Woah....didn't realize your PO4 was that high.....I pretty much seem to test at 0 all the time. I tinker with a small dose of 20ml/day af vinegar manually to see if I notice much difference. Skimmer seems to be stinkier!
I use the essential elements. Not sure it does anything, but eases the mind between wc
I just redid some rock to move an anemonee and stirred up all the sand under the rock. DIRTY!! Next day PO4 only tested 4 ppb ~.0013ppm PO4
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I think this is normal...a little po4 after mixing up.... IO. I use IO & Kent. Priced great, mix up clear and Kent has elevated CAl & MG
Yeah, I think it really has something to do with the Redfield Ratio honestly. My tank is ridiculously efficient at removing NO3, so much so that it's lost it's ability to regulate PO4. I'm not so much as concerned with being able to remove Phosphate, I know I can do that with GFO, Poly-Filter, etc... I'm more concerned with not being able to raise Nitrate, at least enough to get back inline with the Phosphates.
I might have spoken too soon, however... I tested PO4 last last night and it was 0.003! I've since removed the Poly-Filters and GFO so I'm not currently running any PO4 remover. I wasn't expecting the Poly-Filters to be that efficient but apparently they are. This is obviously part of the issue I've been noticing over the last couple days, had only been ~4 days since adding them.
Good to know about the freshly mixed IO too. Thanks!
Hi Brett,
I've been following your build almost since the beginning. Amazing craftsmanship and attention to detail. I build custom PCs and appreciate the amount of technology you bring over from that field. It's good to see because there can be a lot of bleed over of material and use between both hobbies with regard to wiring and the cooling of electronic devices.
Anyway, with regard to your above readings. Are you using the base Instant Ocean or are you using Reef Crystals? If that's the standard IO I'm amazed. I use Salinity by AquaVitro and my numbers aren't that high! Also regarding the phospate, that reading is in ppb from the ULN checker, correct? Or did you convert to ppm?
I too have an ultra low nutrient environment (0.0 nitrates and 0.00 phosphates) and sometimes get strange algae blooms around WC time. I have switched to running my skimmer very wet and replenishing the loss with newly mixed SW as a slow method of water changing. I think it's a bit early to tell if this has made a difference or not.
Lastly, I also had an issue with bare spots on some of my corals. Most notably my bird's nests and acropora porites. Quite a bit of reading lead me to believe that it's an issue of insufficient nutrients. I began dosing amino acids and vitamines about eight months ago with positive results. The corals still aren't filled out 100%, so I'm now moving to increased feeding, including dosing live phytoplankton. We'll see if the improvement continues.
Defiinitely remove whatever algae begins growing on the bare spots of coral skeleton or the algea will overrun the entire colony. I've even gone so far as coating the dead spots on my porites with superglue (read it on the interwebz!) to avoid having the algae attach to the skeleton. Seems to have worked but who knows...
Thank you Signal.
Yeah, I really like incorporating PC stuff into my reef tank. PC stuff is so modular and fun to work with, and a lot of it is dirt cheap.
I am using the regular old Instant Ocean. Shocking I know! The test results in the Chem Forum are from '09 so I don't know if they've "reformulated" since to keep up with the trends. But even on my old 40g tank I never had an issue with Magnesium like "everybody" use to claim with IO salt for some reason.
I test Phosphate with the Hanna ULN Checker. The number on the checker was 27 when I originally posted, so converted is 0.08. I hope this is correct?
Good tips by the way, I will definitely look into that trick. Thank you for posting.
Thanks for the explanation Brett. I was at a roadblock as to how I would frame out the gap between the tank and drywall for my build. I will have the tank in my garage so I was wanting more of a seal between the viewable interior of the house and the garage. A little gap with silicone should do the trick. Thanks for helping me see this.
All the trim in my house is white as well, and the tank will be next to a white shutter, however, I was thining the same thing as you with a slightly distressed and/or rustic looking wood to make the tank stand out. Can't wait to see waht you end up doing.
Excellent. Clear silicone tends to take on the color of it's surroundings so whatever trim color you decide upon it's kind of automatically matches - to an extent. I'm sure there will be a little light bleed through but shouldn't be too much of a bother. Otherwise you could possibly find a tan/brown silicone to fill the gap but it might be more noticeable. Let me know when you get your done, I'd love to see the finished trim.
Ya know... I also use a brute can to mix/hold my NSW...
My Po4 has been increasing lately too.
I just did a 30 gal last night and I plan another 30gal tomorrow.
Using InstantOcean ReefCrystals.
Interesting find worm. Can you test the PO4 of the saltwater in your Rubbermaid and post back?
Like I said, it's something I'm looking into. It would be seriously nice to automate that part of my system. There's some cost involved for me to do it and be controlled by my Apex, but it's definitely doable. I have some saltwater that I just mixed up. I will test all parameters (that I have kits for) and report back. 
