Phosphate question

[DownwardDawg]

I just started my new 125. It's been running about a month now. I checked my phosphates today and they are at .15. I just placed some cheato in the sump yesterday. Should I start running GFO now or should I give it some time to see if the cheato helps first?

[Sasquatchluvin]

I grew cheato for months, noticed I wasnt triming as much one day so I checked and I am at .07 with just cheato.

[matt9190]

I grow Cheato and harvest half of it every month. I run absolutely no GFO and my nitrates and phosphate stay zero. Of course your algae can't clear your phosphate overnight.... just give it some time.

[Psyops]

0.14 phosphate isn't very dangerous in a new system. Just add chaeto and see what happens.

[hollister]

If you keep useing the water source you will always battle this. Tap water famous for phosphate. Cheato wont cure this. And a GFO really isnt needed with no stock.

[DownwardDawg]

If you keep useing the water source you will always battle this. Tap water famous for phosphate. Cheato wont cure this. And a GFO really isnt needed with no stock.

I'm using RO/DI water with 0.00 TDS.

Thanks for all the replies. I'm gonna let the cheato do its thing.

[hollister]

Is it your filter or a friends or LFS. The TDS test wont pickup small amounts of phosphate and will collect pretty fast.

But your tank could be cycling still. Whats the ammonia and nitrate readings?
And like i said cheato wont remove phosphate. Algea do better in high phosphate.

[DownwardDawg]

How many hours should I run my fuge light?

[tmz]

Whether or not chaetomorpha is enough to control PO4 in a given tank depends on a number of things. The amount of PO4 input primarily from food, the surface area size of the cheeto area, the lighting for the chaeto,flow and the overall cleanliness of the tank to name a few.

If you just started it let it go for a week or two and see if it's enough. If not gfo or another remover like lanthanum chloride may be needed. Organic carbon dosing might be useful as well.



I run my bare bottom chaeto fuge with 16 hours of light encompassing and opposite photo period time span.

[DownwardDawg]

Thanks a bunch for the reply.