Well, Phosban was probably the right thing to do...

[Sk8r]

...after a great start, been having a little browning problem in acroporas, and coralline growth had slowed down. I read that this could be phosphate. Well, guilty, yr. honor: I have some fish and a glutton of a plate coral that can scarf down pellets---which are fun to feed. However, the acros weren't enjoying themselves nearly as much, and the caulerpa was starting to grow again. Phosphate didn't test as present; but I was willing to bet it was bound somewhere. I've kept reef for years, but for some reason [probably because it wasn't available in the Jurassic] I had never used any phosphate remover.

Decided to drop some Phosban into the downflow tray and cross my fingers---largely on the sentiment that I'd take a major risk to avoid having another caulerpa bloom.

Wow. Cloudy. Bigtime. I was really worried at this point. But I stuck it out, and pretty soon, over the next hour, the extension in acros that hadn't put forth a polyp at all in weeks was amazing. The lps look as if they could explode from delight, the feeding tentacles are out everywhere, and the fish aren't having a bad time either.

I'm sold. I'm not sure how long I'll run it, but by the reaction of everything in the tank, this was overdue.

 

[LBCBJ]

Results within an hour? How high were your phosphates?

 

[Sk8r]

I have a test: I ran it. Zero. But algae was growing. The best I can figure is that I had some bound up somewhere, not least in the algae. I'm figuring the real reading may have been gruesome...at some cryptic level. I'm going to test my water religiously over the next several days. I haven't seen the valida's polyps in weeks: they're out, not just a tip, but the usual triad of polyp 'lashes'; ditto the other acros are out. The lps are about 5-10% expanded beyond their usual cheerful selves. Whatever's going on looks more like a feeding frenzy than relief from bad stuff: the trumpet's got sweepers out, and the bubble is a third larger than normal, with 6 inch sweepers. Whatever they perceive, they're reading it apparently as food. But it's certainly good to see those sps polyps put in an appearance.

 

[chadfarmer]

probally more than .08

 

[Sk8r]

I wouldn't be surprised at anything. I keep pretty good water quality, in all departments where I can test reliably. But the more I read about browning and such issues, [given a guilty conscience about indulging the plate coral] I just had a stronger and stronger feeling something was 'peculiar' in the phosphates. I certainly hope the next thing you hear from me isn't one of the heeeeelllllp threads: I'll be watching it like a hawk, considering I've never used this product before, but I'll hope this was a good decision.

 

[chadfarmer]

very slow flow threw the media

it will make the alk jump around

 

[Sk8r]

Thanks for the heads up: my autotopoff is buffered to the max, but I'll run a test this evening and probably another before turning in, just to be sure.

 

[dots]

Great to hear.....I just got a reactor after nearly a year of just socking it in the sump. I imagine with more interaction with the reactor I will have better results. I can only hope they are as good as yours!!

 

[Sk8r]

After this experience I would be looking at a reactor, if not for the fact my cabinet is crammed to the max with what I've got. I think it's the sock in the sump for me, but I'm encouraged. I'm going to go find out what that ph and alk are....

Well, ph is 8.5 and alk is 9.3. I'm not panicked. I run 2 tsp Kent superbuffer per gallon of topoff, that being the ordinary daily evap, and daily buffer need.

I probaby need to dump in a couple of tsp calcium, too. That's the next test.

 

[Sk8r]

An update: after the spike up to 8.5, my ph this morning is its usual rock-solid 8.3, and the corals are all doing fine. The only negative seems to be a micro-frag of poci that is positioned a little close to the bubble and that may have taken some damage in the bubble's current exuberance. The fish are fine, the inverts are fine [my scarlet hermit is back eating bubble algae and the confounded useless emerald is picking at the coralline again] and the polyp extension is about like last night. I hope that this will make a difference in the browning trend. Clearly I have a lot of hidden or bound-up phosphate. I should run that test and see if any has turned up readable on the test.

 

[Michael Mota]

Maybe you can try a different test just to see if you get the same results. Maybe the test your using is no longer reading correctly? Just a thought. Hope the tank continues to improve, I wish you the best.