Follow up questions to "How do you check for PO4"

[Tombones]

When you use GFO to lower PO4 to .00 or near .00 do you simply turn off the reactor or do you take the GFO media out? Do you run your GFO reactor all the time?
I'm trying to get a handle on how to keep PO4 at .02 without having fluctuations of PO4 that can mess with SPS.

 

[Ah64av8tor]

When you use GFO to lower PO4 to .00 or near .00 do you simply turn off the reactor or do you take the GFO media out? Do you run your GFO reactor all the time?
I'm trying to get a handle on how to keep PO4 at .02 without having fluctuations of PO4 that can mess with SPS.

Maintaining a constant PO4 of .02 will depend on several variables: the amount of PO4 introduced (Feeding) and (metabolized) and the ability of your GFO to remove PO4 which is effected by the age and amount of GFO used. Assuming the amount of food introduced and the bio load remains constant ( if things are growing it won't) then it only comes down to how much you use and how old your GFO is.

Remember there is organic and inorganic P: organic P is used in the building blocks of life and mostly bound up in organic tissue. Inorganic P can be converted to organic P at the bacterial level and then be removed through the food chain and foam fractioning (skimming) this is the reason people dose Carbon to aid in removal of PO4 and NO3.

No mater what you do it will come down to trial and error. Start small and test often. Remember that you will have variances (increased ability to remove PO4) in total PO4 when you have fresh GFO.


On a side note there is a new Bio pellet (all in one) that includes GFO so that the colonizing bacteria consume the trapped PO4 and then are removed by skimming so you never have to remove the GFO. I'm still researching this.