Phosphorus vs Phosphate

[Wayofthereef]

The weirdest thing has been going on while testing. So I have the hanna phosphorus ULR and the Phosphate readers. So I know they have a conversion chart for the phosphorus and for some reason I had a 200 plus ppb reading last night. So i was like no way something happened while testing. I said I'll retest tomorrow, fast forward and I retest, I get 97ppb. So I said screw it and tested with the Phosphate and got zeros across the board. Which lately ive been trying to get that up to at least .05ppm. So why am I getting 97ppb phosphorus and the conversion is .297. Which is high but to get zero on the Phosphate? What do I do here? I did a chech using the calibration kit and it was great.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Well, the result cannot be anything except test error in one or both devices. Maybe one of the reagents is bad, a scratched cuvette, etc.

Which tester numbers?

 

[Wayofthereef]

Well, the result cannot be anything except test error in one or both devices. Maybe one of the reagents is bad, a scratched cuvette, etc.

Which tester numbers?

Thats what Im assuming, phosphorus trsted at 97 ppb which is crazy higher than it normally is. Usually at the highest is like 20ppb. And phosphate 0.00 ppm.

 

[Wayofthereef]

Well, the result cannot be anything except test error in one or both devices. Maybe one of the reagents is bad, a scratched cuvette, etc.

Which tester numbers?

And since ive got your attention, ive consistently tested nitrite and have gotten a range from 6 to 19 ppb. And I read through your article on it and my concern does lie with my saltwater fish its my acropora. I received 26 frags of different trypes and all beautifully colored and polys extended. Fast forward 2 months, its growth well, encrusting the rock but color has faded and very little to no polyp extension. What are your thoughts?

Salinity 1.025
Ph 8 to 8.3
Cal 450
Alk 8-9.5
Mag 1300 to 1400
Nitrite 18 ppb
Nitrate 10ppm
Phosphorus 97ppb this im worried is actually right because ive never seen the sample change color and this thing turned blue. Hanna ULR Phosphorus
Phosphate 0 to 0.03

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

That nitrite is not any concern. Neither is a value ten times higher. It's just not worth measuring.

Hard to know what is accurate with two diverging phosphate tests, but the only possibility that I can see from your values is thet phospahte may be too low.

Most likely, the issue is not chemical at all, but somethign else, or possibly a different chemical being too low.

 

[BZOFIQ]

I too have these test kits and my phosphates after conversion are nearly spot on. It's either expired reagents, bad batch , scratched vial or a faulty tester

Do you get nearly same results on multiple tests one after the other?

 

[SPS2020]

If you haven't done an ICP test in a while, get the values from both Hanna Checkers and get a sample of your water and send off to Triton, etc. Compare the results. This could also inform you of anything else that is affecting your PE and color.

 

[Wayofthereef]

That nitrite is not any concern. Neither is a value ten times higher. It's just not worth measuring.

Hard to know what is accurate with two diverging phosphate tests, but the only possibility that I can see from your values is thet phospahte may be too low.

Most likely, the issue is not chemical at all, but somethign else, or possibly a different chemical being too low.

So ya I just retested phosphorus ULR and phosphate low range. Phosphate came back zero and Phosphorus came back beyond 200ppb blinking meaning way beyond its reading capabilities. And yet on the 23rd it read 2 ppb.. same groups of reagent. I ordered new reagent. Did a water change again last night. So Im at a loss. Also ordered an ICP, because something isn't right. Im assuming the tester.

 

[Wayofthereef]

I too have these test kits and my phosphates after conversion are nearly spot on. It's either expired reagents, bad batch , scratched vial or a faulty tester

Do you get nearly same results on multiple tests one after the other?

Yes.. last night I got 94ppb in phosphorus and zero phosphate which again I prefer it around .03. And this morning after a water change I got a blinking 200 which puts it out of range. Its the same group of reagents but it has to be the reagent, because i have never had the sample turn blue and the first round turned a crayola crayon blue like whoa.. whats hoing on.. now its still blue but pail. So I have an icp on the way as well as new reagent

 

[Wayofthereef]

Ok so update, i had tested this morning off the charts, 200ppb plus. Then I remembered I had a fresh box of reagent and so retested again. And again it was off the charts. Then I thought wait this all started when I opened this new bucket of salt. Same brand I always use but maybe its bad?.. so i made 1 gallon with RODI and tested.. and its perfect, i got 14ppb. Whatever it is its in my tank and my tank isn't perfect but it appears to be healthy. All my corals are doing well, so the next question is how do I remove it? I've done 50% water change in 48 hrs and its only gotten worse. 2 weeks ago I did add a piece of dry live rock in there i made with super glue? Maybe thats the culprit? But to go for 2 weeks no issues to bam here it is.. my phosphates are at zero. What do I do

 

[Wayofthereef]

Heres a pic from today

 

[Wayofthereef]

That nitrite is not any concern. Neither is a value ten times higher. It's just not worth measuring.

Hard to know what is accurate with two diverging phosphate tests, but the only possibility that I can see from your values is thet phospahte may be too low.

Most likely, the issue is not chemical at all, but somethign else, or possibly a different chemical being too low.

Hi again, so I wanted to run something by you real quick if you don't mind. I had a new box of reagent for phosphorus and I use that in my Hannah ultra low checker and it tested above 200 parts per billion to where it got an error then I tested a fresh batch of salt water at the proper temperature and it tested at 14 parts per billion which is spot on for me. I introduced a piece of live rock that had been dried out for a couple years that had only soaked for about a week and I think that's what's introducing the phosphorus. The strange part being that my phosphate continues to test at zero. The Peace of dry rock that I added has corals glued to them already without having to remove that rock do you think it's a bad idea to try phosphate-e and see if it lowers the phosphorus in the tank? Everything in my tank looks good as far as the corals are concerned. I just think this new piece of live rock is leaching out phosphorus and short of tearing everything off of the rock that's glued on and remove the Rock I don't know what to do exactly. It's a weird combination to have such high phosphorus and no traceable phosphate. Thanks for your time

 

[Wayofthereef]

That nitrite is not any concern. Neither is a value ten times higher. It's just not worth measuring.

Hard to know what is accurate with two diverging phosphate tests, but the only possibility that I can see from your values is thet phospahte may be too low.

Most likely, the issue is not chemical at all, but somethign else, or possibly a different chemical being too low.

Hello, quick question. I tested my tank and phosphorus was again well above 200 ppb and I test phosphate and had zero across the board. Now my corals have never really excelled. I lost 3 acro frags and some of my goni's arnt looking too hot.. now I used phosphat-e the last time it tested this way and the phosphorus went down and the phosphate stayed at zero. Now i plumbed in a frag tank and bryopsis just exploded in that tank and a 10gallon catch below it before returning to the main Display sump. Nothing in the display yet. So i dosed phosphat-e again to bring the phosphorus down.. now my question is once it goes down should i be dosing phosphate to bring it up from zero? Im going to test over 3 days to see where it gets too then send out an ICP just to be certain.

Parameters
Salinity 1.025
Ph 8.1 - 8 3
Cal 458
Mag 1350
Nitrate 10
Phosphorus 200ppb +
Phosphate 0

 

[tgray9937]

The weirdest thing has been going on while testing. So I have the hanna phosphorus ULR and the Phosphate readers. So I know they have a conversion chart for the phosphorus and for some reason I had a 200 plus ppb reading last night. So i was like no way something happened while testing. I said I'll retest tomorrow, fast forward and I retest, I get 97ppb. So I said screw it and tested with the Phosphate and got zeros across the board. Which lately ive been trying to get that up to at least .05ppm. So why am I getting 97ppb phosphorus and the conversion is .297. Which is high but to get zero on the Phosphate? What do I do here? I did a chech using the calibration kit and it was great.

Did you find out the issue with the phosphate vs phosphorus? I am have a similar issue. I have miracle mud in my sump and I think it must have phosphorus in it. My phosphorus is showing 40 ppb and my phosphate is 0.00. I even had it checked at my lfs to make sure.

 

[Wayofthereef]

Did you find out the issue with the phosphate vs phosphorus? I am have a similar issue. I have miracle mud in my sump and I think it must have phosphorus in it. My phosphorus is showing 40 ppb and my phosphate is 0.00. I even had it checked at my lfs to make sure.

So basically the main issue with what my test results were reading is the sensitivity. One test was PPB and the other PPM.. so the range kept throwing me off.. basically i use the hanna low range phosphate tester and do the conversion and tossed the phosphorus in the trash. I was doing all these water changes and panicking and doing far more harm than good. Eventually just picked a level of .05 ppm phosphate and keep my level there and now the tank is thriving.

 

[jda]

You need to take that ppb number, divide by 3.066 and then by 1000.

That 97 ends up being .0316 ppm.

The best way to use the hannah is to put 10mls in both vials, the powder in vial two, shake the heck out of vial 2 and wipe them clean like you are going into open heart surgery. Put vial 1 into the machine, push the button until it asks for vial 2 and then hold the button and let it do the three minute countdown. Once, done run them both back through but don't do the three minute countdown this time. Compare the two numbers... mine are usually within a number of each other. IMO, clean vials and using both vials is the key to consistent numbers.