Battling Phosphates

[joro]

Sorry to hear this.

High phosphate didn't likely cause it, but dropping phosphate too fast might possibly have done so.

Haven’t done anything to drop the phosphate yet, the ATM stuff is coming tonight and I’ll pu GFO reactor in on Wednesday to hopefully control it going forward. Outside of Phosphate, most of the parameters - maybe except nitrate - have stayed consistent so not really sure what’s going on in my little ocean. Back to the drawing board ;Bookworm

Any suggestions on the dosing of both the ATM stuff and the High Capacity GFO when I get it on Wednesday considering their current state of phosphate?

 

[BigJohnny]

Unfortunately in the last 24 hours my acros have almost all gone from beautiful colonies/frags to white sticks Noted though on taking it slow and I do have a separate thread/discussion ongoing with the Zeo Heads on that forum - they seem to be perplexed by it as well.

Sorry to hear that bud, hope everything remaining recovers nicely, good luck!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Haven’t done anything to drop the phosphate yet, the ATM stuff is coming tonight and I’ll pu GFO reactor in on Wednesday to hopefully control it going forward. Outside of Phosphate, most of the parameters - maybe except nitrate - have stayed consistent so not really sure what’s going on in my little ocean. Back to the drawing board ;Bookworm

Any suggestions on the dosing of both the ATM stuff and the High Capacity GFO when I get it on Wednesday considering their current state of phosphate?

Oh, OK. I'm not sure what caused it, but I don't think it was elevated phosphate. SPS do not have such issues from high phosphate alone.

 

[BigJohnny]

Oh, OK. I'm not sure what caused it, but I don't think it was elevated phosphate. SPS do not have such issues from high phosphate alone.

I think it's possible there was a rapid change in his zeovit bacterial population which rapidly changed nitrate and phosphate which definitely can stress sps. I agree that high phosphate alone would not, but ime rapid changes in phosphate definitely can, whether directly or through stressing the coral to the point that something else does (more likely imo). Unfortunately I am just not familiar enough with zeovit but I've seen problems like this before with other carbon dosing methods.

 

[joro]

I think it's possible there was a rapid change in his zeovit bacterial population which rapidly changed nitrate and phosphate which definitely can stress sps. I agree that high phosphate alone would not, but ime rapid changes in phosphate definitely can, whether directly or through stressing the coral to the point that something else does (more likely imo). Unfortunately I am just not familiar enough with zeovit but I've seen problems like this before with other carbon dosing methods.

Along these lines the biggest question I have is what caused the rapid change in the Zeovit bacterial population? I’ve kept up with all the standard dosing, rock changes, carbon changes, etc so it does seem weird that all of the sudden one day they would have a die-off or something similar. As mentioned, I do have a thread on the zero forum as well, but to date they are even unsure of what would have caused the issue. I agree with you though that something on the zeo side changed because it’s supposed to be controlling nitrates/phosphates primarily and both have spiked in the past 3-4 weeks absent any thing to provide causation for why. i wouldn’t think it would be that fragile, especially in a system this big, but maybe I’m wrong or missed something

 

[joro]

Just a quick update for everyone interested. The ATM Agent Green still hasn’t arrived - Amazon Same Day Shipping fail - but hope to have it tommorrow. I got the GFO reactor in today and should have the high capacity GFO any tommorow as well to get it setup. I did put 2 cups of regular capacity GFO in two filter socks when I swapped them 24 hours ago and in that period phosphate has gone from 0.36 ppm to 0.28ppm (so an 0.08 ppm reduction). I still need to figure out the right dosages of the ATM Agent Green and right amount of HC GFO to run - any suggestions?

 

[Newb73]

In the past when i have dropped N&P low i added reef energy, coral food and a boat load of fish food.

The corals seemed satisfied and my fish were fat and happy.

I don't skim any more so that probably helped.

It also could just be me...but i also some Times cut my lighting, by up to 50% if it looks like my nutrients are too low and i believe that also helps....and if there us any color fade the lights are the first thing that's decreased.

Honestly if i don’t have "a little" cyano or dino on the sand i take it as a bad sign. Ill feed 4 to 6 times a day and stop harvesting chaeto as well.

Having squeeky clean water seems to kill corals much faster than having to brush off nusisnce algae w a tooth brush twice a week...and yes, ive tried both ways and the corals thrived in "dirty water". Ill even leave the filter socks for 5 or 6 days if things look too sterile.

The result is fat fish though....