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!!!!PHOSPHATE THAT IS EVIL:FEAR THAT IS REAL!!!?
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zoomonster
Valuable Member
Couldn't agree more. Now I'll admit being somewhat sucked in especially trying to manage a heavily stocked mixed tank with a lot of sps. I do try and keep phosphates and nitrates under reasonable control and occasionally test the two but I have never come close to depleting the two. I made a comment at a club meeting a while back how insane things had become where people are buying all sorts of mechanical and chemical means of removing the two and then turning around and adding things like stump remover to add nitrates and other stuff to boost phosphates. I have 34, mostly small, fish in a 200g that do that just fine shortly after pigging out 
OP
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Id go as far as to say that may even be a sweet spot.
gettaReef
Valuable Member
Just wanting to clarify, you're saying that phos level of 0.15 may be a sweet spot, correct? I'm glad I took my gfo offline as it is now detectable but hasn't gotten any higher than .2 (actually hasn't gotten higher than .1 yet)
Vaughn17
Well-Known Member
I dose both NO3 and PO4 in a 38 gallon sps tank with over a dozen colonies and about fifty large and small frags. Experimenting, I raised the PO4 to .5 ppm a few months ago and kept it that high for a few days. About a third of the sps seemed to love it that high but the rest looked less enthused although nothing kicked the bucket. In my tank, the sweet spot for PO4 is between .1 and .25 (with NO3 between 2.5 and 5 ppm).
McMullen
Valuable Member
@Sabellafella mentioned a balance and many of you mentioned not chasing number. To me, this is 'key.' I struggled with algae and chasing a phosphate number in the early stage of my SPS reef. Every time I added something like RowaPhos I burned coral tips....sometimes lost a frag. Years later, I could care less what nitrates and phosphate levels are. My coral colonies have matured (relatively speaking) and my tank is using the nutrients similar to an ocean reef. I think most of us way over stock our systems in the beginning which causes a knee-jerk reaction to change many variables at once. Mature reefs and reefers eventually learn to let it ride.
SPotter
Active Member
I've adapted the "don't give a crap" method recently and my tank has never looked better. I went from testing 3-4 times a week, weekly water changes and constantly tinkering with something to maybe testing my water twice a month, keeping my hands out of the tank and monthly water changes. I utilize a 140g fuge full of macro to help fight nutrients and let things do their thing. I've stopped using gfo and just use a couple of bags chemi pure blue with a huge skimmer. I add 5-6 drops of lugols every day and aminos twice a week....Keeping it simple is the way to go.
OP
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Yep at least in my case. Ive been riding just about there for ages now
Vaughn17
Well-Known Member
So in order to become a "mature reefer" one must learn not to test tank parameters on a regular basis? Your intolerance of those who do things differently than you is impressive.
Dave Cureton
Well-Known Member
I have to agree here. I test po4 and no3 monthly. On the other hand alk is tested daily. Cal biweekly, mag once a month. When your tank settles in you don't worry about numbers so much. Your corals tell you if something is wrong.
OP
OP
Thanks for the post and i ultimately agree with you on that, Things need to be managed for long term success with out a doubt. I'm really zeroing in on phos specifically on this one. I mean if people paid as much attention to RO/DI performance as phosphate levels there would be fewer struggling reefers out there I'm positive.
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swk
Well-Known Member
I pretty much follow Adams advice and method of reefing to a "t" and things are working out good for me.
Here's my tank with po4 of around .15
As you can see everything is brown and covered with algae and growth sucks [emoji6]
Hideous iPhone pic. Sorry.
Here's my tank with po4 of around .15
As you can see everything is brown and covered with algae and growth sucks [emoji6]
Hideous iPhone pic. Sorry.
Vaughn17
Well-Known Member
I'm sure you're right about the RO/DI thing; however, I use tap water, so I've no experience with RO/DI (I have really, really excellent, bottle and sell it tap water, I mean I have to dose both PO4 and NO3).
Also, yes, that is me on the horse, but I haven't ridden a horse in years, so if we can quit with the riding puns that would be appreciated, lol. I've been in the hobby almost four years now and have three small tanks (40 breeder, 38, and 20 qt), which utilize HOBs and have no sumps or skimmers. I dose and top off manually twice daily. I have never had a tank crash, although I've killed some of corals in the learning process. Still learning, btw, and hope to keep learning to the last day that I partake in this hobby. Like many in this hobby, I consider myself quite good at looking through the glass and being able to ascertain my corals health and well being. However, FYI: it is really sort of difficult to maintain steady parameters in a 38 g tank (with no sump or automated topoff and dosing) filled with growing sps without regular testing of some parameters. Bottom line, I've tried not testing as much and ended up with 40 ppt salinity (HOB filters with high lighting = heavy and variable evaporation). Lol, the corals weren't at all bothered by the high salinity but obviously they would be at some point. So, it takes me two minutes a day to test alk and salinity. Because I'm dosing NO3 and PO4, I test each a few times a week. Better safe than sorry.
I'm in the process of consolidating all my tanks into one larger one with a sump, skimmer, etc. Want to have more room for my sps to grow and get some larger fish for a change. Adam, I'll be ordering more sticks from you soon! Last order has done really well, but I've barely scratched the surface of BC's incredible and diverse acro inventory!
CarolinaReefs
Active Member
Can you elaborate?
OP
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Working on finishing up a write up on this very topic long overdue. I believe that the quality and purity of RO/DI is one of the most, if not the most overlooked essential elements to long term success. People chase numbers till there's no tomorrow scratching their heads when somethings not quite right, and throw every thing at the wall they can think of trying to solve it with little regard to the actual quality of the water they are using. Which I should add is often the heart of cause of their issues.
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