Phosphate

[tuckerhoang]

I been using no pox for about 3 months.Nitrate is gone.but phosphate is at .86.i want to use GFO.but some people said if I change now.i may kill all my corals.what can I do to reduce the phosphate safe?thank you.

[my2girls]

The way I see it, you have no choice but to use GFO. Usually GFO and nopox aren't great together, but in your situation I would do it. Your PO4 is high for a reef tank with SPS. Cut the nopox in half and run GFO. Test often as GFO can reduce PO4 quickly. I would even cut the nopox in half again a few days later. Once you get the PO4 down and some NO3 accumulates, then drop the GFO and go strictly nopox. This could take some time so be patient.

If your not comfortable with my advice, wait for Aviad.

[tuckerhoang]

Thanks Rob.

[timvdb]

Hi Tucker, i would suggest another tack. Your tank is nitrate limited, so if you want to reduce the phosphate using nopox, you need to add a limited amount of N. best way to do this is to add aminos daily until your P drops through bacterial activity.


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[RedSea Aviad]

Hello,
My apologies for the late response, I was on the roads in the last few week.

Such an imbalance between NO3 and PO4 can be caused by massive feeding, frozen and homemade foods.
You need to treat the cause first and only then attend to the symptom.
Do you feed a lot?
What do you feed and how much?
What is your coral and fish population?
What is your NET water volume?

You should not use GFO in a balanced tank.
But in your situation, it’s in invitation to Cyanobacteria.
I would use GFO along with a small dose of NOPOX – 1-0.5ml per 25gal.
BUT as soon as the PO4 drops below 0.05ppm, take the GFO out.
Test twice a week.
Feed your corals since 0ppm of NO3 would starve them.

All the best,
Aviad

[tuckerhoang]

Originally Posted by RedSea Aviad

Hello,
My apologies for the late response, I was on the roads in the last few week.

Such an imbalance between NO3 and PO4 can be caused by massive feeding, frozen and homemade foods.
You need to treat the cause first and only then attend to the symptom.
Do you feed a lot?
What do you feed and how much?
What is your coral and fish population?
What is your NET water volume?

You should not use GFO in a balanced tank.
But in your situation, it’s in invitation to Cyanobacteria.
I would use GFO along with a small dose of NOPOX – 1-0.5ml per 25gal.
BUT as soon as the PO4 drops below 0.05ppm, take the GFO out.
Test twice a week.
Feed your corals since 0ppm of NO3 would starve them.

All the best,
Aviad

I let my fishes eat a lots.i slow down now.i have 14 fishes.4 Tangs.6 wrasses.2 clown.a flame hawk and an Anthias.my water is around 200 gallons. I think my Nitrate test kit didn't give me the right reading.i been running gfo for 2 days now.puppy center tested my water.Nitrate at 3.0 and phosphate at .64 look like the water get better.