How much phosphate is too much

[jedidad]

How old is this tank? If it is fairly young the po4 could be leaching out of the live rock. I would try running some gfo in a reactor.

 

[Love the Tang]

Tank was set up June 15th I used dry rock and a few live rock and damsel to cycle tank.

 

[Eckolancer]

Dry rock usually has a lot of phosphates that leach out over time. Should have maybe given it an acid bath first. I would run Lanthanum Chloride daily until you phosphates are in a good level that you want. You will need to change your filter socks out a lot. And skimmer will run wet may over flow if you dont re adjust it.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Cut back on feeding and light, increase magnesium and decrease iodine use

 

[reefers paradise]

I have a .08 reading with red sea kit but I have some type of algae growth

 

[vetteguy53081]

with phosphates.... what salt mix are you using and what water are you using to mix it ? (eg: RO, Tap, etc)

 

[reefers paradise]

Red sea blue bucket (not the high alk one). Rodi sys. I feed like 2x a week lights r black boxes. Schedule is not long at all I have a fuge as well

 

[vetteguy53081]

Red sea blue bucket (not the high alk one). Rodi sys. I feed like 2x a week lights r black boxes. Schedule is not long at all I have a fuge as well

Sounds like you're doing the right things.
One thing I forgot to ask in helping with a solution..... By chance is your tank at or near a window??

 

[reefers paradise]

It is close to a window, the window has blinds. However at the top of the window, there is another window. My friend told me my coral looks awesome, that I should stop tripping. I cant though I want the ugly algae out of the tank. I'm ok with the coraline.

 

[happyhourhero]

I’m wayyy more worried about stripping the water too clean from phosphates than I am about letting them get high.

 

[250mixreef]

Hey LT can u post a FTS

 

[Bastray]

I worried about po4 too much the first 6 months my tank was up and kept my phosphate at 0-.02. Many of my corals were pale and I lost quite a few corals as well. I decided to take GFO offline, started feeding a little heavier, and now my po4 is around .08-.1 and my corals are growing faster than they ever have, all color has come back and the coral loss stopped. I have no algae in my main display as well. I still keep an eye on po4 and if it keeps climbing I may try to lower it back to .08 as I think that is the sweet spot for my tank. My suggestion is don't chase the numbers, watch your corals and make decisions based on the health of your corals not a number.

 

[jda]

Few things...

First, do not be so quick to expect the same results as people who have tanks less than a year old - most of the time, just having a more mature tank is what led to any beneficial things and not probably any acute change. In older tanks where a long period of growth and health can be observed, then acute changes are more likely to take a shape that is repeatable.

Second, there are all kinds of statements like "good growth" and "good color" but these are all subjective. You can have good growth and color with elevated levels, but if you have never see how fast stuff can grow at NSW type of parameters for an extended period of time, then most people do not know what they do not know. If you are happy with what you are doing, then stick with it... any growth and good color is pretty cool. I would not chase a number based on other people.

Third, there are some tanks with very high P levels that float around the internet as "see, you can have high phosphate" examples. However, none of these tanks got that way with super high phosphates... the critical mass of growth and coralline algae deposits were from a period of lower phosphates... maybe not super low, but still lower in a more normal range. It is important to know the whole history when you look at tanks like this and not just go looking for what you want to find.

Fourth, having an absolute number is not a big deal. The availability and "throughput" are what is important. I have only about .005 to .01P in my tank, but there is always some for the corals to use as building blocks.

Fifth, higher levels of phosphate are known to inhibit calcification. This is pretty much a proven fact. If you have elevated levels of phosphate, then your stuff is growing slower than it could be. However, this might be no issue at all to some people who do not care for lots of growth. I personally cannot get coralline to grow all over the place very well with P over .1, but under that, it will completely cover my front glass in a month if I let it. I can take plates off of the back wall as thick as monti caps.

 

[Bastray]

My decision to be a bit more lax on phosphate came after reading some articles from Richard Ross and a write up from Adam at Battle Corals. You can see his write up here. There is a link to Richard Ross' write up as well in the article.

https://battlecorals.com/blogs/blog/185869191-phosphate-ramblings

I am not stating anything I am seeing as fact, just my observation of the positive changes in my tank.

 

[Sherman]

My PO4 is around 0.01 to 0.1 ppm.Using Hanna ULR to check weekly. SPS and softies is doing good.

 

[cjb428]

So I’m using the Hanna test kit, it only givesme a number which I believe is in ppb are the readindings listed in this post ppb?

 

[Bastray]

So I’m using the Hanna test kit, it only givesme a number which I believe is in ppb are the readindings listed in this post ppb?

There are 2 Hannah checkers for phosphate. One that reads ppm and one that reads ppb. It will say right above the screen which one it is.

 

[cjb428]

There are 2 Hannah checkers for phosphate. One that reads ppm and one that reads ppb. It will say right above the screen which one it is.

Yeah, mine is ppb. I assume I need to do a conversion as it appears that most people use ppm

 

[reefers paradise]

I have the ulr phosphate hanna checker and reads well

 

[Bastray]

Yeah, mine is ppb. I assume I need to do a conversion as it appears that most people use ppm

I would just do whatever is easiest for you. If converting it for your use makes it easier than do that. If I had that checker I would just use ppb personally so I don't have to convert. LoL. It's the same number at the end of the day.