High Tide Aquatics

Chemipure and hlle?

So, I had gone back and forth between using elite and using blue with phosguard. My corals seem to hate phosguard so I stopped using blue with phosguard, and stayed with elite. Elite seemed to work fine. Corals were happy and coralline was spreading. Had a cyano problem but not out of control.

When I was ready to buy fish, I read forums where people say chemi pure elite causes hlle. So now I'm back on blue with phosguard (the same jar I bought a year ago). Coralline has receded drastically. Corals don't look bad, but definitely don't look their best. Would it be safe for my wrasses if I switch back to elite? Or should I stay with blue but use gfo, specifically aquavitro phosfiltrum, instead of phosguard?
 
I'm not sure what the mechanism is and I'm also researching HLLE. I've also heard that running carbon can cause HLLE... I would say use GFO. I'm getting ready to share some GFO with members so I'll keep you posted
 
Some say malnutrition causes hlle. Some say carbon causes it, but pelleted carbon (chemi pure blue) is supposedly ok. So I'm afraid of going back to standard carbon (chemi pure elite).

I already have a packet of phosfiltrum (pelleted gfo) but I don't want to use it long term. I like the ease of the all-in-one bag of elite. But I can't find a definitive answer about hlle.
 
my blue tang had hole in head pretty bad for 2 years, then suddenly it healed in 3 days for no reason. Havent changed anything food-wise or diet or equipment/filtration in months. I also have 2 pyramid butterflies, and one has hole in head and one doesnt. exact same species.
 
It really seems Carbon can cause HLLE, yes. There have been some pretty good experiments on it.

Just one:
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08997659.2011.608608
google for others.

Of course, how much, why, and which brands/types, is another matter.

The (rather unproven) theory is that the Carbon Fines cause it.
Running a protein skimmer helps, since it removes them.
As does running hard pellets, rinsing, and so on.

Avoid Lignite Carbon.

I run carbon. Carefully.
 
what is your aversion to GFO?

Don't want to worry about overdosing. One time I used too much phosguard and killed several corals. And I just don't want to measure anything. Phosfiltrum is pelleted but expensive. Regular gfo can crumble so I'd have to buy seachem bags (also expensive) and I'd have to make sure all of it stays inside the bag (don't spill any while scooping).
 
I’ve used 3 times the recommended dosage of Phosguard and it did what it was expected to do. No adverse effects, it just brought down my phosphates. Are you rinsing it before putting it in?
 
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