.08 phosphates

is this bad? or ok... I have read .05 and under is ideal for coraline to grow and other corals to thrive. I have been at .o8 for 3 months and nitrates stuck on 20 ppm. I added a biopellet reactor hopefully this will help. Any other advice besides water changes?

 

Are you using RO water?

 

yes!

 

what type of food and how often?

lighting?

cut back on both and the Nitrate and Phoshate will drop over time. Or, add reactors or specfic algae to combat this concern.

your level's are really not that high, but keep in mind, the more light and food the more both will rise.

 

Are you using GFO - granular Ferric Oxide?

as this will help remove the phosphate from the water column

if you have not used it previously start with half dose in reactor or even mesh pouch in filter and then change it weekly, until the levels are 0 according to test kit

if you use it in reactor, remove the reactor outlet and use that water for test purpose
when the water coming out, is the same phosphate level as the tank
that means GFO is exhausted and thus should be renewed


Steve

 

food is the problem because i have to feed my sunpolyp daily. The lights i will cute back an hour or so. I keep the moon lights on an extra hour or two or all night if i fall asleep lol

 

I just got a reactor like 2 weeks ago and put bio pellets in it. my canister has carbon and bio rings. anything else I should add? or is this sufficient for now?

 

Ah, canister filter? Please advise.

 

ok lol.... this was a FW tank and i had it sitting around for 3 years empty. So i decided to switch it up and start a new hobby this past January. Unfortunately my stand has a divider right down the middle so no sump will fit. Until I get some extra cash i'm going to attempt building my own stand and tank. FOr now I have a HOB skimmer canister with carbon keeps my water crystal and i'm just sick of all the HOB stuff. I have a reactor too HOB with bio pellets. lol there the short version of my set up

 

may not need to Los1980
but most people continue to run GFO even after introducing pellets into the system, simply because Nitrate is removed at a far higher ratio than phosphate is via the additional bacteria activity the pellets generate

you could on the other hand

monitor your trates, and when they are at 0 if you still have Phosphate
then I would add GFO - it will work if added in mesh pouch to the cannister

the pellets should encourage additional bacteria, and these in turn should remove nitrate and phosphate - but they do so in a balanced ratio as mentioned above
and from my research on subject combined with my own carbon dosing experience, I have found it to be common that nitrate often becomes the limiting factor preventing the removal of the excess phosphate

option 2 is probably not as good an idea IME as running with the elevated phosphate level, could cause nuisance algae issues in the mean time


so I would run the GFO and if in a few weeks my trates had not zero's out
I would then suspect the reverse was true in my situation and that phosphate had become the limiting nutrient and at that stage either reduce or remove my GFO


Steve