Rowaphos/chemipure blue placement
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spamvicious
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Pod_01
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Just a suggestion but you can buy GAC (Granular activated carbon) and GFO (Granular Ferric Oxide) put the recommended amount/ or any amount in a bag and have same product for fraction of the cost.Yes that’s for American Amazon. Not for UK
There is nothing unique about Chemipure products.
Long term you can stop using GFO so you don’t deplete your Phosphate.
For example I only use 2.5 tablespoons (app 40 ml) of GAC on 250L system in a media cup and change it every 4 weeks.
Good luck,
VintageReefer
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Well then. I guess your badge does give that away! How did I overlook that lol my apologies!Yes that’s for American Amazon. Not for UK
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spamvicious
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Great thanks. I’ll use this for now and then switch over if still needed.Just a suggestion but you can buy GAC (Granular activated carbon) and GFO (Granular Ferric Oxide) put the recommended amount/ or any amount in a bag and have same product for fraction of the cost.
There is nothing unique about Chemipure products.
Long term you can stop using GFO so you don’t deplete your Phosphate.
For example I only use 2.5 tablespoons (app 40 ml) of GAC on 250L system in a media cup and change it every 4 weeks.
Good luck,
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spamvicious
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Ha no worries
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spamvicious
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So I tested phospates today (Saturday) after adding the chemi pure elite on Wednesday and they’ve gone up instead of down. Now reading 0.21ppm when it was 0.19.
I have the bag in the first chamber under some filter floss so maybe it’s not getting enough flow?. I’m going to do a water change tomorrow as there also seems to be some cyano creeping up too.
I have the bag in the first chamber under some filter floss so maybe it’s not getting enough flow?. I’m going to do a water change tomorrow as there also seems to be some cyano creeping up too.
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Due to tester accuracy, this is theoretically the same and not an increase
Don’t test after the water change also. Wait 8-12 hours
what needs to happen is (the process)
Absorb gfo from water, water reading decreases
Phosphate bound to rock then releases to establish equilibrium, water reading increases
Repeat ^ over and over until levels in rock are low to zero
Absorb phosphate from water, water reading decreases
Rock has no more to release, water reading stays decreased
Doing a water change will have the same pattern as above.
It’s all a process that has to happen many times to truly lower the phosphate in the system. Stick with it. It takes a few weeks to a few months depending on the system. Can’t do water changes non stop for weeks so we use gfo to constantly absorb phosphate at a slow and steady rate, working round the clock
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spamvicious
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Thanks for the info. I used a Hanna tester for the phosphate so at least I’m not relying on colour charts. So I was thinking of a 50% water change tomorrow and also reducing feeding and try siphon out the suspected cyano. Then next week back to 10% water changes .
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I get it and with the values you have I assumed so. I never really dug in the details until yesterday but I was shocked to find out their alk checker has an “acceptable deviation” of + / - .3 dkh.
Sooo it could read 8.5 as anywhere from 8.2 - 8.8
It could read 8.8 consistently for weeks or months then give an 8.2 and you would think you have an alk drop, but nothing no could have changed at all
I now know with these egg testers, the only increase or decreases that should be considered is when things deviate out of the devices accuracy range
Pod_01
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As mentioned I would consider those results the same.
Here is information on the accuracy of the Hanna checker:
From my experience GFO gets used up quite quickly. So best to use small amounts and change it often.
Sinking PO4 can be very detrimental to corals and I usually ended up with dead corals so I let PO4 do it’s thing and I only try to do something if the readings gets to 0.75ppm.
Large water changes are not the best method to reduce Phosphate, as phosphate unbinds from your rock/sand it will be right back where you started. Large water change works on NO3, but that can lead to instability and upset corals so something to do only in extreme emergency.
Here is information on the accuracy of the Hanna checker:
From my experience GFO gets used up quite quickly. So best to use small amounts and change it often.
Sinking PO4 can be very detrimental to corals and I usually ended up with dead corals so I let PO4 do it’s thing and I only try to do something if the readings gets to 0.75ppm.
Large water changes are not the best method to reduce Phosphate, as phosphate unbinds from your rock/sand it will be right back where you started. Large water change works on NO3, but that can lead to instability and upset corals so something to do only in extreme emergency.
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spamvicious
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Ok so shall I just carry on with normal water changes and see how things go?As mentioned I would consider those results the same.
Here is information on the accuracy of the Hanna checker:
From my experience GFO gets used up quite quickly. So best to use small amounts and change it often.
Sinking PO4 can be very detrimental to corals and I usually ended up with dead corals so I let PO4 do it’s thing and I only try to do something if the readings gets to 0.75ppm.
Large water changes are not the best method to reduce Phosphate, as phosphate unbinds from your rock/sand it will be right back where you started. Large water change works on NO3, but that can lead to instability and upset corals so something to do only in extreme emergency.
Pod_01
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I would stick to your original maintenance and monitor PO4. If it keeps going up maybe change food type, use less coral food type etc…
Feeding your fish less usually does not work, I feed my fish 3/4 times a day. I use Fauna Marine Multi mix pellets.
Fish look happy:
Fish will provide the right food for your corals ammonia and poop. I like full fish that swims around and are not aggressive. Hungry fish tend to become aggressive.
Corals once they grow past the frag stage will consume lot of PO4. When you control PO4 you are competing with corals and you can starve them. My PO4 routinely goes from 0.1 to 0.4 and back down on its own.
My filtration is skimmer and GAC,
I consider the corals to be the main filter and I only supplement them.
Feeding less and artificially reducing PO4 tends to lead to algae outbreaks as well. Algae will outcompete corals in that type of scenario because algae is able to get PO4 from rock while corals do not have such advantage.
GFO also removes other things from the water and I found long term use of GFO very stressful on my corals.
Good luck,
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spamvicious
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Just tested nitrates and phosphates and both have risen despite the normal 10% water change. I only have one cardinal in my Fluval evo 13.5 plus a shrimp and cuc. I think I’ll just remove the chemi pure as it doesn’t seem to be doing anything and the toadstool doesn’t look happy.
I don’t feed any coral food, just feed frozen food to the cardinal. So I don’t understand why the nitrates and phosphates are high.
Phos is 0.24 using the Hanna ultra low test and nitrates are this:
I don’t feed any coral food, just feed frozen food to the cardinal. So I don’t understand why the nitrates and phosphates are high.
Phos is 0.24 using the Hanna ultra low test and nitrates are this:
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Randy Holmes-Farley
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if you want them lower, you likely need other nutrient control methods. What are the current levels?
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spamvicious
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Sorry only just seen your reply. These are my test results from today.
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Randy Holmes-Farley
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Ok, I would not be worrying too much about those levels.
