High Phos inverts dying

Bucs20fan · Oct 17, 2022

Phosphates arent whats killing your inverts, Its probably nitrates or copper.

Fishy888 · Oct 17, 2022

I personally think the rapid phosphate rise was the main culprit. If the inverts were stressed the rapid rise in phosphates might have done them in. I would think that copper or some other contaminant would have killed all your corals too so I don't think heavy metals caused the deaths.

cdnco2004 · Oct 17, 2022

Just applied 25ml of Phosphate-E from Brightwell. I wonder how long I need to wait to test. It says tests can still get false readings after application even though the Phosphate is no longer able to effect anything how it is bonded to the Phosphate-E.

Hydrored · Oct 17, 2022

cdnco2004 said:
Just applied 25ml of Phosphate-E from Brightwell. I wonder how long I need to wait to test. It says tests can still get false readings after application even though the Phosphate is no longer able to effect anything how it is bonded to the Phosphate-E.

25 ML. Not diluted? Combined between 2 tanks? For what actual water volume?

25 ML is enough to go from .90 to .01 in 112.5 gallons of actual water volume. Hopefully if you have tangs they are not impacted.

cdnco2004 · Oct 17, 2022

I have a 75g DT with 24g sump and secondary 10g Fuge.

cdnco2004 · Oct 17, 2022

I also did a 30g wc 1 hour after dose.

cdnco2004 · Oct 17, 2022

Bucs20fan said:
Phosphates arent whats killing your inverts, Its probably nitrates or copper.

Nitrate 16.5 copper is 0.00 according to my Hanna. I've never dosed any copper in that tank.

Hydrored · Oct 17, 2022

cdnco2004 said:
I have a 75g DT with 24g sump and secondary 10g Fuge.

109 gallons I’m assuming without counting for volume loss due to rock, sand, equipment, etc?

Good luck, waiting to see how this works out.

cdnco2004 · Oct 17, 2022

Hydrored said:
109 gallons I’m assuming without counting for volume loss due to rock, sand, equipment, etc?

Good luck, waiting to see how this works out.

We never have to worry about you winning the hospitality badge.

Hydrored · Oct 17, 2022

cdnco2004 said:
We never have to worry about you winning the hospitality badge.

Too late. Not sure what you want here for hospitality- I gave you advice earlier, others gave you advice that phosphates are more than likely not the issue, you over dosed a chemical know to cause issues with fish if not properly dosed, and even if it doesn’t bottom your phosphates it’s a massive swing.

Patience and absorbing knowledge is what makes people successful and keeps animals alive in this hobby.

Here is a dosing calculator for Phosphate-E-

http://larryl.emailplus.org.user.fm/fish/dosing-instructions-phosphate-removers.html

Again, good luck on your reefing adventures

doubleshot00 · Oct 17, 2022

Hydrored said:
109 gallons I’m assuming without counting for volume loss due to rock, sand, equipment, etc?

Good luck, waiting to see how this works out.

Same. I think throwing the kitchen sink at it was not wise but prove us wrong.

cdnco2004 · Oct 18, 2022

Phos is down to 0.23 this morning after the Phosphate-E dose last night. Everyone is looking good happy hungry not looking stressed.

Bucs20fan · Oct 18, 2022

Yeah.....My phos always runs high, sometimes its gotten as high as 1.5ppm and havent had any issues with inverts or fish. Corals is different.

cdnco2004 · Oct 18, 2022

Bucs20fan said:
Yeah.....My phos always runs high, sometimes its gotten as high as 1.5ppm and havent had any issues with inverts or fish. Corals is different.

I read it's not supposed to be toxic for corals either but that they greatly dislike it. I moved all my coral to another tank already. That is what made me first notice something was up when the hammers all stayed mostly closed and the duncans were going a bit brownish. Moved them to a tank with Phosphate 0.12 and they opened up and colored back up. But I did 2 half TSP Reef Roid feedings in that tank and after a week at my next water testing my Phos was above the limit of my Hanna ULR of 0.90PPM. Should have got regular not ULR. Now this week the hammers are back to being more closed. Duncans have not started to go brown yet. I am going to wait a few more days for numbers to stabilize in the 75G and then move them back to the 75G and treat the 50G and do a large WC.

cdnco2004 · Oct 18, 2022

No more Reef Roids. What sucks is I still have a full large bag unopened. LFS wont take it back no returns grr.

jeffchapok · Oct 18, 2022

Nothing good in this hobby happens fast. Slow, small changes are the key. Above all else, corals crave consistency.

92Miata · Oct 18, 2022

cdnco2004 said:
I have since read that and you are no help here so please, move on.

He was being helpful, and he was right.

Cause and effect are very clear here - you dosed a TON of coral food that is super high in phosphate (and a proprietary blend of nobody knows what else) and rapidly drove phosphate through the roof. This causes rapid changes in the bacterial ecology of the tank, changes in the way the tank handles pretty much every micro and macro nutrient we can trace, and just generally makes a mess of things.

For the people saying "Well, I was fine at 1 ppm" - having 1ppm phosphates and driving phosphates to 1ppm over a very short time are very different things.

The vast majority of coral foods and aminos acids are nothing but nitrogen/phosphate supplements. You don't need them if you've got measurable levels in the water column already.

Fishy888 · Oct 18, 2022

Corals don't like phosphates because they interfere with calcification and algae, which loves phosphates, grows over the corals.

cdnco2004 · Oct 18, 2022

92Miata said:
He was being helpful, and he was right.

Cause and effect are very clear here - you dosed a TON of coral food that is super high in phosphate (and a proprietary blend of nobody knows what else) and rapidly drove phosphate through the roof. This causes rapid changes in the bacterial ecology of the tank, changes in the way the tank handles pretty much every micro and macro nutrient we can trace, and just generally makes a mess of things.

For the people saying "Well, I was fine at 1 ppm" - having 1ppm phosphates and driving phosphates to 1ppm over a very short time are very different things.

The vast majority of coral foods and aminos acids are nothing but nitrogen/phosphate supplements. You don't need them if you've got measurable levels in the water column already.

Harping on about a situation AFTER it has occurred, and I did read up on Reef Roids before I used it the first time found lots of positive posts. I only found negative posts about Phosphate when I saw my elevated numbers and was researching a cause. I started small with Reef Roids and slowly ramped up as most of the posts recommended. I did not start at the 1TSP dose. After I have already acknowledged that I think Reef Roids caused the spike and that I do not plan to use again, continuing to harp on the issue does nothing to help solve the issue it just helps stroke the ego of people who like to be know it all's. He was not helpful his comments did nothing to help resolve the issue. I had already stated before his posts that I thought the reef roids was the issue. So how did his posts help? Please tell me?

doubleshot00 · Oct 18, 2022

92Miata said:
He was being helpful, and he was right.

Cause and effect are very clear here - you dosed a TON of coral food that is super high in phosphate (and a proprietary blend of nobody knows what else) and rapidly drove phosphate through the roof. This causes rapid changes in the bacterial ecology of the tank, changes in the way the tank handles pretty much every micro and macro nutrient we can trace, and just generally makes a mess of things.

Then you used Lantham chloride (which should only be used on large systems) and have no clue what that will do to the biological system in the tank. A couple of 50% WC is probably all you had to do to get manageable Levels then throw in a bag of chemi pure blue or gfo in the sump.

Glad it worked out for ya.