Dinoflagellates; PO4 undetectable

[Magnapinna]

Rock and sand can suck up a lot of phosphate, but no nitrate.

Awesome thanks, that's what I suspected!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Thank you for the explanation, will definitely come in handy if I do decide to go this route I also admit part of my reason for apprehension is financial, as I'm on a college budget. I have no problem spending on necessities but I want to pick my battles when it comes to the stuff that's not. I'm perfectly happy to be patient and have invariably found that to be the best cure to unstable conditions in my tanks. Maybe I'll try to let the PO4 sort itself out and just worry about dosing silicates

Get one less hot dog and your set for phosphate for life. lol

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Diatoms need phosphate. Just dosing silicate may not be adequate.

 

[Magnapinna]

What? It’s quite cheap. Way cheaper than more foods or neophos.
Loudwolf 4 ounces is $8 from Amazon.

That’s enough to raise 100 liters of water by 0.1 ppm several thousand times.

Gahaha yeah on further review they were bulk listings for like 15kg or something absurd

 

[Magnapinna]

Get one less hot dog and your set for phosphate for life. lol

Hmmm I'm definitely more open to it if I can at least get some ongoing use out of it. I'm really tired of buying bottles of stuff that never get used after a certain point of stability is reached.

 

[Ziggy17]

Get one less hot dog and your set for phosphate for life. lol

Mmmm Costco hotdogs.

 

[Ziggy17]

Thank you for the explanation, will definitely come in handy if I do decide to go this route I also admit part of my reason for apprehension is financial, as I'm on a college budget. I have no problem spending on necessities but I want to pick my battles when it comes to the stuff that's not. I'm perfectly happy to be patient and have invariably found that to be the best cure to unstable conditions in my tanks. Maybe I'll try to let the PO4 sort itself out and just worry about dosing silicates

If I lived in the US, I’d be happy to send you some water glass. I bought a 1L bottle for $30 which is a ridiculous amount considering it takes about 25-50ml for a Dino protocol. Perhaps someone who is in the same boat as me but on your side of the border can spare some and get it to you for free. I know what it’s like to be on a school budget. Rice, free Taco Bell hot sauce and ramen for 4 years..

 

[hsp]

dang I really don't want to dose if I don't have to. I don't want to pay $50-100 (some listings are up to $500+???) for sodium phosphate dibasic lol and I worry about using products that aren't explicitly made for saltwater aquariums anyways. So if I don't have a choice but to dose, is there a recommended premade solution? But again... I REALLY do not want to dose if I don't need

Why not just use Seachem Flourish Phosphorus?