Where are my Phosphates going!!!!

[Mark75]

That is a very good article and appropriate! Thanks @reeferfox.

I was aware of phosphate precipitation in the reservoir(ro/di water so shouldn't have phosphates in it any way) but was unaware the kalk could have an in tank effect.:)

 

[reeferfoxx]

FWIW, the link I sent you explains another way where your nutrients are going. You feed a lot by the sounds of it. You should have some po4 readings, agreed.

I think the demand for for Kalk isn't there yet. Best to use when all coral are present and no new large additions to be made. You have to factor in new coral uptake in addition to the growth you have now. Plus the larger the colonies get, the more demand. Maybe later on you could try kalk again? For now I would hold off.

 

[TRPlacek]

I'm in the same boat. I unknowingly stripped my tank of nutrients a few months ago and since then have taken gfo and carbon offline, added more fish and feed heavily. I still have not gotten any detectable No3 or Po4 but I believe they are starting to build up as the color of my sps is beginning to darken up again. It's taken a while but they say nothing good comes quickly.

 

[Mark75]

I'm in the same boat. I unknowingly stripped my tank of nutrients a few months ago and since then have taken gfo and carbon offline, added more fish and feed heavily. I still have not gotten any detectable No3 or Po4 but I believe they are starting to build up as the color of my sps is beginning to darken up again. It's taken a while but they say nothing good comes quickly.

I would continue to run carbon, I do not believe it removes anything beneficial to our coral and removes plenty of things that are not.:)

 

[reeferfoxx]

Right now, cause one of my tanks is going through a phase(it's about to be torn down), I've been able to play with alk, ca, and nutrients(no3 and po4). Based on observation, It really helps to align your alk with your nutrients. Meaning [for example] Zero no3/po4 would start with 7-7.5dkh. Low to medium nutrients would be 7.5-8.5 dkh. High nutrients @ 9-11dkh. IME

 

[TRPlacek]

I would continue to run carbon, I do not believe it removes anything beneficial to our coral and removes plenty of things that are not.:)

In my case I did a test over the last couple months with the carbon. Each time I would put carbon in my coral would become more pale. In not sure why this happened but it did and I made sure the carbon was the only thing that was being changed at the moment. So I knew for sure what effects it was having on my tank. I don't know if it's due to the lack of nutrients or what but I am going to leave mine offline at least until i can show some nutrients as it has been working for me and I'm told carbon is not essential.