Phosphate 0.43 !! … and SPS healthy

[jmichaelh7]

180 gallon with SPS frags .

a couple of weeks ago I ran GFO to bring my phosphate down to .1 - .15

During that time plenty of SPS got shocked STN , including LPS that haven’t reopened yet.

How is it possible that a tank can have high nutrients .4 and up and be against the standard .3- .1 that SPS like ?

I’m at .43 phosphate and am not concerned one bit but it’s high numbers compared to the standard we all aim for

 

[jmichaelh7]

Vivid confetti , Pink cadillac encrusted growing

 

[InvaderJim]

I maxed the hanna checker out at one point if that tells you anything. I have since lowered them to normal levels but the SPS didn't bat an eye.

 

[djf91]

I’m in the same boat. Had phos at .21, with SPS doing decent. Ran some GFO and really upset my birdsnest as well as one of my tenuis colonies. I still want to bring my nutrient levels down but decided to switch to a very low dose carbon source to do that. I think it will be better for the health of the tank in the long run to bring down nutrients. And while some SPS have stn’ed, there are several colonies that have exploded in growth since lowering phos.

I think it really comes down to very, very slowly acclimating the tank over the course of several months to the lower levels.

 

[jda]

There are plenty of SPS that do not care one bit about residual po4 at that level. There are plenty that do. If yours are happy and you are happy with them and do not want more variety and especially the ones that might care, then reef on.

Elevated po4 is proven to slow calcification. It is a fact. How much depends on the coral, but some barely slow down and others will stop. If yours are still growing at a rate that makes you happy, then reef on.

I have acropora that would have stopped growing at .2, or so, and would be STNing at .4. I don't have any issue keeping residual po4 at a pretty low level so it works for me.

It is oft overlooked that there is a balance between what you are willing to do and what you want to keep... so there is some zen to just being happy with what you have and not working any harder if you don't have to.

 

[Muffin87]

I maxed the hanna checker out at one point if that tells you anything. I have since lowered them to normal levels but the SPS didn't bat an eye.

How fast did you lower PO4 from such a high number? Days? Weeks? Months?

 

[GarrettT]

I let po4 go to .17 ppm once during a renovation and my acros tips started to lose tissue. Dropped it down below the usual 0.05ppm and color came back almost immediately. I’d imagine you have a high dKH.

 

[areefer01]

Some would argue that we only care about the phosphate number because we can test for it. This wasn't the case years past.

 

[jda]

Lowering po4 is fine. Bouncing up and down is usually bad. Remember that the rock and sand have become a large reservoir for po4 so when you strip the water column clean with too much GFO, the rock/sand will unbind and raise it back up in a day, or so. That roller coaster is the issue, not the GFO or the lowering. The trick is to use a small amount of GFO and change it every day so that the downward trend is linear and not like an EKG.

This is where LC might be less harsh. We test for orthophosphate or po4. There are many other kinds that are in our tanks and that most corals prefer to use, like metaphosphate and phosphorous in organics. The LC binds directly with ortho/po4 but appears to leave at least parts of the metaphosphate behind whereas GFO will bind both ortho and meta. It is possible with LC that you are leaving the more preferred form behind for the corals to use when you dose. There is scarce info on this, so I am basing this off of just a few data points that were both in foreign languages, but there is some evidence through use that LC does not seem to make corals as mad as GFO or Al Oxide does.

 

[jmichaelh7]

How fast did you lower PO4 from such a high number? Days? Weeks? Months?

I used it for about a week then it came down .4 to .1 that was on low tumble . Now that I’m letting nutrients climb up I’m seeing color again on those STN acros believe it or not . I now leave everything in my tank if it comes back it will come back .

There are plenty of SPS that do not care one bit about residual po4 at that level. There are plenty that do. If yours are happy and you are happy with them and do not want more variety and especially the ones that might care, then reef on.

Elevated po4 is proven to slow calcification. It is a fact. How much depends on the coral, but some barely slow down and others will stop. If yours are still growing at a rate that makes you happy, then reef on.

I have acropora that would have stopped growing at .2, or so, and would be STNing at .4. I don't have any issue keeping residual po4 at a pretty low level so it works for me.

It is oft overlooked that there is a balance between what you are willing to do and what you want to keep... so there is some zen to just being happy with what you have and not working any harder if you don't have to.

that is true. I am going to try lower it .

I can say I started throwing the frozen cubes in whole recently without draining like I religiously used to.

 

[djf91]

I’ll add that my coralline algae looks healthier and more stable since lowering both my N and P.

 

[GarrettT]

I can say I started throwing the frozen cubes in whole recently without draining like I religiously used to.

I believe this has been researched and shown not to make any difference. I don’t strain food anymore.

 

[jmichaelh7]

I’ll add that my coralline algae looks healthier and more stable since lowering both my N and P.

I don’t know I’m having a hard time stopping Corraline from growing on back wall (ACRYLIC) and on my pumps. I have a bowl of citric acid ready right now for my pumps since Amazon just delivered a hour ago. I find for my aquarium with high nutrients I’m getting Coraline growth everywhere. I need coral growth everywhere lol …

I’m about to move in a week so I’m expecting a small stunt again. Just not long ago I moved into an acrylic tank from my glass since the seam busted. I’m just ready to have stability , my poor ecosystem is holding up but I can’t imagine too many aquarium changes / moving to new house can be taxing.

I believe this has been researched and shown not to make any difference. I don’t strain food anymore.

I’m glad. The straining is just an extra work. I remember starting the hobby coral euphoria would do straining on his foods just something I always did without research.