TunaC
New Member
I know, I know, phosphate troubles AGAIN.
Thanks for reading this, will give as much detail as possible.
90 gallon, 1 year old tank with 8 fish and growing a variety of acros, montis, euphilia, chalices.
This is my first reef tank, lots of issues in the first few months, but now I do feel like I am having success with corals and fish and mostly enjoying things. I started this tank trying to follow the Triton method.
Sump is a 34g with ~10-12 g set aside for Chaeto. No filter socks (occasionally will run one). Skimmer. Some extra biomedia in the sump.
Nitrates are great, usually in 5-10 range. (All other parameters are fine, I send out ICPs periodically to Triton and replenish as needed). Ca and Alk are 2 part on dosing pumps and from what I see are very stable.
A few months back I attempted to run GFO for phos control. Brought the phos down perfectly but basically wiped out my Chaeto.
Since then I started dosing trace elements daily (per Triton recommendations) + Iron which I found was necessary for the Chaeto.
I feed about 2 frozen Mysis cubes per day (sometimes I will rely on an auto feeder when out of town etc, but volume of food is similar).
I have rarely been doing water changes. Aside from the phos levels going up, I notice no difference.
More recently I have been relying on lanthanum chloride for Phos control. Works well, but I'm still running a little on the high side and this compound is somewhat of a PITA as I am nervous about dosing a lot of the stuff at once so end up tinkering with my phos levels on a multiple times a week basis. Too much maintenance!
My phos levels are 0.15 - 0.4 but that is with pretty active management with the lanthanum chloride. The level would just continue to skyrocket if I didn't stay on it. (was as high as 0.9 several months ago when I wasn't being a "good reefer.")
I have read that GFO and macro algae can be tricky together. Last time I tried, it failed. At that time, however, I was not dosing daily trace elements and I was not dosing Iron. I'm considering trying the combination together again, but hoping some sage individuals can tell me if that is / is not a good plan.
Who has had success with GFO and Chaeto? What did you do to pull this off?
I do not want to give up on the refugium. The amount of life in there is spectaular. BUT I gotta find a better means of keeping my phosphate down. Thanks you (very much) for reading and any advice you have.
Thanks for reading this, will give as much detail as possible.
90 gallon, 1 year old tank with 8 fish and growing a variety of acros, montis, euphilia, chalices.
This is my first reef tank, lots of issues in the first few months, but now I do feel like I am having success with corals and fish and mostly enjoying things. I started this tank trying to follow the Triton method.
Sump is a 34g with ~10-12 g set aside for Chaeto. No filter socks (occasionally will run one). Skimmer. Some extra biomedia in the sump.
Nitrates are great, usually in 5-10 range. (All other parameters are fine, I send out ICPs periodically to Triton and replenish as needed). Ca and Alk are 2 part on dosing pumps and from what I see are very stable.
A few months back I attempted to run GFO for phos control. Brought the phos down perfectly but basically wiped out my Chaeto.
Since then I started dosing trace elements daily (per Triton recommendations) + Iron which I found was necessary for the Chaeto.
I feed about 2 frozen Mysis cubes per day (sometimes I will rely on an auto feeder when out of town etc, but volume of food is similar).
I have rarely been doing water changes. Aside from the phos levels going up, I notice no difference.
More recently I have been relying on lanthanum chloride for Phos control. Works well, but I'm still running a little on the high side and this compound is somewhat of a PITA as I am nervous about dosing a lot of the stuff at once so end up tinkering with my phos levels on a multiple times a week basis. Too much maintenance!
My phos levels are 0.15 - 0.4 but that is with pretty active management with the lanthanum chloride. The level would just continue to skyrocket if I didn't stay on it. (was as high as 0.9 several months ago when I wasn't being a "good reefer.")
I have read that GFO and macro algae can be tricky together. Last time I tried, it failed. At that time, however, I was not dosing daily trace elements and I was not dosing Iron. I'm considering trying the combination together again, but hoping some sage individuals can tell me if that is / is not a good plan.
Who has had success with GFO and Chaeto? What did you do to pull this off?
I do not want to give up on the refugium. The amount of life in there is spectaular. BUT I gotta find a better means of keeping my phosphate down. Thanks you (very much) for reading and any advice you have.
