PO4 help!

[reeferfoxx]

Can I take some out, or its too late?

I would go back down to the half cup like before. But as long as po4 and no3 register on tests, you shouldn't have anything to worry about. Some say massive amounts of po4 reduction can "clean" the water so much, that light will penetrate more resulting in increased calcium carbonate production.

 

[renato120]

.3 to .03 is a large jump, id just test p04 with the instrument twice a day just to make sure it doesnt run to 0. Every tank is different, i wouldnt even run rowa in my red sea tank, a tablespoon is good enuff for me. My nano needs tons of rowa for unknown reasons. Maybe its the rock, not sure. The thing with gfo, you have to find your tanks "medium". Takes alot of testing, alot of patients, alot of gfo lol but its like dosing, you have to find the exact amount to work good mixed into your feeding+maitnence regiem

I hope so! My tank just started to look good... bleaching corals now would be very sad....

 

[Sabellafella]

Can I take some out, or its too late?

Sure you can, honestly i would just take some out and leave the amount you had prior to the "bad" test result

 

[renato120]

I would go back down to the half cup like before. But as long as po4 and no3 register on tests, you shouldn't have anything to worry about. Some say massive amounts of po4 reduction can "clean" the water so much, that light will penetrate more resulting in increased calcium carbonate production.

But if I change now! A new gfo will take my po4 right to 0

 

[ksc]

Toss the gfo in the same barrel as the .39 reading. You obviously had an incorrect test reading.

 

[reeferfoxx]

But if I change now! A new gfo will take my po4 right to 0

I doubt your 1 cup of GFO has exhausted already. In fact in the next few days you might see even more of a reduction? You need to either turn off the GFO or increase plankton based foods like reef-roids.

 

[renato120]

Im going to test it again! Hold on!

 

[renato120]

Now it is 0.02

 

[bklynreef]

Yup that .39 number had to have been wrong or your sps would have bleached from bringing it down so fast and then there's the .39 number that would brown out your sps and your sps in the pic look vibrant.
I'd chalk the number up as a mistake and next time you need to check twice if you get a high reading before doing anything to the tanks parameters. If I get strange readings I double check it before I adjust add change or do anything. Better to be safe then sorry.

 

[renato120]

Yup that .39 number had to have been wrong or your sps would have bleached from bringing it down so fast and then there's the .39 number that would brown out your sps and your sps in the pic look vibrant.
I'd chalk the number up as a mistake and next time you need to check twice if you get a high reading before doing anything to the tanks parameters. If I get strange readings I double check it before I adjust add change or do anything. Better to be safe then sorry.

I wish I had checked this twice... but thats the second time I have a reading like this. The reason I started to run gfo, was a high read, just like this one about 4 months ago. I dont check po4 often.... I checked this week, because of the cyano that started to show up.

 

[bklynreef]

Could be when you did the test either
The reagent was expired.
The settling of the reagent wasn't enough time to dissipate before it was tested.
The glass vile was foggy.
I always wait 2 minutes after I shake it well then put the vile in to the tester and hold the button down until the 3 minute timer comes on. You will the most accurate reading the way I'm doing it on that tester.

 

[CastAway]

Po4 is going down! Just checked and it reads 0.03
I will be changing every two weeks instead of every month.

Excellent.

 

[renato120]

So yesterday I removed some of the gfo from my reactor... checked today and its reading 0.05. So it went up a little.... I will check again before a water change this wkd.

 

[Sabellafella]

So yesterday I removed some of the gfo from my reactor... checked today and its reading 0.05. So it went up a little.... I will check again before a water change this wkd.

Awesome. If it stays steady at that level, then note the amount of gfo your using. That should be in the ballpark of the amount of gfo needed to keep you steady