Po4 rising fast

[VintageReefer]

I was in this thread earlier and also had a spike I was talking about.

I brought myself down to .3-.35 and stopped there, and was steady there. Until about a week ago when I gave my live rock a deep cleaning and blasted out every nook and cranny with a baster. Made my tank a detritus storm but I know this crap builds up and sits inside the rock where water flow is minimal. Next day, phosphate 1.04. After a week I am down to .7 and I will continue to reduce down to .2-.3

Can you identify anything that could have caused your levels to start increasing again? Any change that could be related?

 

[rishma]

Sound advice whether I was aware or not my friend
Others may benefit so it’s cool

Actually my approach will be to put the gfo on a timer for a couple of hours during the night and bring it down a bit each day until I find the balance

I have not used a reactor in a long time but that seems like a good approach. My approach is more manual, but tends to result in a nice smooth trend. I put a little GFO in a bag, then add small bags over time leave the old ones in there. When I approach my target levels, I start removing the bags in reverse order. First in, last out. It takes weeks to get there, but everything seems to stay happy and the PO4 level stays put.

 

[rishma]

I was in this thread earlier and also had a spike I was talking about.

I brought myself down to .3-.35 and stopped there, and was steady there. Until about a week ago when I gave my live rock a deep cleaning and blasted out every nook and cranny with a baster. Made my tank a detritus storm but I know this crap builds up and sits inside the rock where water flow is minimal. Next day, phosphate 1.04. After a week I am down to .7 and I will continue to reduce down to .2-.3

Can you identify anything that could have caused your levels to start increasing again? Any change that could be related?

That’s interesting. I recently scrubbed my rocks and made a mess. PO4 went up quite a bit and I didn’t correlate the two

 

[scotty333]

I was in this thread earlier and also had a spike I was talking about.

I brought myself down to .3-.35 and stopped there, and was steady there. Until about a week ago when I gave my live rock a deep cleaning and blasted out every nook and cranny with a baster. Made my tank a detritus storm but I know this crap builds up and sits inside the rock where water flow is minimal. Next day, phosphate 1.04. After a week I am down to .7 and I will continue to reduce down to .2-.3

Can you identify anything that could have caused your levels to start increasing again? Any change that could be related?

Only thing I’m suspicious about is the clownfish are sand blasting all day so the what was undisturbed sand is now being turned over but I’ve also been moving the sand around at the front as I had cyano which is 90% gone now
Actually thinking about it the clowns have been at it for weeks and there was no effects on levels but I have noticed a 50% increase in kh demand also
I don’t think it’s related

 

[scotty333]

That’s interesting. I recently scrubbed my rocks and made a mess. PO4 went up quite a bit and I didn’t correlate the two

God, I baste every day at least twice to help the acros should they not be getting enough flow in their centres so I go around the rocks too
Always done this so never any build up apart from the back of course

 

[scotty333]

I have not used a reactor in a long time but that seems like a good approach. My approach is more manual, but tends to result in a nice smooth trend. I put a little GFO in a bag, then add small bags over time leave the old ones in there. When I approach my target levels, I start removing the bags in reverse order. First in, last out. It takes weeks to get there, but everything seems to stay happy and the PO4 level stays put.

I like that idea too and is probably better because I was warned by my lfs that starting up and shutting of with gfo can break it down
Your method eliminates that

 

[rishma]

I like that idea too and is probably better because I was warned by my lfs that starting up and shutting of with gfo can break it down
Your method eliminates that

I bought 50 little mesh bags off Amazon for five dollars

 

[scotty333]

I bought 50 little mesh bags off Amazon for five dollars

I have sacks I’ve accumulated from when I used to use gfo as I always used the reactor but I’m going to give your method a try
Cheers

 

[VintageReefer]

God, I baste every day at least twice to help the acros should they not be getting enough flow in their centres so I go around the rocks too
Always done this so never any build up apart from the back of course

I put the baster right up to, or inside, pores of the live rock and blast water in, and watching it come out of all the other random holes. Is that what you do / see?

I find basting from even an inch away is not as effective

 

[VintageReefer]

Also my methods for reduction, if anyone is interested, is a phosban 150 reactor and Phosguard media swapped every few days

 

[scotty333]

I put the baster right up to, or inside, pores of the live rock and blast water in, and watching it come out of all the other random holes. Is that what you do / see?

I find basting from even an inch away is not as effective

Yes I literally blast everywhere I can get too , slightly less aggressive at the corals
I get a tiny bit of crud that soon gets filtered

 

[scotty333]

Also my methods for reduction, if anyone is interested, is a phosban 150 reactor and Phosguard media swapped every few days

Fairly standard haha

 

[VintageReefer]

Fairly standard haha

But it works!

 

[scotty333]

But it works!

100% it does my friend but on one hand it’s a bit too effective cos you’ll rip the po4 out quick that way

 

[VintageReefer]

100% it does my friend but on one hand it’s a bit too effective cos you’ll rip the po4 out quick that way

Speed can be controlled by:
Amount of Phosguard added to reactor
Speed of water through reactor
Frequency of replacing Phosguard media

 

[scotty333]

Speed can be controlled by:
Amount of Phosguard added to reactor
Speed of water through reactor
Frequency of replacing Phosguard media

I hate reactors so it wouldn’t be my method but each to their own

 

[scotty333]

Levelled out at .40 so not too bad

 

[scotty333]

.22 with no gfo
I didn’t think that would happen but it used up

Maybe it’s the nopox so I’ve not put in today and will test again tomorrow to confirm