Phosphate issue looking for guidance

Sahin I agree, with sps you have to be patient nothing happens fast although I will have to say I am see some noticeable differences already in colors since I reduce the phosphates with water changes and added gfo. I am having no regrets about switching over my livestock to this tank since i think it's for the better my nano was no where near as stable as this young take is. Since I got back in the hobby 6 months ago I have yet to loose a coral. Btw I envy some of the colors you have in your tank and I look forward to the FTS!!

You've managed to pick up some good rocks for your tank IMO. Keep doing what you are already doing as it sounds like its working well for you.

The colours in my tank are now a bit better than what some of those photos show - and I dont use GFO anymore either. Somehow my tank is able to keep it below 0.03ppm now (tested with 3 different kits including the Elos/Merck kit) and ZERO algae issues in my tank. I also havent done a water change in over 2 months...yet my colours have improved. I feel its down to the tank maturing and stability with the system.
 
I use a product called Pool Protector Phosphate Remover. Haven't dropped any in for about 3 weeks now
 
JettaReefer if you want to use LC to reduce your PO4, its not a bad idea. I have used this method before with success.

Just need to be aware that there are some reports of it being harmful to certain fish like Tangs...It is said the particulate fines created by the LC binding to the PO4 gets caught in the gills of such fish etc...

I bought a 10micron filter sock and dosed a drop or two every few hours. Works just fine. Also adding a drop into your skimmer is another way to do it.

As long as you are catching the resulting particulate either in a mass of polyfilter, 10micron filter sock or skimmer then all is good.

It is also reported to stain acrylic tanks.

But anyway, I've used it with success and it worked fine. Once you get PO4 down to around 0.05 you can switch back to GFO etc.
 
Update

Update

Things are looking somewhat better some corals look good others are still brown, although I did notice all of the corals look a lot more pastel like after my 10 gallon weekend water change(I raised my mag by 100 ppm by adding to much buffer to my mix this may be why). I am now measuring the p04 @ .15 with my friends martini plus meter(which API registers 0 and salifert .03) Here's an update picture along with a picture of the new wrasse. Also ran into a issue with the gfo clouding up the tank after buying new filter socks but all is well I have for now taken it out because I figured it was doing more harm than good.
 

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The higher P readings are probably because of a lack of bacteria and microfauna base in the sandbed that develop over time. Did you use aragonite sand?

The rocks look good and don't appear to have any issues from being mistreated by the prior owner and full of organics.

Cut back on messy feedings (pellets are much cleaner than frozen food if your fish will eat them), skim well, do water changes and wait for the tank to get established. A solidly constructed tank with real live rock, aragonite sand, good export (water changes and skimmer) and not being super-stocked can handle N and P on its own without any GFO or organic carbon... but it takes time. You can use LC or GFO, but if you do, those bacteria will not grow towards equilibrium in your tank and the onus to handle the P will be on you and not the tank. If you let the tank handle it, you need more patience, but it will eventually get to where it has "enough, but not too much of N and P." I know that this is an old school style of reefing without the gagetry, reefer involvement and new age tech, but it still works the best IMO.

Lastly, it can take more than a year for a tank to stabilize to the point that your SPS always look good. There are no shortcuts to this... any taken will be short lived IMO.
 
Jda your probably right about sand I debated on even adding it because of this issue and I knew I was going to have to much flow to have a nice uniform sand bed. The rocks are super clean there is no algae anywhere but I have a large clean up crew. I no stranger to be patient I fully anticipate having to wait for all the nutrients to balance. As far as feeding goes i only feed 1/2 mini cube of brine shrimp which I rinse thoroughly every three days.
 
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