Hanna Phosphate checker

[theyangman]

For those of you who use Hanna, which one do you guys use?

"Regular" in ppm

or

Ultra Low Range in ppb

I am using the "regular" which oddly enough has that little marine label on it which is missing from the first photo, but present on the bottom photo.

Did I buy the wrong one? I have watched some videos and people are saying the ULR gives a more accurate reading as it is usually twice the value given from the "regular" as the regular can miss certain phosphates in the water.

 

[Salty Cracker]

I use the regular one but plan to swap for the ultra low one.  if you're getting a reading on the regular one then you're using the right one.  When it consistently says 0.00 you need to go to the low range.  I borrowed one and found I was running .003ppm  (3 parts per billion)

 

[unibob]

Regular. Don't need 0.00000000

 

[curiousphil]

I've got the regular one.  It's not reading 0.0 on a consistent basis yet.

 

[Reef Hero]

I used to own the phosphate ppm one and kept getting a zero reading so i got the phosphorous ulr ppb one and started reading small traces of phosphate in ppm....we are talking like 0.02ppm but still when growing a lot of acros or corals that need very clean water it is important to know if you arr 0.02 or 0.08ppm.... this in turn helped me to grow lps and chalice since i found if i keep my water with a bit of phosphate it helps the lps and sps does ok too.....i once did a big direct to coral feeding when lights were out and next day my po4 was up 0.04ppm
Tony, since you are doing acros and most sps i would strongly suggest u get the phosphorous ulr one once you get to a zero reading or close to it with the one you have.

 

[reeffreak]

The ultra low range is the one you want if you plan on keeping sps.

 

[theyangman]

I am still getting a pretty high phosphate reading.

I get 0.28 ppm

I am working on getting this down with my GFO reactor finally online and running properly I will monitor it closely for changes.

How fast do you think phosphates can go down safely with GFO?

 

[Reef Hero]

If all you're growing is sps.....especially acros.....then I would say as fast as possible.
How much GFO are you running in your 550?

 

[reeffreak]

Don't do anything major, keep up the gfo changes every 4 weeks or whenever you find the po4 readings going back up, and regular water changes ... Doing things  fast never  turns out good.

 

[Salty Cracker]

I am still getting a pretty high phosphate reading.

I get 0.28 ppm

I am working on getting this down with my GFO reactor finally online and running properly I will monitor it closely for changes.

How fast do you think phosphates can go down safely with GFO?

I went from .78ppm to ~.20 ppm in about 2 weeks using hi-cap GFO.  After that it really hovered between .03-.12 range for a long time, probably two months or so, but my rock must have been full of the stuff.  I would say it took almost 6 months to get it into the parts-per-billion range, at which point I switched to the regular granular GFO for maintenance, swapped out once a month even to this day.

Whatever you do stay away from seachem phosguard.  Yes, it works well, but it's a trainwreck product.  It rips the phosphate out really quick, hits saturation levels quickly, but really does a number on water chemistry (definitely a quick fix-fuck product).  You don't want to change (or fix!) anything too fast.  Hi-Cap GFO is about as aggressive as I would be with a tank.  As well, I'm not a fan of aluminum based phosphate removers).  Even the seachem site admits that aluminum -may- be released into the water, but is "not easily absorbed into soft body coral".  What about hard coral?? 

 

[theyangman]

Is there an easy way to check if gfo has been exhausted? This shit ain't cheap so I dont wanna waste it...

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[reeffreak]

Is there an easy way to check if gfo has been exhausted? This shit ain't cheap so I dont wanna waste it...

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If you po4 levels get higher then they are now, it's exhausted.

 

[theyangman]

Ha ha ha. Figured as much. They should invent a color changing gfo

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[reeffreak]

That last post for salty pretty much sums it up t toss in some high capacity gfo or stick with regular gfo and playthe all mighty waiting game lol.

Color changing gfo is genius, just like the di resin.

 

[Reef Hero]

You're gonna burn through a lot of GFO when growing sps......
Going from your .3 to a better level of .08 or lower within a couple days would not be a big hit to the sps tony.....most I'm sure are used to a much lower range anyways....I would run some hi cap for a bit if you can and get stocked up on it lol

 

[teebone110]

I find if you have visible algae, your levels are too high and you need to change your GFO or look into other ways to get it down.

No visible algae and your levels should be good.

Be careful as SPS coral need a very low level of phosphates to flourish.

 

[Salty Cracker]

You're gonna burn through a lot of GFO when growing sps......
Going from your .3 to a better level of .08 or lower within a couple days would not be a big hit to the sps tony.....most I'm sure are used to a much lower range anyways....I would run some hi cap for a bit if you can and get stocked up on it lol

True, but you also have to look at the whole ecosystem.  If you drop off a major food source (phosphate) too quickly, some micro organisms might die off, leading to starvation up the line, or toxins as they die, or blooms of unchecked bacteria, etc etc.  sps are fairly hardy to be honest, it's the rest of the system that won't react well to sudden changes of anything.  At least that's my theory

 

[theyangman]

I'll just run the GFO I have and do a little more on the water changes.

I tested my water reservoir, tested out a 0.03 ppm. Which is cool.

Perhaps every other day swap out 20 - 30 gallons in combination of the GFO?

 

[reeffreak]

I'll just run the GFO I have and do a little more on the water changes.

I tested my water reservoir, tested out a 0.03 ppm. Which is cool.

Perhaps every other day swap out 20 - 30 gallons in combination of the GFO?

I wouldn't be changing that much water that often,
Along with the gfo swap. That's to much and the system will always be playing catch up. Water changes are good, but big water changes to often can be a bad thing.

 

[Poseidon]

I tested my water reservoir, tested out a 0.03 ppm. Which is cool.

Not really. I would trip out if my barrel was .03,
What TDS is your ro water? I sure hope for your sake the barrels arnt leaching anything