Great vid about phosphate/phosphorus

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Water Chemistry·Oct 3·👁 106#1

Great vid about phosphate/phosphorus

Definitely geared towards Tropic Marin products, but the general information here is really good. I especially like their approach to PO4 levels and the differences between our tanks and the ocean.

— Clams and acros

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@mescobar
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Oct 4#2

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Share your experience…

Neat, I'd consider switching the liquid reagents if its more economical and the accuracy difference is actually within 10%. I get wary that the last specs of stranded reagent powder in the packaging impacts the ULR accuracy. Looks like the TM PO4 PRO reagents usually cover 50 tests for 15mL. But you should be able to get 75 tests out of the test reagents with the 10mL Hanna cuvette. Hanna ULR Powder usually costs $20 for 25 tests. That's $0.80/test. TM PO4 PRO test kits also costs $20 for 75 tests. That's $0.27/test Crazy that the TM test kit would be 3x cheaper and more convenient. If only these test kits were readily available...

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@Ndrwater

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Oct 4#3

Great video!! Who said Germans didn't have a sense if humor!!

— Yup....

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Oct 4#4

Yeah, I might have to switch to the TM reagents and give it a try. If you haven’t watched any of SciReefs vids, do yourself a favor and subscribe to their channel. They are spawning Trachys, acropora and other corals. And those corals look amazing and healthy. If I’m not mistaken they now have the ability to ship outside of Germany?

— Clams and acros

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Oct 4#5

Ain’t bad - glad I can still use the Hanna tester. Well played.

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Oct 5#6

This is from my Trident NP, clocking in at 0.13 PO4 on average. It’s actually ain’t bad, currently matching Hanna. I’m currently dosing 20mL of LC (BW Phosphat-E) daily into the fleece roller. What are you guys running to keep PO4 in check?

— /yolo

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Oct 5#7

Once my fish return to my 90g I’ll most likely go back to dosing LC directly into to the skimmer body like before. I always dilute it and dose small amounts, as I want to prevent any flocculant from entering the display. I use TM Elimi phos rapid. I use this calculator to figure out my stock solution. larryl.emailplus.org.user.fm/fish/dosing-instructions-phosphate-removers.html

— Clams and acros

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Oct 5#8

For anyone who wants to create a diluted stock solution of any given supplement, I use the 30 day formula, which works like this: To create a 1L stock solution, calculate what your daily amount would be, for this example we’ll choose 12mL/day. 12 x 30 = 360 Subtract 360 from 1000, which is 640. So you’ll mix 360mL of your element into 640mL of RO, this is your 1L of diluted stock solution. Now to dose over the course of 30 days, we’ll divide 1000 / 30 = 33.333, so you’ll dose 33mL a day of that solution. For LC, I like to dose smaller amounts over the course of 24hrs, so I double the hours and dose 48 times a day. You can always reduce the amount at first so you’re only dosing half the amount, then slowly increase over a week or so depending on your current levels. For PO4 adjustments, I go extremely slow, as to not change it quickly. Hopefully this helps anyone who wants to create stock solutions.

— Clams and acros

@mescobar

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Oct 5#9

I'm considering automating my LC dosing with a heavily diluted LC solution (for overdosing peace of mind). I agree that a diluted solution also helps in spreading the LC over the course of the day. I was doing some research and it seems like dosing LC into the venturi is more effective than into the skimmer neck, which is how I normally manually dose it. Does anyone have experience dosing LC directly into their venturi? Some people t-off the venturi tube directly. Any consideration against doing this? Could it make the skimmer less effective?

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Oct 5#10

I’m lazy so just dose BW PhosphatE directly. I’m not sure if the product is already diluted but given my fish load, 20mL/day is my sweet spot. Agreed, start small and slowly increase based on test results. You should not drop more than 0.05ppm in 24h. I’ve read so many horror stories about people losing fish (esp Zebrasoma’s) due to LC dosing. Jury is still out as to how they dosed it, what product (pool supply?), concentration, etc. I’ve been dosing PhosphateRx for almost a decade and switched to PhosphatE (cause you can auto dose) in the last 2.5 years. Knock on e-wood but I have been super lucky so far.

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Oct 5#11

@Drexl - we should start a poll to see what people do since WC alone won’t reduce PO4, constantly leaching out from rocks & sand. I used PhosBan before but found GFOs in reactors was very messy and uncontrollable! Currently, I can change PO4 from my phone.

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Oct 5#12

@BackbayReef wrote: @Drexl - we should start a poll to see what people do since WC alone won’t reduce PO4, constantly leaching out from rocks & sand. I used PhosBan before but found GFOs in reactors was very messy and uncontrollable! Currently, I can change PO4 from my phone.

Yeah, I’m not a fan of GFO’s either. I think if you have a slight increase, it’s easy enough to deploy, but long term gets messy and finds its way into the display.

— Clams and acros

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Oct 5· edited Mon, Oct 5 · 8:26 PM#13

@mescobar wrote: I'm considering automating my LC dosing with a heavily diluted LC solution (for overdosing peace of mind). I agree that a diluted solution also helps in spreading the LC over the course of the day. I was doing some research and it seems like dosing LC into the venturi is more effective than into the skimmer neck, which is how I normally manually dose it. Does anyone have experience dosing LC directly into their venturi? Some people t-off the venturi tube directly. Any consideration against doing this? Could it make the skimmer less effective?

The problem with doing it this method is the LC can bind to the impeller, motor, etc and creates a buildup, which can destroy those parts. If you look at the skimmer neck when dosing, you’ll see that buildup, which is easily removed with a little vinegar or citric acid.

— Clams and acros

@mescobar

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Oct 5#14

@Drexl wrote: The problem with doing it this method is the LC can bind to the impeller, motor, etc aka creates a buildup, which can destroy those parts. If you look at the skimmer neck when dosing, you’ll see that buildup, which is easily removed with a little vinegar or citric acid.

That sounds like an important consideration to make, degrading/breaking the skimmer in the process probably isn't worth it.

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5d ago#15

@Drexl I’m currently at 15 / 0.13 * 1.53 = 177 based on N/P x 1.53. That’s way above the 50 molar ratio as referenced. My PO4 is super stable since I’m dosing LC at 20mL/day. I can drive NO3 down further but my stupid sulfur reactor has been channeling lately (media clump) hence pushing that down further has been challenging. I might swap out the Aquamaxx TS-3 (bad design tbh) for a GEO this weekend, if time permits.

— /yolo