Cheato not lowering phosphate!

[starfish138]

Purchase about 150 bucks worth of cheato from algae barn, it seems to be doing well but it’s not lowering phosphates. been running for two weeks, phosphates are at .60! Help! I’m also running gFO and phosguard.

 

[VintageReefer]

How old is the tank and rock?
Do you have any coral issues?
What’s wrong with .6?

My phosphate is .5 for example

 

[starfish138]

Nice!
2 years old. Idk I’m told high phosphate equals bad. I have a trachy not doing great. But ya know how they are. I have a little hair algae. Nothing crazy.

 

[starfish138]

How old is the tank and rock?
Do you have any coral issues?
What’s wrong with .6?

My phosphate is .5 for example

What are running? Filter wise.

 

[BristleWormHater]

Is chaeto actually growing or is it just not dying?

 

[starfish138]

Is chaeto actually growing or is it just not dying?

Yeah it’s growing.

 

[BAMatter]

When I ran Triton method, I found chaeto to not really touch my PO4 number, but sponged up NO3.

 

[sixty_reefer]

You are likely to have plenty of Phosphate absorbed by the aragonite surfaces in your tank, it may take moths until you see a drop in them.

 

[starfish138]

Here’s a pic.

 

[Koty]

Cheato, bacteria, and algae take up much more nitrate than phosphate. I have the same issue mainly because I have many fish. Corals are happy, but so are the hair algae. I run Cheato, skimmer, heavy carbon dosing, GFO, and amino acid dosing as my nitrate is near zero, but phosphate stays high (0.3-0.5 ppm). FWIW Nothing is wrong with that.

 

[ZoWhat]

In my 20 yr experience.... this product works everytime.... and continues to work if you dose it once a week.

Other than waterchanges this is the only thing I use.... and my po4 stays at <0.1 with heavy feedings

Amazon product

 

[VintageReefer]

What are running? Filter wise.

I run an algae scrubber and a cryptic zone of live rock and live sponge
I don’t do water changes or run a skimmer. I don’t use any mechanical filtration. No pads or socks or fleece rollers.

I kept phosphate at .04 for about 1.5 years on this tank and increased levels and found better coral health

 

[VintageReefer]

In my 20 yr experience.... this product works everytime.... and continues to work if you dose it once a week.

Other than waterchanges this is the only thing I use.... and my po4 stays at <0.1 with heavy feedings

Amazon product

Do you have any tangs? How are you dosing this?

 

[ZoWhat]

Do you have any tangs? How are you dosing this?

Three tangs....

I dose 10 droplets into a 200g total water volume system every other day.

Haven't lost a single tang bc it's so low dose.... been religiously doing this for 5 years

Higher doses could create problems...meaning upwards of 100-200 droplets

I super duper trust the formula Blue Life puts in the bottle.

Never seen a fish struggle with LaCL in the water column

PROTIP... using a low dose more often over time is the key

 

[ZoWhat]

Testimonial is corney A F .... but it's a great product

I DISAGREE with a large dose every 6 weeks... I dose 10 droplets every other day, maybe every 3rd day

 

[starfish138]

Three tangs....

I dose 10 droplets into a 200g total water volume system every other day.

Haven't lost a single tang bc it's so low dose.... been religiously doing this for 5 years

Higher doses could create problems...meaning upwards of 60-70 droplets

I super duper trust the formula Blue Life puts in the bottle.

Never seen a fish struggle with LaCL in the water column

PROTIP... use a low dose more often over time is the key

i'll give it a go! thanks!

 

[starfish138]

I run an algae scrubber and a cryptic zone of live rock and live sponge
I don’t do water changes or run a skimmer. I don’t use any mechanical filtration. No pads or socks or fleece rollers.

I kept phosphate at .04 for about 1.5 years on this tank and increased levels and found better coral health

is this all in your sump?

 

[starfish138]

Testimonial is corney A F .... but it's a great product

I DISAGREE with a large dose every 6 weeks... I dose 10 droplets every other day, maybe everythank you!

 

[Reeferbadness]

My chaeto sucks up a ton of Nitrate (which has me now dosing NeoNitro). For Phos - i use this on one of my tanks - very effective. Put it in a filter bag in one of your filter socks (if you're running a Reef Mat - still use an old sock to help prevent any material from getting out as it's very fine ). Works very well to lower and stabilize.

 

[VintageReefer]

is this all in your sump?

Yes