Could phosguard increase water clarity

[ceastman]

Curious if phosguard could increase water clarity? I put phosguard into my sump last night and this morning as my lights started coming on my blasto started receding a lot, I moved it from where it has been for months now (upper part of the tank) to lower near the sandbed and it seems to be recovering.

I haven't noticed anything else reacting, just thought it was really strange.

[Juiceman]

Phosguard is designed for rapid Phosphate reduction. I don't think it would have any effect on the clarity of the water directly.

[ceastman]

or could a colony of dying palys that I moved closer to the blasto cause it to recede? Can clownfish tell if a colony of palys is dieing? I had the colony near my clownfish and the female clownfish kept knocking it down into the sandbed....

[FarmerTy]

My guess is the Phosguard dropped your phosphates too fast and ticked off your blastos. The observed recovery when moving it lower may have just been a coincidence as by then, it probably adjusted to the change in phosphate levels. That or typically when a coral is stressed, they can become sensitive to higher light so you moving them down helped them cope.

My clownfish will try to remove anything placed near their "spot". I don't think they are doing it because something may be dying.

[Juiceman]

Dying palys can for sure. Not sure about why the clown would be knocking them over

[Neon Reefer]

Did you rinse the Phosgaurd well and place it in a fine mesh bag. You would;d not want either the dust or entire product loose in your tank. That would cause retraction by LPS and Zoas.

[jestep]

Stressed LPS is almost a 100% sign of dropping PO4 too quickly. Wall hammers and frogspawns are the worst in my experience but just about all LPS will react if you reduce too quickly.

[ceastman]

neon reefer - yep rinsed in rodi water and placed in a fine mesh bag,

jestep - so how to reduce slowly? hanna checker said it was .03 yesterday.

[jestep]

neon reefer - yep rinsed in rodi water and placed in a fine mesh bag,

jestep - so how to reduce slowly? hanna checker said it was .03 yesterday.

I typically use normal strength GFO so not sure how the efficiency compares, but just starting out, I would go with half of the recommended amount at the very most. For GFO, 1 Tbsp per 10 gallons is usually a safe starting point, and ramp up to about 1 Tbsp per 5 gallons over the course of 1 - 2 months if needed. All coral need PO4 to grow, so you don't want to strip it all out of the water anyway.

[Neon Reefer]

neon reefer - yep rinsed in rodi water and placed in a fine mesh bag,

jestep - so how to reduce slowly? hanna checker said it was .03 yesterday.

At 0.03 ppm I would not be trying to lower it anymore. That seems to be in in accepted range for stony corals. Some try for <0.02 ppm but many reefers claim it is too low. I fall into that camp where 0.02 -0.04 is the best range for most all corals except maybe some of the most difficult SPS.

But to answer your original question Can Phosguard help with water clarity. I would think no and say that Purigen may act more of a water clarifier as would carbon.