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Phosphate seems pretty high, that would do it. What test kits?
What are the Pathogens that you speak of?
I have never heard of them before?
Do they only target Chalices (Like how Montipora Eating Nudibranch's only eat Montipora)?
Or do these Pathogens target any Coral that is Receeding or RTN/STN ing?
CLAMS AND POM XENIA LOVE PHO4. ALK should be 8-10dkh. My tank is 9dkh and growing chalice plump. Could you try phos pads occasionally? Or ck food additions too high in PHO4
Your nitrate/ phosphate ratio is out of ballance. Chalices don't mind some nutrients if they are in balance at the right levels. Nitrates 5-10 and phosphate .03-.09 is what I shoot for. The way I see it is the nutrients are what feeds the algae and algae like many other plants require a certain balance of nutrients. If one limiting nutrient is depleted (nitrate) then it limits their growth and they can not use the other nutrients like phosphate. Without some nitrate their algae becomes malnourished making them vulnerable to pathogens that they could normally fight off. An addition of aminos could help bring that ratio more in line except that phosphate is a bit to high to tweak it this way.
Also sudden swings like your phosphate rise could do this. As mentioned above several good size water changes over a couple days will help bring your parameters in balance but the way your phosphates shot up after you stopped the gfo makes me think there's either a lot of phosphate tied up in your sand and live rock or your water source is high phosphate. You might want to test your rodi water for phos. Until you can eliminate the source of phosphate you may be best off continuing with the gfo and if your corals become pale then dose aminos to get some nitrates. Just my .02
Another options is to use less gfo. This is a pain, and one of the reason I use Ecobak/Ecobak Plus bioplellets. Targeting a specific po4 level take alot of testing, but should be pretty basic once you get it locked in. Use like 1/4 of as much GFO as you did. .95 po4 can cause alot of stony corals to RTN.
Your nitrate/ phosphate ratio is out of ballance. Chalices don't mind some nutrients if they are in balance at the right levels. Nitrates 5-10 and phosphate .03-.09 is what I shoot for. The way I see it is the nutrients are what feeds the algae and algae like many other plants require a certain balance of nutrients. If one limiting nutrient is depleted (nitrate) then it limits their gro*** and they can not use the other nutrients like phosphate. Without some nitrate their algae becomes malnourished making them vulnerable to pathogens that they could normally fight off. An addition of aminos could help bring that ratio more in line except that phosphate is a bit to high to tweak it this way.
Also sudden swings like your phosphate rise could do this. As mentioned above several good size water changes over a couple days will help bring your parameters in balance but the way your phosphates shot up after you stopped the gfo makes me think there's either a lot of phosphate tied up in your sand and live rock or your water source is high phosphate. You might want to test your rodi water for phos. Until you can eliminate the source of phosphate you may be best off continuing with the gfo and if your corals become pale then dose aminos to get some nitrates. Just my .02
First things first. Lets get the phosphate levels down. If you try to change both at the same time you won't know which effort resolved your problem. Once your phosphates are lower and in balance with what nitrate is there, I think you'll see nitrate rise. They say reefs are low nutrient environments which only means the water flowing around them has low nutrients the life on the reef just aggressively competes for these nutrients. So nutrients are there and in the right balance are consumed by the corals and bacteria. Bacteria consumes most the nitrate and phosphates in our ranks reducing their presence in the water. If either nitrate or phosphate is limited then that biological process will be limited by whichever one is in short supply. With your phosphate level so high it is not possible to safely add nitrate to tweak that ratio. Start with controlling phosphates. You don't need a reactor for gfo. Put it in a media bag, rinse well with rodi and put in a high flow area of your sump.These are all great points.
Couple Questions:
1. Doesn't the RO Water take out all the Phosphates?
It should. I recently discovered my ro cartridge had expired way early. We have high chlorine in our water and if I don't stay on top of changing the carbon block then the chlorine can degrade the ro filter which I think is what happened. It takes a day for me to fill my rodi tank and the next morning my di cartridge was completely exhausted and I had a rodi tank full of .04 phosphates. . To track down your source of phosphates you should start with testing your rodi water.
2. I actually do Dose Amminio Acids (Acro Power) Twice a Week.
That's the stuff. I've heard only good things about it.
3. How do I raise Nitrates? I tried to Feed More but they are always at Zero?