Can’t seem to keep Phosphates up

[Zeal]

As the title states I have been having this constant issue that I cannot keep my phosphates up. They were so bottom out that even HEAVY HEAVY feeding of Reef Roids and LRS Reef Frenzy, Nori daily and pellet food I couldn’t seem to get my phosphates up. I suffer coral deaths and a lot of very sad looking corals

So after discussing with my reef club my issue I was told to buy NeoPhos. I started dosing it and over night I finally started having readings. Within a week my corals were fluffy once again and now everything is growing again. The montis stopped browning out.

Fast forward to June 8th I’m testing Phosphates every 3 days and I can’t seem to hold them above 0.03 and below 0.06.

I’m dosing NeoPhos every day 15ML to keep it above 0.03. Now is there anything else I could buy or try that’s a bit more potent?

I wish I could keep it up naturally but my tank is really consuming phosphates like it’s nobodies business.

I have 7 fish, 2 cleaner shrimps and a pistol, I run my skimmer 24/7 for my pH and I run my carbon every night from 1am to 5am.

I have a tiny bit of chaeto in the sump and 3 mangroves. I’ve been told to remove the chaeto but it’s honestly not that much.

ideas??

 

[CoralB]

If your nitrates are low you might try putting your skimmer on a timer and have it run half the time while dosing and if your nitrates aren’t high I would also recommend removing the cheato as well

 

[Reffetsevla]

Seachem Flourish Phosphorus I believe is more concentrated than NeoPhos (I dont know if that's accurate but from what I've gathered), that's what I've been using and it's helped. I'm suffering the same issue.

I was feed Reef Chili twice a day, feeding the tank four times. All I managed to do was nourish some massive bristle worms

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And then I managed to get some GHA and Dino's back too lol So I def got them elevated but it wouldn't STAY there. Just ended up with a bunch of excess nutrients but not much of an increase in PO4. I have since reduced that back to normal feedings and resigned myself to getting a dosing pump for the NO3 and PO4.

Trying to raise them naturally for me resulted in a bunch of unwanted side effects with algae, dino's, my snails are spawning NONSTOP now, I have had a huge increase in bristleworm babies and flatworms too. Obviously the excessive nutrients, but my corals still didn't look great. Until I started dosing the Seachem Flourish daily. I'm ordering a pump now to dial it in and have just resigned myself to the fact I will need to dose for the time being. I believe Randy Holmes has some DIY Phosphorus stuff, but since my tank is only 20g I am fine with the premade for simplicities sake. I don't need that much (3-4mL daily)

 

[Uncle99]

Maybe the test is not accurate enough.
When corals look happy there’s phosphate in water.

 

[Zeal]

If your nitrates are low you might try putting your skimmer on a timer and have it run half the time while dosing and if your nitrates aren’t high I would also recommend removing the cheato as well

Ok I will remove the cheato tonight

 

[Zeal]

Maybe the test is not accurate enough.

Nah it is

 

[Zeal]

Seachem Flourish Phosphorus I believe is more concentrated than NeoPhos (I dont know if that's accurate but from what I've gathered), that's what I've been using and it's helped. I'm suffering the same issue.

I was feed Reef Chili twice a day, feeding the tank four times. All I managed to do was nourish some massive bristle worms

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And then I managed to get some GHA and Dino's back too lol So I def got them elevated but it wouldn't STAY there. Just ended up with a bunch of excess nutrients but not much of an increase in PO4. I have since reduced that back to normal feedings and resigned myself to getting a dosing pump for the NO3 and PO4.

Trying to raise them naturally for me resulted in a bunch of unwanted side effects with algae, dino's, my snails are spawning NONSTOP now, I have had a huge increase in bristleworm babies and flatworms too. Obviously the excessive nutrients, but my corals still didn't look great. Until I started dosing the Seachem Flourish daily. I'm ordering a pump now to dial it in and have just resigned myself to the fact I will need to dose for the time being. I believe Randy Holmes has some DIY Phosphorus stuff, but since my tank is only 20g I am fine with the premade for simplicities sake. I don't need that much (3-4mL daily)

Today my nitrates were 13 Sunday they were 21. I don’t mind buying the NeoPhos I’m just surprised my tank is extracting so much phosphate and nitrates in 3 days

 

[Zeal]

Maybe the test is not accurate enough.
When corals look happy there’s phosphate in water.

Yes and before there was ZERO ZERO phosphates. When I started dosing phosphates within a week they were extremely happy again

 

[Zeal]

If your nitrates are low you might try putting your skimmer on a timer and have it run half the time while dosing and if your nitrates aren’t high I would also recommend removing the cheato as well

I unfortunately cannot turn off the skimmer because of my pH. Nitrate was 21 on Sunday 13 today

 

[Reffetsevla]

I unfortunately cannot turn off the skimmer because of my pH. Nitrate was 21 on Sunday 13 today

I also have that same issue! Ran my skimmer airline outside, that helped.

My PO4 will drop about 0.04 a day and NO3 about 5ish, but I have a very heavily (coralwise) stocked tank so I expect it to pull a lot out. I also started with Marco Dry Rock, which I hear they just suck PO4 out of your water for quite awhile. I'm 6 months in and still watching PO4 drop quick daily. Not sure if it's the rocks or coral but worth mentioning. What rock did you start your tank with?

 

[ZombieEngineer]

Reduce the photoperiod of your refugium to 8 hours opposite your display lights (opposite for increased pH stability).

If that alone isn't enough to keep your phosphates up, feeding pellets can help and running your skimmer drier can also help a little (this helps more with increasing nitrates lesser effect for phosphates).

 

[A_Blind_Reefer]

I also have that same issue! Ran my skimmer airline outside, that helped.

My PO4 will drop about 0.04 a day and NO3 about 5ish, but I have a very heavily (coralwise) stocked tank so I expect it to pull a lot out. I also started with Marco Dry Rock, which I hear they just suck PO4 out of your water for quite awhile. I'm 6 months in and still watching PO4 drop quick daily. Not sure if it's the rocks or coral but worth mentioning. What rock did you start your tank with?

Exactly this. Dry rock, especially in a bare bottom will just suck up phosphate for a long time. I’m still dosing phosphate and nitrate daily, two years in. Also, a roller mat filter doesn’t help the situation if you have one. Lastly, search for Randy’s phosphate recommendations here as you can make a much more potent, and cheaper stock using sodium phosphate (Loud Wolf brand on Amazon). There’s a calculator too, but I forgot the site. Something like James planted aquarium or something, but if you search you will find it mentioned a lot on here.

 

[Zeal]

I also have that same issue! Ran my skimmer airline outside, that helped.

My PO4 will drop about 0.04 a day and NO3 about 5ish, but I have a very heavily (coralwise) stocked tank so I expect it to pull a lot out. I also started with Marco Dry Rock, which I hear they just suck PO4 out of your water for quite awhile. I'm 6 months in and still watching PO4 drop quick daily. Not sure if it's the rocks or coral but worth mentioning. What rock did you start your tank with?

hi, I started with Marco rock as well. I can’t run the airline outside unfortunately. Maybe my corals were so starved for phosphate that they’re still consuming it?

Reduce the photoperiod of your refugium to 8 hours opposite your display lights (opposite for increased pH stability).

If that alone isn't enough to keep your phosphates up, feeding pellets can help and running your skimmer drier can also help a little (this helps more with increasing nitrates lesser effect for phosphates).

refugium runs from 2am to 5am

Exactly this. Dry rock, especially in a bare bottom will just suck up phosphate for a long time. I’m still dosing phosphate and nitrate daily, two years in. Also, a roller mat filter doesn’t help the situation if you have one. Lastly, search for Randy’s phosphate recommendations here as you can make a much more potent, and cheaper stock using sodium phosphate (Loud Wolf brand on Amazon). There’s a calculator too, but I forgot the site. Something like James planted aquarium or something, but if you search you will find it mentioned a lot on here.

Thanks I’ll look it up. I have filter floss in a media cup that I change out not so often to keep the tank dirty. Luckily my tank isn’t bare botto

 

[Reffetsevla]

hi, I started with Marco rock as well. I can’t run the airline outside unfortunately. Maybe my corals were so starved for phosphate that they’re still consuming it?


refugium runs from 2am to 5am


Thanks I’ll look it up. I have filter floss in a media cup that I change out not so often to keep the tank dirty. Luckily my tank isn’t bare botto

You may just have to dose for awhile still, how old is the tank? Also what kind and how many coral are you keeping? Size tank too? I run a fuge as well and that definitely will drop your PO4. I used to have issues with my PO4 running high ( I was fighting dino's and brought them way up to get the other bacteria going) and once I added a fuge I had them within range in 2-3 days. The size ball I run is maybe softball size at max and I try to keep it about baseball sized for consistency. It pulls out PO4 great.

 

[ZombieEngineer]

hi, I started with Marco rock as well. I can’t run the airline outside unfortunately. Maybe my corals were so starved for phosphate that they’re still consuming it?

Corals will consume it, as will algae, your fuge, and nitrifying bacteria. Any beyond that consumption will come to equilibrium with the rocks. If the amount in the water column is more than their saturation, rocks and sand will absorb some until the two become equal or vise versa. The dosing amounts on the containers of NeoPhos do not factor this in. In my tank, I had to use about 10x what the bottle said when boosting my levels to fight dinos. The NeoNitrate was much closer with 2x needed to maintain.

 

[CK00020]

Buy trisodium phosphate anhydrous, the name brand is prescribed for life. Then follow Randy’s recipe, it’s as powerful as you make it. It is a phos booster

 

[oldfaithless]

Corals will consume it, as will algae, your fuge, and nitrifying bacteria. Any beyond that consumption will come to equilibrium with the rocks. If the amount in the water column is more than their saturation, rocks and sand will absorb some until the two become equal or vise versa. The dosing amounts on the containers of NeoPhos do not factor this in. In my tank, I had to use about 10x what the bottle said when boosting my levels to fight dinos. The NeoNitrate was much closer with 2x needed to maintain.

I'm having this same issue now. I've had my tank running for a year and half. Are you saying eventually that my dry rock and sand will eventually become full and then it will start increasing naturally without having to dose? So just keep on dosing until that happens?