Does chemipure blue lower Phosphates?

elorablue

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Howdy, I've had a bag of chemipure blue in the back of my 20g AIO for about a month now. The water is always crystal clear. This tank is only 60 days old but is doing well.
Problem is for the last couple of weeks my phosphate has been hovering around zero which I don't want. Today I removed the chemipure in hopes of raising my phosphate levels.
Tank has 2 clowns, 1 firefish, 1 blood shrimp, a number of snails, 6 softies, 2 LPS and 2 SPS..all doing well.
Will this make any difference? I can provide all my parameters if needed.
thanks in advance
 

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It does and keeps it in check
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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While chemipure elite will lower phosphate due to containing GFO, the effect of chemipure blue on phosphate is very small, coming from binding organics that may contain it before they can break down. It won't bind it directly.
 

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elorablue

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Looks like some random variation to me, and I would do something to keep it off zero.

Indeed. I removed the chemipure to raise phosphates but at this point of the test I'd say it has made no difference. I'm pretty consistent with everything I do with the tank.
We'll see what another week shows.
 
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elorablue

elorablue

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13 days

0.08

Interesting. I'm just glad its not zero anymore.
Going to finish out this week with the chemipure left out then put it back in and test for 2 weeks again.

Sorry if this is boring but ya never know, it may help someone.
 

t5Nitro

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Howd it go for you? I just replaced my chemipure elite today. Only using it to use it up, have 6 bags left after this one. Phos is always low, and I dose on top of it. Interesting to see just 2 weeks out you were at 0.08!

I'm wondering if you added it back and what results came of it, and how quickly?
 
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elorablue

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Howd it go for you? I just replaced my chemipure elite today. Only using it to use it up, have 6 bags left after this one. Phos is always low, and I dose on top of it. Interesting to see just 2 weeks out you were at 0.08!

I'm wondering if you added it back and what results came of it, and how quickly?

I apologise for forgetting about this thread.
I replaced the chemipure blue into the tank for 3 weeks then took it out again. My only conclusions would be that I don't believe the Blue had any affect on my phosphate levels. I say this because in my 20g tank my phosphate levels have been similar whether it's in or not.
I test for phosphate every 3 days, sometimes more often. (I actually enjoy testing, weird I know) and these are my values for the last month. Hanna Checker and no chemipure blue.
As you can see my results are all over the map. In fact phosphate is the only parameter in my tank that isn't dead stable.
I have no answer to this. When it gets too low I just feed pellets for a day or two.

MonSep 6, 2021 12:020.02 ppm
SatSep 4, 2021 11:030.00 ppm
ThuSep 2, 2021 10:090.00 ppm
MonAug 30, 2021 10:480.05 ppm
WedAug 25, 2021 11:190.07 ppm
SunAug 22, 2021 17:360.00 ppm
FriAug 20, 2021 11:350.04 ppm
TueAug 17, 2021 10:020.10 ppm
SatAug 14, 2021 12:500.02 ppm
WedAug 11, 2021 13:250.06 ppm
MonAug 9, 2021 12:480.04 ppm
FriAug 6, 2021 11:180.05 ppm
TueAug 3, 2021 11:250.06 ppm
SatJul 31, 2021 18:070.03 ppm
WedJul 28, 2021 17:070.04 ppm
 

t5Nitro

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Thanks!! I wonder if even the chemipure elite (not the blue), the amount of phosphate binder in the media must be so small and easily exhausted that it similarly has little impact on phos level, especially for those who feed heavily and/or dose phosphate.
 
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elorablue

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Ya, I honestly don't know. I've decided not to worry about it and just continue with my usual routine as everything in the tank is doing very well and I have , and have never had, any algae issues at all. My nitrates are steady around 17 and I have roughly 35 corals (20 Acropora) in there and 4 fish. I would love a rock steady phosphate but no idea why it fluctuates so much.
 

t5Nitro

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Out of curiosity do you dose anything to keep the nitrate that high? Struggle to get mine measurable, but I'm starting to dose 1-2ppm from NaNO3 daily again, and starting today I'm going to let the skimmer cup drain back into the sump and use it for gas exchange mostly.
 
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elorablue

elorablue

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Out of curiosity do you dose anything to keep the nitrate that high? Struggle to get mine measurable, but I'm starting to dose 1-2ppm from NaNO3 daily again, and starting today I'm going to let the skimmer cup drain back into the sump and use it for gas exchange mostly.

My nitrates have always been on the high side. Tank is just coming up to 6 months old and it's an AIO. At the end of my cycle nitrates were 80 !! LOL
I don't dose anything except ESV Bionic 2 part daily and Microbacter Clean weekly.
I don't have a skimmer nor a refugium. I feed frozen food exclusively ( probably a bit on the heavy side) and only use pellets when phosphate gets low. I also feed Reef Nutrition Phyto Feast every 3 days and occasionally reseed with their tigger pods. I do a 15% water change every week.
That's all I do but I'm very consistent.
 

dwest

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I apologise for forgetting about this thread.
I replaced the chemipure blue into the tank for 3 weeks then took it out again. My only conclusions would be that I don't believe the Blue had any affect on my phosphate levels. I say this because in my 20g tank my phosphate levels have been similar whether it's in or not.
I test for phosphate every 3 days, sometimes more often. (I actually enjoy testing, weird I know) and these are my values for the last month. Hanna Checker and no chemipure blue.
As you can see my results are all over the map. In fact phosphate is the only parameter in my tank that isn't dead stable.
I have no answer to this. When it gets too low I just feed pellets for a day or two.

MonSep 6, 2021 12:020.02 ppm
SatSep 4, 2021 11:030.00 ppm
ThuSep 2, 2021 10:090.00 ppm
MonAug 30, 2021 10:480.05 ppm
WedAug 25, 2021 11:190.07 ppm
SunAug 22, 2021 17:360.00 ppm
FriAug 20, 2021 11:350.04 ppm
TueAug 17, 2021 10:020.10 ppm
SatAug 14, 2021 12:500.02 ppm
WedAug 11, 2021 13:250.06 ppm
MonAug 9, 2021 12:480.04 ppm
FriAug 6, 2021 11:180.05 ppm
TueAug 3, 2021 11:250.06 ppm
SatJul 31, 2021 18:070.03 ppm
WedJul 28, 2021 17:070.04 ppm
If you are using their low range phosphate checker, most of the data falls within the accuracy range of the checker. The phosphate levels are something like 0.05 ppm +/- .04 (.01 to 0.09). Great numbers in my book!

From hanna’s site:
Accuracy @ 25°C/77°F±0.04 ppm ±4% of reading
 

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