Chemi pure elite question

[Animal-Chin]

So my 55 was doing great but I was getting an outbreak of green hair algea that I brought in with some coral...grrrr

anyway, I've read great things about how chemipure reduces phosphates so I thought I'd try it. Since the day I put it in I'm having horrible issues with my coral. I've lost 2 completely, the soft tissue has just died and my plate coral is turning white. Has anyone heard of chemi pure being bad for coral? My parameters are awesome

Nitrate 0
Phosphate 0
Alk 8
Mag 1200
calcium 400
PH 8

but all of a sudden its like some stuff is crashing. Most of my coral looks as good as ever but some is just not doing well and the green hair is as bad as ever.

Thoughts?

 

[Saltwaterking]

No way on this earth chemi pur is hands down the best carbon u can use for a system

 

[Saltwaterking]

As far for phosphates being 0 this is incorrect for the simple fact u have hair algae , if u have algae in your system then you have phosphates , I would recommended getting your self. Phosphate reactor and in a few months your system should be good to go

 

[Saltwaterking]

Also your mag I would bump up to 1300 and your cal I would bring up to 420

 

[MikeYQM]

Chemipure is a mix of Carbon, GFO & DI Resin. Its possible that if you added too much too fast, you pulled too many nutrients & harmed the coral.

Coral need a little nitrate & phosphate to sustain the symbiotic algae, the algae which fuels the coral. It could be that between the hair algae and the Chemipure you effectively out competed your coral for nutrients. If you are testing 0 for both PO4 & NO3, that means there are undetectable levels in the water column at that moment; but they are still present in the system in the hair algae.

Manually remove as much hair algae as possible. This will export much of the excess nutrients stored within and decrease (temporarily until it grows back) the nutrient sink out competing your coral.

 

[Saltwaterking]

I disagree ,and this is depending on the type of coral your raising , me myself I am a sps man and my tank is fully sps corals and in my case even a little nitrates and phosphates are a no no in a reef Aquriams and deff a no no for sps corals

 

[MikeYQM]

Have you ever wondered why proponents of ULNS systems like Zeovit and others bring their nutrients to or near u detectable then add supplements to increase coloration & growth? The idea is to create a working standard baseline then dose nutrients to keep the coral healthy.

I'm not talking about huge levels, but .03 ppm of PO4 & .25 - 1 ppm of NO3 is ideal. Any more corals will start to brown (reproduction of symbiotic algae), much more and it inhibits growth. But if you go much lower the symbiotic algae will begin to die off causing bleaching events. Most any algae, like plants, requires both nutrients AND light to survive.

What you might read as 0.00/0.00 on your test kits is only a measure of what's in the water column at that very moment. That doesn't mean you don't have NO3 & PO4 in your system feeding your corals' symbiotic algae. You are lucky to have export & coral uptake very efficiently nearly as efficiently as its added.

Your tests are also location dependent. Most tested water is at the surface in an area of high agitation. If you tested at the sandbed or from a cave on your LR you might detect slightly higher levels which become dilute or up taken by the time you take your test sample.

 

[Saltwaterking]

Agreed I do in deed agree with you , in fact in nature phosphates are found no higher then .03 ppm but as far as adding carbon and it stripped your water so clean that your corals are starting to die . That I do not believe , on another note I'm glad to see I have another experienced reefer to discuss with lol , hard to fine one theses days

 

[MikeYQM]

Chemipure is a mix of carbon & GFO. Too much too fast can easily harm corals. Says so on the box!

 

[Saltwaterking]

Could be possible , me personally I've never had a problem as well as known anybody that has , but then again anything is possible