GFO

[Oscar Bravo]

I am having issues with nitrates 25 and phosphates .09. I just cant get them down. I've been thinking of using GFO but I am not sure how my sps will react. I was thinking on using GFO one day out of the week or bi-week.

 

[Randyp79]

I am having issues with nitrates 25 and phosphates .09. I just cant get them down. I've been thinking of using GFO but I am not sure how my sps will react. I was thinking on using GFO one day out of the week or bi-week.

Why are you wanting to lower your numbers? How does the tank look? How do your corals look and are they growing?

 

[Jeremy Luke]

Your PO4 is good. GFO would only lower PO4, not nitrate. GFO is very aggressive at stripping PO4. I couldn't get my PO4 to balance where I wanted it when using GFO. It was like an on and off switch no matter how small an amount of GFO I used. My GFO experimentation was very hard on my SPS. If you are trying to manage nitrate and phosphate, I'd try a refugium or an algae reactor.

As @Randyp79 states, "how do your corals look?" Unless you have brown coral or algae problems, I wouldn't worry about those numbers.

 

[jda]

If your tank is fairly new (less than a year), then there is a chance that it will develop anoxic bacteria that will lower the nitrate down to very good levels.

I would not chase anything right now, just monitor and look for trends either up, down or staying stable.

 

[Oscar Bravo]

My thank is 2 years old. I am getting red algae on the sand. Never had that. I did had cyano before and probably still some. I have been thinking on algae scrubber. I do have a refuge.

 

[Randyp79]

My thank is 2 years old. I am getting red algae on the sand. Never had that. I did had cyano before and probably still some. I have been thinking on algae scrubber. I do have a refuge.

How are you lighting your fuge? I used to use a generic led red/blue grow light from Ebay and I ran my light 24 hours a day. About 6 months ago, I purchased the Kessil H380 and it grew my Cheato so fast that it stripped my nutrients (undetectable NO3 and PO4). I had to cut my lighting period back to 12 hours just to keep my tank from being too clean.

Even with undetectable nutrients I still have spots of cyano, bubble algae, and green film algae. I think a healthy tank always has a little algae. Even with the algae my sps thrive.

 

[Jeremy Luke]

@Randyp79 your tank is beautiful. Right now I have a bit of bubble and cyano because I'm letting my tank run dirtier than ever before. My PO4 is currently at 1.3ppm. My SPS have the best color they've ever had. I'll take the algae.

 

[Randyp79]

@Randyp79 your tank is beautiful. Right now I have a bit of bubble and cyano because I'm letting my tank run dirtier than ever before. My PO4 is currently at 1.3ppm. My SPS have the best color they've ever had. I'll take the algae.

Thanks, I just feel like people should always post a pic of their tank when offering advice. LOL

I've talked to a lot of so-called experts who in reality have poor looking or poorly maintained tanks. Look closely in the side pic and you'll see cyano right on the rocks to the left.

 

[Jeremy Luke]

Thanks, I just feel like people should always post a pic of their tank when offering advice. LOL

I've talked to a lot of so-called experts who in reality have poor looking or poorly maintained tanks. Look closely in the side pic and you'll see cyano right on the rocks to the left.

Good point. I'll snap a new one of mine once the lights are on and provide. Mine is not as populated as yours and I don't have the grow out you do but I'm pretty proud of the color I've got now. My current tank is 1.5 years old and it's my first SPS tank. It's definitely had it's ups and downs due to human error :)

 

[Randyp79]

My thank is 2 years old. I am getting red algae on the sand. Never had that. I did had cyano before and probably still some. I have been thinking on algae scrubber. I do have a refuge.

The point is, don't chase numbers. Pay attention to your fish and corals. It's obvious when there is something wrong and it's obvious when a tank is thriving. Also, a little algae never hurt anyone, most healthy tanks have some. Even with large outbreaks, they usually run their course and things eventually balance out. I have found that manual removal, light feeding, and water changes can usually fix any algae problem.

 

[jda]

I have very low residual N and P numbers at .1 and .005-.01 and I have some cyano from time to time and bubble algae growing my overflow and wavebox where the emerald crabs cannot get to it.

 

[Oscar Bravo]

Some of my corals are pale and I think it could be for high nitrates

 

[Jeremy Luke]

Okay, so the nutrients went a bit too extreme while auto feeding pellets on a business trip and I'm still working on getting rid of the cyano :) I'm very happy with the colors though. Taken with my phone so crappy pic

 

[bonomo53]

Like mentioned above don't chase numbers. There are plenty of successful sps tanks with high nutrients. Last i checked my phos was creeping up around .20. I caused too much rtn with gfo in the past so i completely took it offline around 8 months ago.

 

[pecan2phat]

Some of my corals are pale and I think it could be for high nitrates

I don’t think your SPS color will pale out with 25 ppm on nitrates. Usually the pale colors happen when you run a system with zero nutrients and low alkalinity.

 

[Scorpius]

I kill coral with GFO. I refuse to use it anymore.

 

[Oscar Bravo]

I don't know about nutrients but alk I keep my at 8.5 thanks to my doser.