0 phosphates good or bad?

[dh350twin]

I do have a question for anyone who wants to chime in. Should I keep O phosphates? I had O nitrates as well but have got them up to 5ppm with stump remover slowly over a two week period. Now I am concerned about the 0 phosphates and am considering adding flourish phos to get it up to 0.3 ppm
My tank is 300 gallon plus sps dominant. Was established for 2 years but had to move it and now it's only 1 month or so old. Original live rock was added to the sump for the bacteria and all new reef saver went in as I had an aiptasia outbreak. Everything is doing fine a few lost corals though. I have a large skimmer and dose 12ml of no pox daily two 7 in filter socks and carbon, dose brs cal,alk,mg all in good ranges.

 

[twilliard]

Keep your po4 down. When you say zero what are you testing with?
No need to dose po4 it will come with feeding.

 

[dh350twin]

Keep your po4 down. When you say zero what are you testing with?
No need to dose po4 it will come with feeding.

I have tested with a Hanna checker, nyos kit, salifert kit. All reading zero

 

[Nano sapiens]

You may be aware that your phosphate test kits only measure inorganic phosphate, so you are only getting a part of the total phosphate picture.

What do your corals look like? Do they have rich color, or are they pale and sickly looking? You can have hobby test kit 'non measurable' inorganic phosphate (PO4) readings, but still deliver sufficient phosphate to the corals in the form of organic phosphates (typically via feeding). This is the situation in my small tank as I have richly colored corals, but haven't had a PO4 reading (Salifert) in a long time.

 

[Diesel]

Feed, feed, feed your fish.
Maybe cut some 1" small holes in your filter socks for extra nutrients coming back into the tank.
Show's a picture of your tank.

 

[dh350twin]

You may be aware that your phosphate test kits only measure inorganic phosphate, so you are only getting a part of the total phosphate picture.

What do your corals look like? Do they have rich color, or are they pale and sickly looking? You can have hobby test kit 'non measurable' inorganic phosphate (PO4) readings, but still deliver sufficient phosphate to the corals in the form of organic phosphates (typically via feeding). This is the situation in my small tank as I have richly colored corals, but haven't had a PO4 reading (Salifert) in a long time.

Well it is basically a new tank. Never went thru a cycle because of the amount of 2 year old live rock. However the corals look good some better then others. They have been looking better with the nitrate dosing. I do feed oyster feast and reef chili every other night.

 

[dh350twin]

Feed, feed, feed your fish.
Maybe cut some 1" small holes in your filter socks for extra nutrients coming back into the tank.
Show's a picture of your tank.

Forgot to mention there are no fish in the system. They are all being qt right now and will be at least a month before they go in and then I will be most likely fighting the opposite problems. I don't have any good pics. My weakness is pics.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

IMO, phosphate is typically best in the 0.01 to 0.03 range and I'd target 0.02 ppm as a reasonable goal. The 0.3 ppm in the first post is too high, IMO, and has the potential to lead to algae problems as well as potentially poor coral growth and coloration.

I discuss phosphate in detail here:

Phosphate In The Reef Aquarium
https://www.reef2reef.com/blog/?p=3184

 

[PedroYoung]

I had issues with LPS corals losing color and receding at 0 phosphates (no fish). Added some fish and cut the skimmer to only run one day a week. Phosphates still test really low 0.00 to 0.02 with Hanna, but color and growth have come back strong (along with some brown algae).

 

[Larry L]

I'm also having trouble with SPS (montis more than the others), and had been running with nitrates at about 3 and no reading for phosphates. I have a lot of fish and feed pretty heavily (IMO). I was advised to bring up my phosphates by turning off the skimmer, but all that accomplished was getting my nitrates up to 10-12, and still no reading for phosphates. I have slowish growth of Chaeto in my sump, and no significant algae in the tank other than a light dusting on the glass. Is there any way to boost phosphates and still keep nitrates down?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I'm also having trouble with SPS (montis more than the others), and had been running with nitrates at about 3 and no reading for phosphates. I have a lot of fish and feed pretty heavily (IMO). I was advised to bring up my phosphates by turning off the skimmer, but all that accomplished was getting my nitrates up to 10-12, and still no reading for phosphates. I have slowish growth of Chaeto in my sump, and no significant algae in the tank other than a light dusting on the glass. Is there any way to boost phosphates and still keep nitrates down?

You can certainly dose phosphate directly with a variety of products, but if chaeto grows at all, it seems as if there should be enough phosphate for corals. There are lots of DIY products or some freshwater buffers that contain phosphate.

 

[dh350twin]

You can certainly dose phosphate directly with a variety of products, but if chaeto grows at all, it seems as if there should be enough phospahte for corals. There are lots of DIY products or some freshwater buffers that contain phosphate.

Any advice on how much flourish phos to dose per gallon to get to the 0.03?

 

[twilliard]

Any advice on how much flourish phos to dose per gallon to get to the 0.03?

This is just my opinion but po4 dosing may lead to algaes that you don't want.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Any advice on how much flourish phos to dose per gallon to get to the 0.03?

The product says it is 4500 ppm phosphate, so you'd dose 0.03/4500th of the tank water volume = 0.000007 times whatever your tank volume is.

For 100 gallons, that is 0.0007 gallons or 2.5 mL.

 

[RMS18]

I can't get a reading with salifert either even when I double to test for higher sensitivity. My corals are fine but have lost a bit of color but I believe thay is due to pulling my fish out for a ich breakout. They are still in qt for 3 more weeks, then after I will see if the colors become more rich.

 

[Diesel]

I can't get a reading with salifert either even when I double to test for higher sensitivity. My corals are fine but have lost a bit of color but I believe thay is due to pulling my fish out for a ich breakout. They are still in qt for 3 more weeks, then after I will see if the colors become more rich.

Why don't you just feed your corals?
There's more coral food on the market than beer IMO.

 

[dh350twin]

Why don't you just feed your corals?
There's more coral food on the market than beer IMO.

I don't know about him but I feed heavy every other night and still no phosphates

 

[RMS18]

Why don't you just feed your corals?
There's more coral food on the market than beer IMO.

I do feed them 3 times a week with reef chili, reef roids and my lfs makes one. Also do frozen foods. I think it's the fish poop that makes the difference. But with that feeding still don't get a reading on the test.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

FWIW, it is easy enough to stop any time the tank seems to be looking worse due to dosing.

That said, you likely add somewhere between 0.02 and 0.3 ppm phosphate every day via foods, so adding an extra 0.03 ppm each day could be significant, but might not be earth shattering in its effects and in its testability after 24 h.

 

[dh350twin]

FWIW, it is easy enough to stop any time the tank seems to be looking worse due to dosing.

That said, you likely add somewhere between 0.02 and 0.3 ppm phosphate every day via foods, so adding an extra 0.03 ppm each day could be significant, but might not be earth shattering in its effects and in its testability after 24 h.

So just feed everyday and just assume your at 0.03? That works for me!