Phosphate level high. GFO on the media bag for nano tank?

[Chandlertank108]

Hello everyone, I have 10 gallon cube. My phosphate test showing 0.96 Hanna checker. I start seeing green hair algae on the rock. No3 level at 5. I just wondering about using gfo on media bag will drop my po4? Or it could be to strong and will strip all the po4? I never use gfo before and from the reading that I did, using GFO is one most effective way to drop po4 level. Thank you

 

[King Turkey]

Its slower than phosgard. Water change is best way on a tank that size. How old is the tank?

 

[Chandlertank108]

6 months old. Usually I do water change every 2 week. I’ll try to do it every once a week to see if going to bring the level down.

 

[jace]

Weekly water changes will help a lot with that volume. I wouldn't go any longer than that since levels can fluctuate so much in that nano.

 

[ScottB]

I run a bit of rowaphos but only a few hours per day to keep just under .1

it is very easy to strip too fast with it though; use extreme caution.

ive read here that some prefer dosing lanthanum chloride as it is easier to proportion but have no personal experience. Do your due diligence before doing anything.

 

[biophilia]

PO4 binds to the surface of rock/sand so changing even 100% of the water may not get you where you’d like to be. GFO will work fine, but depending on how much you’re using it can indeed strip PO4 lower than you might want. On a tank that small my preference is to use two very small bags of it, alternating replacing one every couple weeks so that you don’t end up with big peaks and valleys in the tank’s PO4 level as the GFO gets exhausted and replaced.

Do you have a skimmer on the tank by any chance? If so, you could also just get some lanthanum chloride (Phosphate RX), dilute a drop or two in some RO/DI and slowly drop it directly into the neck of your skimmer. Lanthanum chloride is by far the best method to get phosphate down in a really stable and controlled manner on a tiny tank IMO.

 

[Chandlertank108]

Any experience with seachem Phosguard? I was planning to use it on media bag and put it on sump where the water flowing

 

[King Turkey]

Any experience with seachem Phosguard? I was planning to use it on media bag and put it on sump where the water flowing

Yes I do. It strips fast like 3 days and you have cha ge it out if you do use it test daily at first

 

[Chandlertank108]

Can I just use it to bring po4 down and after I get the level that I want it and stop using it?

 

[King Turkey]

Can I just use it to bring po4 down and after I get the level that I want it and stop using it?

well yes its just the rate. I would suggest using less then recommended t first. you want change to be slow and steady not fast and abrupt