When to hook up the GFO reactor to reduce PO4

[ryshark]

I’m noticing now that my PO4 at .23+ must be inhibiting growth of coralline algae. My 2-part dosing is causing my Alk to rise now. There is hardly any coral in the tank so I'm assuming its got to be coralline related. I searched to see if this was a thing and found a post by @jda who mentioned this does happen.

 

[DMG Reef]

I’m noticing now that my PO4 at .23+ must be inhibiting growth of coralline algae. My 2-part dosing is causing my Alk to rise now. There is hardly any coral in the tank so I'm assuming its got to be coralline related. I searched to see if this was a thing and found a post by @jda who mentioned this does happen.

I would be really surprised if .23 PO4 inhibited coralline algae growth. I've never experienced that even when my PO4 was 1.06 (way back in 2016). I'm guessing that your alk is rising because you're dosing 2-part with hardly any coral in the tank. How much are you dosing?

 

[ryshark]

I would be really surprised if .23 PO4 inhibited coralline algae growth. I've never experienced that even when my PO4 was 1.06 (way back in 2016). I'm guessing that your alk is rising because you're dosing 2-part with hardly any coral in the tank. How much are you dosing?

But it’s been the same for a long time. 1.1ml per minute dosers were at 3-minutes per day.

 

[DMG Reef]

But it’s been the same for a long time. 1.1ml per minute dosers were at 3-minutes per day.

Maybe I'm missing something, but if alk keeps rising, then why not cut back on the amount you're dosing? Unless you're saying that alk stayed consistent with that amount for a long time and is now rising for no apparent reason.

 

[ryshark]

Maybe I'm missing something, but if alk keeps rising, then why not cut back on the amount you're dosing? Unless you're saying that alk stayed consistent with that amount for a long time and is now rising for no apparent reason.

I did, I dropped it to 1-min a few days ago after being at 3-min for a few months. And this morning I turned it off entirely, until I get back down to 9.
Yeah now it’s raising out of nowhere. I only have a couple tiny acro frags and 1-head gold torch

 

[ryshark]

I would be really surprised if .23 PO4 inhibited coralline algae growth. I've never experienced that even when my PO4 was 1.06 (way back in 2016). I'm guessing that your alk is rising because you're dosing 2-part with hardly any coral in the tank. How much are you dosing?

@Kattkrazie I just remembered about another important piece of information that could contribute to this. I got the pale RRU Angry Bird and when I saw it was stressed with stn starting on one corallite I was reactionary thinking that pale coral which came from LEDs probably doesn’t like my 8-bulb ATI + ReefBrite. So I cut the time of the lights twice over a few days. My final cut was ReefBrite from 12-hours to 11 hours and full daylight with all bulbs from 6-hours to 4-hours. The other 2-bulbs remained at 8-hours with no change. I recently started ramping that back up, the 6-full daylight bulbs. However, maybe this is what causes the alk spike, if the coralline and what few corals I have were receiving less light and less hours of alk consumption.

 

[DMG Reef]

@Kattkrazie I just remembered about another important piece of information that could contribute to this. I got the pale RRU Angry Bird and when I saw it was stressed with stn starting on one corallite I was reactionary thinking that pale coral which came from LEDs probably doesn’t like my 8-bulb ATI + ReefBrite. So I cut the time of the lights twice over a few days. My final cut was ReefBrite from 12-hours to 11 hours and full daylight with all bulbs from 6-hours to 4-hours. The other 2-bulbs remained at 8-hours with no change. I recently started ramping that back up, the 6-full daylight bulbs. However, maybe this is what causes the alk spike, if the coralline and what few corals I have were receiving less light and less hours of alk consumption.

You're probably right. Cutting back the photoperiod would definitely have an effect on growth. Mystery solved. It's too bad that it didn't help your AB frag. Sometimes shipping stress is too severe to recover from.

 

[ryshark]

I think that sounds like a good plan. I can't stress enough how important it is to use just a small amount. I use 4 tablespoons for 112 gallon tank and it keeps me in the .08 range.

Good thing I used this post as a guideline on usage amount. The regular GFO (Non-high capacity) says to "start" with 30 TBSPs for my size tank, however I used 6 TBSP.
My PO4 on 9/25 was .21 before I setup my GFO reactor and less than 48-hours later on 9/27 I'm already at .10
This is within my target of .08 - .10, so I'm going to start upping my feedings again and hope to stabilize around this target.

 

[Cbones1979]

Now I’m looking at phosguard reactors. I think I could fit one in the sump