Reactor

MNRAM

Member
Hello all :)
It's probably been asked over and over, but I don't have time to look thru
every forum to find an answer to my question.

How long should I keep Phosban running in my reactor to kill GHA and Red Slime.
I've had it running for three days. It's working, because there is GHA clumps floating
around my tank. Of course I net them out, but how long to run it??
 

StirCrayzy

Well-Known Member
Welcome to RS !
Some people run it constantly, but since it's working, let it keep going until you don't see any GHA remaining.,
assuming you don't start seeing corals having a negative reaction. Sometimes stripping nutrients quickly can cause shock.
 

DaveK

Well-Known Member
First, understand that phosban or any other GFO product does not kill any algae. It works by removing phosphate from the water and depriving the algae of a food source.

This is going to take some time. Think about how long you can live without food. You also may have to run phosban on a continuous basis, since you are always going to be adding phosphates and nitrates to the system in the form of food.
 

MNRAM

Member
Thanks for your input folks I really appreciate it. My leathers have not opened their polyps in the last 2 days.
I have 6 of them. Only my Sinularia Finger Leather is open. I just tested the entire gambit
of test kits. I finished about 2 hours and still no polyps playing peek a boo. All of my other 28 corals are looking normal. I'm stumped. I fed all of them 3 days ago.

HELP!!!
 
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DaveK

Well-Known Member
Soft corals, especially leather corals need to close up and shed what looks like skin in order to grow. This could be normal.

Just because your test kits read normal, doesn't mean you don't have a problem. There are plenty of parameters you can not test for.

If your in doubt about a soft coral, Look for black areas of decay in it especially around the base. Also look for what looks like smoke coming from it. This also indicated decay. You can also give the coral the smell test. A normal coral will smell bad, one with any decay will smell really foul and nasty. If that is the case, frag the coral, and discard the bad parts.

Water changes are your friend here. If things don't improve in a day or two carefully make about a 30% water change. the corals perk up, consider additional partial water changes. It's cheep insurance.
 

MNRAM

Member
Thanks, there is one leather that looks like it's shedding and the polyps are partial out,
yesterday they were all sucked up, that's an improvement on one of 5, I'll take it. I've another10 gallons cooking right now. This will be the last water change until Saturday. I'm going to order test kits today, hopefully they will be here soon.

Thanks again DaveK.....Mark
 

chipmunkofdoom2

Well-Known Member
Good advice from all.

As said above, lots of people run GFO constantly. GFO simply absorbs phosphate, no more, no less.. As Dave mentioned, this doesn't kill the algae, it just starves it. There's nothing really wrong with running GFO constantly, but if your goal is to stop using GFO or use as little as possible, that's definitely an option. Personally if it were me I would use enough to solve the algae problem. Then, after all the algae is gone, I'd slowly start using less and less GFO each time I change it out. If at any point the algae started to come back, I'd increase the amount that I used until it was gone again. This will ensure that you're not using so much GFO that you're covering up bad husbandry (overfeeding, poor cleaning/water change habits, etc), and will allow you to run as little as possible.

Also, there hasn't been anything conclusive, but go ahead and do a quick Google search on the effect phosphate removers can have on leather corals. There aren't a ton of good resources, but there are lots of experiences like yours: a few days after implementing some sort of phosphate removal media, the leather corals react poorly. Not sure what that means to your tank, but just interesting that it appears to affect other reefers as well.
 

MNRAM

Member
Thanks to all, (and I really mean it) for everyone's input.

I thought that I should tell you that 3 of my Leathers have polyps coming out. But my favorite one (Devils Hand) is not looking so too good.
I'm wondering when I tried to frag it, I had a bit of trouble cutting the frag off (two fingers) I kind off pulled on it too hard. I used a brand new razor blade to frag it. I think, no I'm sure it was the blade I used, it was from Harbor Freight. I have since bought new ones from HD. Go cheap, get cheap. I have since bought a new cutter. I'm afraid I'm going to loose my D-Hand.
When it puffed up it was about 10" tall and 4"wide, 6 or7" when fingers extended, it was gorgeous, I really hope it comes back, but alas me thinks it may be going to the coral grounds that have passed in the past. I'm upset that I have may done it in :( If it starts turning black and dissolving I am going to start fragging it and starting over. I have a ?, can I just cut it above the base (it's attached to a rock by itself) or just frag all of the parts that haven't turn black?? I hope someone tells me quick, I want to start fragging today.

Thanks again for yawls help!!
 

StirCrayzy

Well-Known Member
See if it perks up after the next WC.
I wouldn't frag a leather that is not healthy , wait til the big guy gets better. Unless of course you're planning on moving the frags to other systems for recovery.
Whatever it doesn't like about your water right now, is only going to get worse once under stress of being cut up. I use regular Stanley razors for slice&dice softies fragging, just make sure to do an alcohol wipe before you use anything to get the oils off the blades and sterilize.
 

chipmunkofdoom2

Well-Known Member
See if it perks up after the next WC.
I wouldn't frag a leather that is not healthy , wait til the big guy gets better. Unless of course you're planning on moving the frags to other systems for recovery.
Whatever it doesn't like about your water right now, is only going to get worse once under stress of being cut up. I use regular Stanley razors for slice&dice softies fragging, just make sure to do an alcohol wipe before you use anything to get the oils off the blades and sterilize.

Great advice here.
 

MNRAM

Member
Well folks my leathers are responding to the WCs. Did another 10 gal yesterday. This morning my favorite one is putting some polyps out testing the environment. I'm very happy about that.
Going to do a 20 gal today.

Thanks once more....Mark
 

MNRAM

Member
I forgot to ask a 2nd ? about the Phosban in my reactor. How long can I run the Phos. before I need to change out the Phos.?

Thanks....Mark
 

MNRAM

Member
I did a 20gal wc this time. Now some are really looking good, but my fave is still sucked in. They are like the pop up head smack game. One comes out, then back in. Then a different one comes out and 3 hrs. later back in. That's been happening since Friday. I can't count on any of them to come out and stay out
They're ticked at something. Hopefully they will all come out and stay out, I've tried everything, I'm really perplexted.
 
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