, 2016

GFO sucks PO4 out of the system real quick especially the high cap stuff. Your fine unless you get the 0 on your Hanna ULR .02 is right about where you want it for SPS.

cilyjr · Mar 20, 2016

I'm ok with the nomber. I was suprised about the rate.

Anthony Wood · Mar 20, 2016

cilyjr said:
I'm ok with the nomber. I was suprised about the rate.

gotcha! Means you have good turnover. The rate is about correct using a reactor the high capacity GFO will suck PO4 out within hours.

Addicted2ACRO's · Mar 20, 2016

I used to use GFO until test results came back from Triton that I had Zero PO4. I stopped using GFO and started adding Brightwell Neophos, as recommemded by Randy. Now my PO4 is where it should be

cilyjr · Mar 20, 2016

Anthony Wood said:
gotcha! Means you have good turnover. The rate is about correct using a reactor the high capacity GFO will suck PO4 out within hours.

Thanks for the info

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 20, 2016

FWIW, 0.07 to 0.02 ppm phosphate in a day seems a plausible rate to me as well. Just don't let it go to far, but if you remove the GFO, phosphate will likely rise quickly again.

cilyjr · Mar 20, 2016

Right randy, thanks. This is Chris from the auction the other day btw.

I'll pull 1/2 gfo. I am also running a TAS and good skimmer. I had scraped the TAS a few days before maybe I was too aggressive with it.

cilyjr · Mar 20, 2016

Po4 has been around .04 for a while before the jump to .07

cilyjr · Mar 20, 2016

Actually I slowed the flow through the reactor by about 1/2 instead of removing 1/2 the media.
You guys think that will be helpful? I don't want to sit much lower then .02

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 22, 2016

cilyjr said:
Right randy, thanks. This is Chris from the auction the other day btw.

I'll pull 1/2 gfo. I am also running a TAS and good skimmer. I had scraped the TAS a few days before maybe I was too aggressive with it.

Hey, now I can associate a face with a name.

Slowing GFO flow can work well, as long as the flow is not too slow and the media doesn't move at all so begins to harden into a rock from local precipitation of calcium carbonate.

cilyjr · Mar 22, 2016

Right on. Honestly I'll probably pull it out later today or tomorrow. But it is good to know that phosphate can be delt with quickly and as long as one is careful and keeping an eye on the numbers, pretty safely