I continually hear some folks say that elevated PO4 can cause browning in some sps but I've never run a system that has had elevated PO4 (at least not measurable) so I've had no experience with it. I just moved back to Baltimore from Dallas and I'm setting up a tank"¦again. I decided to start dosing everclear from day one. It has done a great job at keeping measurable NO3 at undetectable levels"¦nothing new. I have noted a continual rise in PO4"¦don't think that's new either for some tanks. I only have 10 frags in my system right now so I just did nothing for a month to see if I could notice any affect in growth or color which certainly isn't scientific. The rest of the standard parameters are in line according to hobbiest test kits. I run 400W 20K XM bulbs. The PO4 rose from 0.08 to 0.3 according to Hach PO-19. I could see the cap browning by the day. The acros didn't show significant browning though there was some. I have GFO but I was looking through some RC threads and I came onto Gary Majchrzak's thread about lanthanum chloride and I thought I'd give it a shot. So I went to the local pool store got some lanthanum chloride and ordered some 10 micron filter socks online. Two dosing sessions over 2 weeks and PO4 was undetectable by the PO-19 test kit. The last photo is after the last lanthanum dose. BTW, thank you to Gary Majchrzak and the host of other contributors for posting your results on RC. Again, this isn't scientific and there certainly could be other factors at play. Sometimes it's nice to see a picture for yourself. The first pic is at 0.08, the second at 0.3 and the last is just after the last lanthanum chloride dose and PO4 is undetectable.
