DIY Phos Dosing Question for Dr. Holmes-Farley

[rhastareefer]

Good Morning Dr. @Randy Holmes-Farley ,

I was wondering if you would be so kind as to point me in the right direction. I've been supplementing low N
with Loudwolf's Sodium Nitrate product with great success and been very pleased with the results. I am now
faced with a P deficiency that feeding excessively (small amounts 3x/hour) is not seeming to rectify, even
when not changing filter socks and running the skimmer low basically for o2 exchange and not extracting
anything. I get a HINT of blue on Salifert's Phos test, far short of .03

The products I'm looking at are Loudwolf's Sodium Phosphate Monobasic and Dibasic. I'm no chemist
(my degree is in Computer Science) but it seems the difference is if I want more sodium or more hydrogen
in the mix but I've no clue how these break down in a reef when dosed (my uneducated guess would be I
want less sodium). Could you please tell me which of these products would be best suited (if either of
them even are at all) for dosing P to a reef? I could definitely see a possibility that a combination of the
two may be ideal but maybe not. Sorry for the long-winded message and thank you for your time/help
as always!

 

[Dkeller_nc]

Either of them will be suitable for reef use. There are three commonly available inorganic phosphate products - sodium dihydrogen phsophate, sodium monohydrogen phosphate, and trisodium phosphate. The practical difference in use is the pH of a solution of these compounds - the monosodium product (sodium dihydrogen phosphate) will be nearly neutral, while trisodium phosphate will be strongly basic.

However, because as reefers we would use exceedingly little of these phosphate compounds on a mass basis, the alkalinity of the different forms makes little difference. And also because of the small amounts being used, the addition of sodium to the tank water will be similarly inconsequential.

You may find that trisodium phosphate is easier to purchase, since it is used as a food additive.

 

[rhastareefer]

Either of them will be suitable for reef use. There are three commonly available inorganic phosphate products - sodium dihydrogen phsophate, sodium monohydrogen phosphate, and trisodium phosphate. The practical difference in use is the pH of a solution of these compounds - the monosodium product (sodium dihydrogen phosphate) will be nearly neutral, while trisodium phosphate will be strongly basic.

However, because as reefers we would use exceedingly little of these phosphate compounds on a mass basis, the alkalinity of the different forms makes little difference. And also because of the small amounts being used, the addition of sodium to the tank water will be similarly inconsequential.

You may find that trisodium phosphate is easier to purchase, since it is used as a food additive.

Thank you for the information! I try to stick to pharma grade products which is why I try to get all I can from Loudwolf. They offer all of the above. I guess I'm just looking for the 'ideal' product or mix to use because I plan on scaling up pretty significantly in the not so distant future.