Phos-Feed

drawman · May 25, 2024

@Hans-Werner I can't find a lot of info on Phos-Feed (I'm not sure many american reefers are using it). From the BRS website it looks like it also has reef salt in it so it will raise salinity is that correct?

Also will it markedly increase Fluoride, Bromide, or Iodide? From my latest ICP test I am a little high in Fluorine and don't want to push the limits here.

jackson6745 · May 25, 2024

@Lou Ekus

Pod_01 · May 28, 2024

drawman said:
@Hans-Werner I can't find a lot of info on Phos-Feed (I'm not sure many american reefers are using it). From the BRS website it looks like it also has reef salt in it so it will raise salinity is that correct?

Also will it markedly increase Fluoride, Bromide, or Iodide? From my latest ICP test I am a little high in Fluorine and don't want to push the limits here.

Hopefully FM will respond.
I am using Phos Feed and in my opinion if it contains same salt as TM Pro reef salt you will unlikely raise any parameter unless you dump the container in.

Here is the spoon used to create daily portions:

You start with the 1mm one and can move to the 2 mm.

But it would be nice to get confirmation.

I suspect it contains enough trace elements to support the PO4 conversion/ consumption by bacteria and corals. So you don’t bottom them out.

drawman · May 28, 2024

Pod_01 said:
Hopefully FM will respond.
I am using Phos Feed and in my opinion if it contains same salt as TM Pro reef salt you will unlikely raise any parameter unless you dump the container in.

Here is the spoon used to create daily portions:

You start with the 1mm one and can move to the 2 mm.

But it would be nice to get confirmation.

I suspect it contains enough trace elements to support the PO4 conversion/ consumption by bacteria and corals. So you don’t bottom them out.

I've been dosing 1mL for the last 3 days. It sounds like it takes about 3 days to get a measurable difference was that the same for you? I'll try testing today.

Pod_01 · May 28, 2024

drawman said:
I've been dosing 1mL for the last 3 days. It sounds like it takes about 3 days to get a measurable difference was that the same for you? I'll try testing today.

I been using it for 3 weeks now and I took a measurements first week and had no increase in PO4.
My value has been around 0.1ppm.
I do prefer no increase my reasoning is if there is zero increase all of it is consumed by the bacteria and hopefully corals.

I don’t test as much these days as long as these guys look happy I am good:

I did follow Hans suggestion and for corals I am only using Phos Feed (I cut out all the other coral foods) and what I observe is that my algae is really struggling.
At the same time corals do look happy.

If I take a measurement I will update this thread. I suspect some of the coral foods I used might have been heavy on PO4 so there might be decrease over time.

Hans-Werner · May 29, 2024

drawman said:
@Hans-Werner I can't find a lot of info on Phos-Feed (I'm not sure many american reefers are using it). From the BRS website it looks like it also has reef salt in it so it will raise salinity is that correct?

Also will it markedly increase Fluoride, Bromide, or Iodide? From my latest ICP test I am a little high in Fluorine and don't want to push the limits here.

Sorry for my late reply!

Yes, Phos-Feed is "diluted" with Pro-Reef and contains the trace elements fluorine, bromine and iodine in small amounts.

1 measuring spoon is ca. 1.2 grams. The recommended dosage is 1.2 grams per 200 l per day.

200 l of 35 PSU Pro-Reef saltwater contain ca. 7,800 g of Pro-Reef salt. 1.2 g Phos-Feed increase the salinity by ca. 0.005 PSU salinity per day. The trace elements added with 1.2 g Phos-Feed are 1.4 ppb fluorine (natural concentration 1292 ppb), 0.8 ppb bromine (n. c. 67 ppm) and 1,65 ppb iodine (n. c. ca. 52 ppb). Only in iodine it is a significant contribution to the trace element supply and concentration.

Pod_01 · May 29, 2024

Hans-Werner said:
contains the trace elements fluorine, bromine and iodine in small amounts.

Out of curiosity if I can inquire why add extra Fluorine, Bromine and Iodine? I assume Pro Reef has natural concentration from the start.

Some would consider these not usable by corals…
Interesting choice…

drawman · May 29, 2024

Good to know @Hans-Werner . I'm happy to report that I'm 4 days in of using it and on day 3 I got a reading of 0.07ppm PO4. I'm usually running around 0.01-0.03ppm. Corals look no worse for the wear so it is doing its intended job.

Pod_01 · May 31, 2024

drawman said:
Good to know @Hans-Werner . I'm happy to report that I'm 4 days in of using it and on day 3 I got a reading of 0.07ppm PO4. I'm usually running around 0.01-0.03ppm. Corals look no worse for the wear so it is doing its intended job.

So just to add my observation, here are value about one week in;

Here is PO4 from last night:

So yup seems to be working. I may start to dose every 2nd or 3rd day.

The reason may also be that yesterday was a long day at work so I did feed later in a day.

Corals are looking good:

dr_vinnie_boombatz · Sep 14, 2024

Any update? Still using?

Pod_01 · Sep 14, 2024

dr_vinnie_boombatz said:
Any update? Still using?

Yup I am still using it.

Some quick pictures…

Unfortunately I was experimenting with some alternative dosing methods so some corals are upset.

mcgullen · Sep 16, 2024

Hans-Werner said:
Sorry for my late reply!

Yes, Phos-Feed is "diluted" with Pro-Reef and contains the trace elements fluorine, bromine and iodine in small amounts.

1 measuring spoon is ca. 1.2 grams. The recommended dosage is 1.2 grams per 200 l per day.

200 l of 35 PSU Pro-Reef saltwater contain ca. 7,800 g of Pro-Reef salt. 1.2 g Phos-Feed increase the salinity by ca. 0.005 PSU salinity per day. The trace elements added with 1.2 g Phos-Feed are 1.4 ppb fluorine (natural concentration 1292 ppb), 0.8 ppb bromine (n. c. 67 ppm) and 1,65 ppb iodine (n. c. ca. 52 ppb). Only in iodine it is a significant contribution to the trace element supply and concentration.

Hi Dr. @Hans-Werner , there are a lot of interests in Phos-Feed and Phos-Start in China, but very very little information. Would you be interested in giving a video chat on Phos-Feed, Phos-Start and the idea of particulate phosphates in general to the reef tank audience (about 80k followers) on TikTok China?