Zazzy

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I've read online that you should never run gfo with Sps corals in your system. Apparently corals will lose colors. How true is this? I currently run a refugium, carbon dose vinegar, and run phosguard but it gets exhausted very quickly. I feed my corals reef roids every other day. Looking for something more effienct to removing phosphates otherwise I'm gonna give up and just go full zeovit. Before I started feeding this heavily to corals, I was at 16ppb per Hanna ulr and last night it hit 200ppb and Ive noticed less growth than usual over the coarse of a week. I was replacing phosguard every 2 weeks but I finally ran out and I want something better
All help is welcomed:)
 

Waters

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I think that comment stems from the fact that GFO removes phosphates, which are needed by SPS to grow and keep their color. You just have to be careful that you don't remove it all, but keep it at lower levels. I run it 24x7 on my sps tank with no issues.
 
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Zazzy

Zazzy

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Your 16ppb seems really good to me. If your refugium and carbon dose hold it here. I would skip the GFO, personally
I dose only 30mg every other day. Probably need to raise and do every day. I just am lazy to test for phosphates and nitrates everyday so I just do a safe amount
 

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GFO is like carbon dosing... either can be dangerous if you let the the N or P get too low... but just being low is not an issue like being at absolute zero can be. My coral thrive with 1-3 ppb of phosphate... or NSW levels.

200 ppb is likely growth limiting and could affect some color in some acropora. GFO can help get this down, but it will take a lot. You likely have all kinds of it bound to the aragonite in your tank that is acting like a reservoir. It could take gallons of GFO changed every few days to remove it permanently.

What happens is that you will add some GFO and your 200 ppb water will now be 20-30 (or whatever) in a few days. A day later, you are 199 or 200 again. This is the aragonite releasing bound phosphate back to "equilibrium." Repeat this cycle a bunch of times and it will start to actually fall.
 

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A comprehensive plan for phosphate can include changing out some sand, avoiding dry rock, a second skimmer, getting a fuge going, water changes, GFO or LC (slow) and maybe even some coral export (GSP, sinularia, etc. that grow fast). All of this can depend on the specifics of your tank.

How big is the tank? How old? Sand? How much? How much live rock? How much dry rock? Lighting? Filtration?
 
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Zazzy

Zazzy

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A comprehensive plan for phosphate can include changing out some sand, avoiding dry rock, a second skimmer, getting a fuge going, water changes, GFO or LC (slow) and maybe even some coral export (GSP, sinularia, etc. that grow fast). All of this can depend on the specifics of your tank.

How big is the tank? How old? Sand? How much? How much live rock? How much dry rock? Lighting? Filtration?
90 gallon with 40g sump 60% full, 8 years up and running, sand is not to thick. 2 Hydra 52s Screenshot_20180424-143700_myAI.jpg 20180424_143400.jpg
 
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Zazzy

Zazzy

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A comprehensive plan for phosphate can include changing out some sand, avoiding dry rock, a second skimmer, getting a fuge going, water changes, GFO or LC (slow) and maybe even some coral export (GSP, sinularia, etc. that grow fast). All of this can depend on the specifics of your tank.

How big is the tank? How old? Sand? How much? How much live rock? How much dry rock? Lighting? Filtration?
It also could of been a faulty test by user error as I didn't get all the reagent in and used 2 different vials as it timed out on me after I put in the zerod water sample
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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I've read online that you should never run gfo with Sps corals in your system.

That's just nonsense.

You shouldn't reduce phosphate too low, but GFO as a way to control phosphate is not a problem. :)
 

navathehutt

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That's just nonsense.

You shouldn't reduce phosphate too low, but GFO as a way to control phosphate is not a problem. :)

I prefer GFO to phosguard. I have some elevated aluminum and my guess is that the phosguard doesnt help with that(used it in the past). I actually don't need the GFO though because my fuge is rocking at the moment.
 

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