Are my phosphates to high?

[Formulator]

i would not be concerned. You are only marginally outside of optimal range and chasing perfect redfield ratio can sometimes result in unintended consequences with your biome (like once you start, you can’t stop). Unless you are trying to get competition-level color out of tricky acroporas, your phosphate level is fine. Just keep up with water changes and don’t let it get any higher. If you do really want to get it lower, as others suggested, dosing a nitrate source would be great at your levels. Shoot for 10 ppm nitrate and your phosphate will likely come down a bit on its own. Just be prepared to make nitrate dosing a permanent part of your upkeep if you do.

 

[thatindonesianreefer]

T

i would not be concerned. You are only marginally outside of optimal range and chasing perfect redfield ratio can sometimes result in unintended consequences with your biome (like once you start, you can’t stop). Unless you are trying to get competition-level color out of tricky acroporas, your phosphate level is fine. Just keep up with water changes and don’t let it get any higher. If you do really want to get it lower, as others suggested, dosing a nitrate source would be great at your levels. Shoot for 10 ppm nitrate and your phosphate will likely come down a bit on its own. Just be prepared to make nitrate dosing a permanent part of your upkeep if you do.

Thanks!

 

[FernBluffReef]

I believe I’m in a similar state.

To my understanding NoPox will impact nitrates first and may take “several” months until it starts to impact phosphates…

I personally just started NoPox about 4-6 weeks ago as my nitrates and especially phosphates finally started rising after 6 months since first wet since starting with dry rock.

Nitrates are now down to 9-12 and phosphates are sticky at .18-.23 using about 1/2 of recommended amount of phosguard to keep them there or a bit lower.

I’m shooting for ~10 Nitrates and around ~.1 Phosphates but only as a guideline I’m not looking for the precise ratio discussed.

As suggested by others as the nitrates go down below 10, I’ve reduced the dose of NoPox slightly to keep them from going much lower but not stopped so as not to have to start the process over again. I also have some NeoNitro left over if I need to add nitrates noting that for the bacteria to reduce phosphates there much also be Nitrates to feed them and visa versa.

That is how I understand it’s supposed to work. Be interested from others as to if their experience at all aligns with the theory / marketing . NoPox in theory seems pretty straightforward

 

[oldbob50]

Since the beginning of this year my phosphates have been at or above 0.5 PPM. For the last three months it has been at 1.0 ppm. My Hanna checker does not register any nitrates unless I doss nitrates. So my ratio is all messed up but my tank is not. I have no algae problems and my SPS and LPS corals are all growing so well that I am constantly fraging and trading with my LFS. I almost never have to pay for frozen food or new livestock because of the rapid growth rate. This may not work for others but as long as my tank is healthy I see no reason to get concerned.

 

[FUNGI]

I currently dose nopox (1 ml a day).

What size tank do you have?

 

[thatindonesianreefer]

What size tank do you have?

12 gallon nano ( 2 yrs old )

 

[Naekuh]

Is that rule of thumb based on The Redfield Ratio?

Or something else?

 

[tarikyabaci]

Son 2 aydır fosfat ve nitrat seviyelerim aşırı yüksekti.
Yavaş yavaş indirmeye başladım ama herhangi bir sorun yaşamıyorum. Tam tersine kaplan meşalesini renklendirmeyi başardım ki bu da şaşırtıcı.
Nitrat 48 Fosfat 1,73

 

[Formulator]

Son 2 aydır fosfat ve nitrat seviyelerim aşırı yüksekti.
Yavaş yavaş indirmeye başladım ama herhangi bir sorun yaşamıyorum. Tam tersine kaplan meşalesini renklendirmeyi başardım ki bu da şaşırtıcı.
Nitrat 48 Fosfat 1,73

No idea what you said or what language that is, but beautiful tank!

 

[Nano_Man]

No idea what you said or what language that is, but beautiful tank!

Look at his reading then look at the tank .
Numbers don’t mean much if you use your eyes

 

[Troylee]

It’s gonna depend who you ask lol.. I think your levels are fine but I would bring up nitrates a tad.. I think ratios are whack and tanks flourish even sps ones with nitrates in the 60’s and phosphates well up there also… times have changed from trying to keep all them numbers low and starve out corals!

 

[Uncle99]

Hi
I have a lps dominated reef tank with a few softies and NO sps (for now). My phos are currently sitting at around 0.25 and nitrates at 5 (pretty low). My question is is my phosphates to high? As of

Those values look great to me.
Why touch that?

 

[thatindonesianreefer]

Thanks!

 

[tarikyabaci]

My phosphate and nitrate levels have been extremely high for the last 2 months.I started downloading slowly but I'm not experiencing any problems. On the contrary, I managed to color the tiger torch, which is surprising.
Nitrat 48 Fosfat 1,73

I'm sorry, I didn't realize I wasn't writing in english

No idea what you said or what language that is, but beautiful tank!

 

[FernBluffReef]

I'm sorry, I didn't realize I wasn't writing in english

I dropped in google translate and surprisingly the translation was perfect.

 

[FUNGI]

12 gallon nano ( 2 yrs old )

IMO....thats allot to dose for a 12G.......I have a 125G and I dose 2.5ml everyday to keep my nitrates at 10+/- 2...but if it works for you...more power.

 

[thatindonesianreefer]

Thanks!