Does Carbon dosing effect N more than P?

[LadyTang2]

Does it equally (as a %) remove N and P?
or
Is it mostly N and little P?
or
Is it all N and no P?

If you had to guess what the ratio of N to P removal was with carbon dosing what would it be?

 

[ndrwater]

Not equal at all..
More N than P..
Exponentially so

 

[Brad Waddell Wrath's Reef]

I agree, I had no issues with Phos but my Nitrates was around 30, after 8 weeks of Vodka dosing, water changes and Fuge, my Nitrates dropped to 1 and Phos did not change but was at .03.

 

[clm65]

Same with me. I had high nitrates as well as phosphates. Nitrates came down, but phosphates barely moved. I ended up dosing lanthanum chloride while carbon dosing.

 

[Quietman]

I did have phosphates come down a bit...2.0 to about 0.8 but then became N limited at 0. Has to back off the NOPOx a bit, get nitrates up to 3-5 ppm and use a phosphate removal to get them at .03-.05 consistently. Used both lanthanum and Phosguard at various times depending what I want to do.

 

[Meo]

I think (basing on my experience) is more related to kind/species of bacteria in the tank, respect to the carbon source composition or N-P ratio.

Of course, a limitation factor linked to the N availability exist for P reduction (40:1 I think), but i'snt the matter, specially in old tank (more than 3 years old)

 

[taricha]

Carbon reduces both N and P BUT....
In most established systems PO4 will be bound to aragonite surfaces (all rock and substrate) and the bonding is in equilibrium with water. So as carbon causes N and P to be consumed, the surfaces release P to restore equilibrium.
Thus PO4 can be very hard to budge.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Also, organic carbon can drive denitrification, which consumes N and not P.