Morning All. Over the past year, my tank has been extremely stable. Now, My PO4 has taken a substantial jump in the last two weeks and I need help finding the cause. There are two things that have changed in the last two weeks and I suspect one of them (or both in combination) has caused the jump.
First, my Hippo Tang went rogue and started eating all my softies. Caught her and re-homed her two weeks ago. I did reduce how much I feed the tank a little.
Second, I ran out of room for my Acropora, so I build another rock ledge for the tank. I cured the rock with ammonia and bacteria for three weeks before I put it in the tank. At that time the rock tested zero ammonia, zero nitrite and 6.0 nitrate. I did not test PO4 while it was being cured.
Before removing the Hippo and adding the rocks, NO3 was 16.0 and PO4 was 0.15. Both extremely steady. Over the past two weeks (10 days since putting in the new rocks) NO3 is now 19.3 and PO4 has shot up to 0.39.
Other tank parameters are as follows:
Total water 190-200 gallons
Temp 79.1-80.5
Salinity. 35.0
PH. 8.2-8.45
Alk. 8.15
Ca. 400
mag. 1425
Could the rise in PO4 be from not reducing feeding enough, or will new rock in the tank leech out PO4 until it stabilizes in the tank? I do daily 2 gallon auto water changes, but should I increase that till the PO4 drops back down below 0.2? Photos of tank and new ledge structure.
Thanks for any suggestions.
First, my Hippo Tang went rogue and started eating all my softies. Caught her and re-homed her two weeks ago. I did reduce how much I feed the tank a little.
Second, I ran out of room for my Acropora, so I build another rock ledge for the tank. I cured the rock with ammonia and bacteria for three weeks before I put it in the tank. At that time the rock tested zero ammonia, zero nitrite and 6.0 nitrate. I did not test PO4 while it was being cured.
Before removing the Hippo and adding the rocks, NO3 was 16.0 and PO4 was 0.15. Both extremely steady. Over the past two weeks (10 days since putting in the new rocks) NO3 is now 19.3 and PO4 has shot up to 0.39.
Other tank parameters are as follows:
Total water 190-200 gallons
Temp 79.1-80.5
Salinity. 35.0
PH. 8.2-8.45
Alk. 8.15
Ca. 400
mag. 1425
Could the rise in PO4 be from not reducing feeding enough, or will new rock in the tank leech out PO4 until it stabilizes in the tank? I do daily 2 gallon auto water changes, but should I increase that till the PO4 drops back down below 0.2? Photos of tank and new ledge structure.
Thanks for any suggestions.