Can’t get a handle on po4

[scotty333]

Guys
I’m struggling with po4 .

On Friday I got .04 ( no phosphate removers) so heavy fed to maintain it but ended up with .13 Saturday so just did 1 feed in the morning and I’ve checked today at 0

Need to strike a balance here

 

[scotty333]

Weigh the food?

 

[Dburr1014]

You're Rock and sand are binding phosphate. Just keep feeding and eventually you will find the balance. You keep testing and getting 0.13 after feeding heavy it's still binding. At one point you're going to feed the same amount and it's going to spike higher, then you're Rock has finally bound enough to sustain. Here is some reading and explanation of how it works.

Thread 'Let’s talk binding of phosphates.' https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/let’s-talk-binding-of-phosphates.1047082/

 

[fushi]

What @Dburr1014 said.
Best route is to just feed consistently and test consistently.
You can also split up your feedings to a little in the morning and a little in the evening to help keep phosphate levels more consistent. Your fish will be happy too.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

How old is your tank? What kind of food do you feed? How many fish and how much food?

I've never seen phosphate go up and down like that so quickly, without more info I would assume a test error.

 

[scotty333]

Tanks 8 years old but reset in march , I don’t think the sand or rock are binding it .
Test error could be right although it’s a Hanna lr I don’t trust its accuracy every time.
Going to do 2 tests a day until I find the sweet spot
My sps seem to like it but my softies are not but that’s the joys of mixed reefs

 

[scotty333]

How old is your tank? What kind of food do you feed? How many fish and how much food?

I've never seen phosphate go up and down like that so quickly, without more info I would assume a test error.

Just mysis and nori , 14 fish (400ltr) about 5 cubes a day and a 1” piece of nori

 

[scotty333]

Tested again after a big feed 3 hours ago and still 0
I think my caluerpas soaking it up overnight( reverse lighting) or that .13 was a complete error.
Anyway will do another couple of feeds and check tonight then in the morning and I should know what’s going on

 

[bobnicaragua]

Feed more nori and/or get an auto feeder to drop pellets. I have my auto feeder run every morning and then feed frozen and nori in the evening.

 

[scotty333]

I’m not aware of nori being phosphate heavy

 

[scotty333]

After another big feed I’m at 0.07 so I have an idea how much food is needed now
Will check in the morning see if the caluerpa doesn’t zap it during the night

 

[Uncle99]

After another big feed I’m at 0.07 so I have an idea how much food is needed now
Will check in the morning see if the caluerpa doesn’t zap it during the night

Which test kit are you using ?
Most are next to useless for PO4

Increased feedings work but take time to break down into usable forms, and will increase nitrates at the same time.

When my PO4 drops below 0.05ppm, I just dose up the phosphate with Neo phos, very fast, convenient and immediately available to users.

I dose, wait 3 hours, then test.

 

[scotty333]

I’m using Hanna mate , most of the time it’s what I think it should be

I’ll give it a few days and see if I can maintain it but I’ll probably go down the same route

Cheers

 

[Uncle99]

I’m using Hanna mate , most of the time it’s what I think it should be

I’ll give it a few days and see if I can maintain it but I’ll probably go down the same route

Cheers

Perfect, it’s the only one I trust for PO4.

 

[scotty333]

I’d rather get a handle on food amount because it’ll add much more than just straight po4 like trace , ammonia from the poop etc

 

[fushi]

Tested again after a big feed 3 hours ago and still 0
I think my caluerpas soaking it up overnight( reverse lighting) or that .13 was a complete error.
Anyway will do another couple of feeds and check tonight then in the morning and I should know what’s going on

Calurpa is pretty but will suck up nutrients super fast, I found unless you have a ton of excess nutrients it's just easier to run a co2 scrubber for ph (shopmedvet.com has the media super cheap).

My tank I started with all dry rock and sand has similar phosphate issues where any dosed phosphate absorbs rapidly. (you'll know when you truly hit near 0 by some very sad corals) I can dose 0.5ppm/day for weeks before it finally hits equilibrium. Then when I get lazy and forget to refill the doser the rock will slowly leach it out (over a few months) until phosphate is undetectable again. It's a real pain because I get dinos at near 0 phosphate.

Anyway, you may want to try and take out the refugium or at least take out a bunch of the macro algae. Feed more and regularly, test your nitrates/phosphates daily and dose a little extra of which ever nutrient you need, to balance it out.

Also if you have high silicates in your water (or are dosing silicates for dinos) Hanna checkers have a known issue reading accurately and you should use a manual dropper test (redsea, salifort).
But without silicates I find my hannas to be awesome.

You can buy premixed stuff from brightwells, ME, etc. but Nitrate and Phosphate solutions are super easy and cheap to make.
Amazon Sodium Nitrate
Amazon TriSodium Phosphate

James planted tank calculator use nitrate - from potassium nitrate / potassium - from potassium phosphate for calculations

 

[scotty333]

Thanks for the tips but I’m happy with the system I run , sure things change but it’s just a matter of adapting to those changes
I was dosing lantgium chloride only a week ago as my caluerpa stopped growing but fired back into action a few days ago so I will find the right amount of food to balance my phosphate rather than reinvent the wheel ( sorry but it’s hard for a 25 year hobbyist / ex shop owner to start messing with equipment when there’s an easier route)
Just addd food , sorted
Doesn’t have to be complicated

 

[scotty333]

Quick update
Po4 .10

 

[scotty333]

Took a few days-week but nailed it now
Monday .02
Wednesday.06
Friday .04

Now I can tell the level with the algae on the glass , a light dusting in parts = good
More than that >.1
No algae dusting = <..02

One less thing to test for wipeeee

 

[scotty333]

Guess I thought I was smart huh
Seems not so much , 0d po4
Now plan b , weigh if a block or count cubes ( which is quicker and more convenient)
Target .05 with x amount and then I may “ have a handle on po4)
Oh well, like all things with reefing there’s an element of trial n error