NO po4 in new tank..is this right?

[EricSIny]

so my 36g tank has been running for about 12 weeks now, i did a 7 week cycle w/ about 15lbs of brs dry eco reef rock and about 20lbs of live rock. im currently running chemi pure elite for about 3 weeks for carbon w/ no other additives ever put in the tank. this weekend after getting a reactor w/ gfo (assuming i had high po4 due to dry rock) i decided to check po4 before hooking it up and am getting a reading of either 0.00-0.02 using my hanner po4 checker. my question is, is this possible to have no po4 in such a new tank or am i some how getting false test results? i performed the test about 5 times just to ensure i wasnt masking a mistake.

also should i even bother hooking up the reactor if i have no po4?

i perform weekly 10% water changes using rodi and currenty have 6 small fish, w/ 20g sump and fuge w/ chaeto (no skimmer)

params,

ph 8.0
salinity 1.026
temp 80
nitrite 0
amm .25 (trying to bring down)
nitrate .5
po4 0.00-0.02
calc- 470
mag 1500
alk 6.9 (need to bring up but havent started 2 pt dosing yet)

thanks

[Dr. Fish]

I started my tank with BRS eco rock and some live rock from a loca fish store.

With only the BRS rock, I had 0.00 PO4 per my hannah checker as well. When I added the live rock the PO4 went up to about .11 and dropped to about .03 after my cycle and water changes. The BRS eco rock doesn't seem to leach out much PO4, if any really.

I put in a small amount of BRS GFO and it constantly reads 0.00 now.

So, I say what you have is normal, especially since you are running GFO.

[EricSIny]

ah good to hear you had the same experience as me, makes me feel better.

i have not run gfo yet btw. was going to but by the time my checker and reactor came i found out i had none :debi:

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Don't worry, phosphate will come when you feed. :D

[EricSIny]

Don't worry, phosphate will come when you feed. :D

lol yes i read your article all about it ;)

do you recommend putting GFO online now or waiting untill i see levels rise past 0.02?

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

It is fine to wait until it is needed. :)

[EricSIny]

great, thank you sir!