My NIGHTMARE!

[seabass]

Maybe 15 years ago, some people had concern about PhosGuard.  However today, most everyone considers it safe to use as directed.  To be honest, this was the first I heard of Xport.  But it looks promising.

 

I find that these products are good for dealing with phosphate introduced by food.  However, it is much harder to deal with rock that's leaching a lot of phosphate.

[Oldsalt01]

I went with a partial amount of Phosguard yesterday. Checked the Po4 this and it's still at .5. Am resisting adding more and will give it a few days while I monitor the Po4. Hoping it comes down. The Blenny's doing well and has found a tube to his liking, right under the mushrooms. Will be moving the Clown's later this week. I guess I'll move them together rather than separately as I was going to originally do. They've been stressed enough. Pics to come.

[seabass]

4 minutes ago, Oldsalt01 said:

Checked the Po4 this and it's still at .5

I can't remember, what phosphate kit are you using?

[Oldsalt01]

Salifert low-range. I'm doubling up on the quantity to get an accurate reading.

[seabass]

Are you dividing the result by 2?

 

0.5 is really high.  Phosphate should be 0.02ppm (just the slightest tinge of blue).  If you cant' tell if it's 0.03 or 0.1, then it's too high.

[Oldsalt01]

50 minutes ago, seabass said:

Are you dividing the result by 2?

 

0.5 is really high.  Phosphate should be 0.02ppm (just the slightest tinge of blue).  If you cant' tell if it's 0.03 or 0.1, then it's too high.

Duhhh. Divide by 2! I'm such an IDIOT! Maybe I should read the directions!!!!

[Oldsalt01]

OK. Finally getting somewhere with the 14g. H2O test today showed .12 phosphates (AFTER I divided by 2, Seabass  ), so the Phosguard seems to be working. The clowns went back in yesterday and are acting their normal, starved selves.... the little pigs. The Tailspot is happy in his new tube, the Toadstool is open and waving in the current, the 'shrooms have opened up to their former size, the Ball 'nems seem happy, and I've seen a couple of small Bristle worms working the rock when I feed. I think I'll add a couple of Nassarius to the CUC, just to help keep the sand turned over. I would love to add a Green Clown Goby but think 4 fish may be too much bioload for the tank. I want to thank everyone who has held my hand during the last 2 months and convinced me not to pull the pin on this one. This is a great community and I am so glad I've become part of it. Promise: pics this weekend

[Flexin]

Pics when you can

[Oldsalt01]

As promised, pics of the 14g Redux:

 

but they'll only let me load 6MG's     so the post-ass attack pics will have to wait  

 

[seabass]

Awesome work!

[Oldsalt01]

Still running Phosguard, but my Po4 seems stuck at .12. Of course that could be my old eyes not being able to tell the difference between .1 and .03. I think I need to figure out how to afford a Hanna checker. It's the only way I can see to accurately measure this stuff. My wife's gonna kill me, lol.

I promised more pics. While I was shooting the other night, the Blennie sneaked up behind the female Ocellaris and nipped her tail fin. Didn't hurt her, but unfortunately the male was in front of the two of them, blocking the shot (he's such a ham). I almost fell of my chair laughing. Payback REALLY IS a B**ch! Here's one moments after the dastardly deed. She's turned to see the ass-assin:

[seabass]

5 minutes ago, Oldsalt01 said:

Still running Phosguard, but my Po4 seems stuck at .12.

You might try changing it more frequently and/or using just a little more.

[Oldsalt01]

1 hour ago, seabass said:

You might try changing it more frequently and/or using just a little more.

My thoughts exactly! Thanks. U are such a wealth of information.

1 hour ago, seabass said:

You might try changing it more frequently and/or using just a little more.

My thoughts exactly! Thanks. U are such a wealth of information.

[Oldsalt01]

Probably a stupid question, but the website is a little unclear about this: can you recharge this stuff (I'm Scottish) or is it better to just toss it and add new? I figure it's probably better to dump it, but I'm not sure how often, or if I should even run it continually.

[seabass]

You just dump it.  You replace it whenever phosphate stops going down or starts to increase.  Continual testing is important so as not to bring phosphate too low (which can also be a problem).

[Oldsalt01]

FINALLY! PO4 is down to .3 or less. It took a couple of weeks with the Phosguard in place, partly because I added too little to begin with. My question now is: when do I pull it out? I know that too low a PO4 level can be as bad as too high, so where's my middle ground? Also, will lowering the PO4 have a negative effect on my Alk or Ca? I've not tested those but once in two weeks, mostly because I'm a little gun shy after OD'ing the tank with Ca before the BA outbreak. I knew I should have paid more attention in chemistry class!  

Sorry. That PO4 reading should have been <0.03, not .3. Duh.

[seabass]

That's good news.  I say shoot for 0.02 ppm.  Basically anything detectable, but less than (or equal to) 0.03 ppm.

 

No, PhosGuard shouldn't be directly affecting either calcium or alkalinity.

[RayWhisperer]

.03 is probably a pretty good level to be at. IME, I start seeing algae grow aggressively at around .05 and up. However, if the phosphate is bound in the rock, you will see aggressive growth on those rocks, even at lower readings.

 

As for how to know when to change. It's all a matter of testing. Once you've been at it a while, you'll probably find a good timeline for replacement. Each tank is different. Even after you've established a replacement schedule, you'll still need to test occasionally to see if things haven't changed.

 

I know of no correlation between low phosphate and improper calcium and alkalinity levels. Phosphate inhibits the process of calcification. So, if your ca/alk levels are low, and your phosphate is low, it's probably going to be something else causing it. As I said before, that could be any number of different things. A few examples would be too much GFO, excessive dosing of 2 part, or insufficient magnesium. Those aren't the only culprits, but they are the most common.

 

[RayWhisperer]

Or what seabass said...

 

Here's a good read on critical parameters.

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.php

Pretty much everything you'll ever want to know about reefing will have been covered by Randy in a reefkeeping article.

 

 

[Oldsalt01]

30 minutes ago, RayWhisperer said:

Or what seabass said...

 

Here's a good read on critical parameters.

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.php

Pretty much everything you'll ever want to know about reefing will have been covered by Randy in a reefkeeping article.

 

 

Yes. I've read several of his article's. He's obviously brilliant, but sometimes he talks over the heads of chemistry dummies like me. I will check it out tho. Thanks.