How much phosphate is too much?

[dwest]

I've got no problems growing green algae. My polishers are drying out from a bleach soak so I haven't cleaned the glass in three days. This is the first time the green algae is growing faster than the Dinos.

Green is good. If I were you, the only other thing I would do at this point is buy the $10 microscope and ID them.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071JQFXC4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[dwest]

It took around three of these "false starts" before I was able to let my numbers come down a bit. Now enough time has passed without dinos that I can bring them down any time I want, but I will maintain them no lower than 5 and .04 indefinitely.

Sounds good. If you have a good phosphate test, like the Hanna ULR, you can just make sure phosphates are measurable. Certainly .04 is a fine number though.

 

[dwest]

Is phosphate something I should just setup on a dosing pump?

I dosed for a while and then my doser somehow overdosed to 4 ppm. I went back to adding by hand daily after that. I now don’t need to add any phosphates or nitrates. Either way, measure frequently.

 

[CoralClasher]

Green is good. If I were you, the only other thing I would do at this point is buy the $10 microscope and ID them.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071JQFXC4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I've had you or someone here confirmed ostreopsis but this is what I have this morning. I think the bigger cells are ostreopsis and the stick looking ones are diotom but only the small dots are zooming around. Are the smaller dots Dinos?

 

[Idoc]

Is phosphate something I should just setup on a dosing pump?

I wouldn't set it up on a pump...just test and add as needed. You'll find that after awhile of dosing, your system will equilibrate and thou probably won't need to dose po4 any longer. So, if you set up a doser without daily monitoring, you'll soon have your po4 out of control.

Im at the end of many months of battling amphidinium dinos. I only tried to elevate my po4 to around 0.1ppm... I'm now at 0.21ppm and slowly getting to bring it back down. I don't think I would recommend going to 1.0ppm of po4, though. I saw that in an earlier post by someone, but i wonder if that was a typo and he/she meant 0.1ppm instead of 1ppm?

 

[Idoc]

I've had you or someone here confirmed ostreopsis but this is what I have this morning. I think the bigger cells are ostreopsis and the stick looking ones are diotom but only the small dots are zooming around. Are the smaller dots Dinos?

The big ones look like ostreopsis dinos and the smallest ones are probably amphidinium dinos. Amphidinium dinos are fast moving little critters.

 

[CoralClasher]

Amphidinium are sand dwelling Dino right and do not go into the water? Will my polishers with diotom powder collect them if I blast them with a power head?

 

[najer]

Good advice above, get your levels up, .1 and 10 ish and as above, let a balance settle, grubby is good!
I run nitrates 20 - 50 and phos around .2, you can worry about algae clean up later.

 

[ScottR]

Shh dont tell anybody. My nitrates are at 60-80. ;NailbitingSofties are doing well. I just added a Duncan. Duncan has been in for about 3 weeks doing really well. I dont have any sps.

60-80!? I’m at 20. Trying to contain them from getting higher. Sort of...

 

[dwest]

The big ones look like ostreopsis dinos and the smallest ones are probably amphidinium dinos. Amphidinium dinos are fast moving little critters.

@Idoc is right about ostreopsis and probably right about small cell amphidinium, although sometimes we see these tiny critters zooming around that seem to go away easily. Lets see what @taricha thinks.

 

[ScottR]

I've had you or someone here confirmed ostreopsis but this is what I have this morning. I think the bigger cells are ostreopsis and the stick looking ones are diotom but only the small dots are zooming around. Are the smaller dots Dinos?

I also see what looks like diatoms floating in the mix.

 

[Idoc]

Amphidinium are sand dwelling Dino right and do not go into the water? Will my polishers with diotom powder collect them if I blast them with a power head?

Running a "dirty" tank seemed to work best for me with small cell amph dinos. Other things I have been doing as well:
- Maintaining over 10ppm No3 / >0.1ppm Po4
- Dosing silicates (SpongExcel) almost daily
- Added a bunch of pods...but, I have never seen one in the tank since I added them! But, I have a large amphipod colonization already present.
- Let GHA cover the back wall of tank completely...but that all ended up disappearing.

I ended up having an ostreopsis outbreak occur as well...but they seemed to just disappear with all the above treatments as well.

Now, I am having green cyano outbreak with a few amphid dinos on the sand bed. So, I am weekly siphoning out the cyano AND trying something different that seems to be working: I am siphoning only the slightest top layer of "brown" dino sand and placing it in a small bucket...then washing the sand with tap water (which breaks the outside "shell" of amphid dinos) and then soak that sand in a water/peroxide solution (to kill dinos as well as kill the cyano also mixed in). Then let the sand completely dry out...then sprinkle it back into the tank. This is actually working very well...those residual brown dino patches are becoming less and less.

 

[taricha]

I've had you or someone here confirmed ostreopsis but this is what I have this morning. I think the bigger cells are ostreopsis and the stick looking ones are diotom but only the small dots are zooming around. Are the smaller dots Dinos?

They could be small cell amphidinium dinos, but right now I’d worry about the ostreopsis and not the small zooming cells. They could just as easily be harmless.

 

[CoralClasher]

They could be small cell amphidinium dinos, but right now I’d worry about the ostreopsis and not the small zooming cells. They could just as easily be harmless.

The sample in the microscope is from the top of the tank glass. I did take a look at the sand and all I could find was diotoms.

 

[taricha]

The sample in the microscope is from the top of the tank glass. I did take a look at the sand and all I could find was diotoms.

Excellent. Then you'll find the same methods for ostreopsis will also work for the small zooming cells that may be dinos.

 

[PasstheTorch]

It all depends on what you have in the tank as far as phosphate levels......

I’ve had systems at 1+ ppm of phosphate with only LPS with the incredible color, but try to do that in a mix reef or an SPS tank, and you will fail miserably.

I have also fought dinos and with some species increasing nitrates and phosphates is definitely the way to go to battle them.

In my current system I like to stay between .1 and .25 ppm of phosphate as I have an LPS dominant mixed reef. Fuge w/ Chaeto goes crazy but not other algae....

My colors have never been better!

 

[Roberto CRC]

Hi dudes, actually I have a problem whit Po4, are in 0ppm.

How I ride this whit a product?

My No3 nearly 12 to 16 ppm and have really problem whit cyano, I think the problem was caused of the desbalance !

 

[RichtheReefer21]

I'm lighting a fire here...

@Rakie

I want to follow this discussion.

I have been running 30-40ppm no3 and .18 po4 for 2 months in a mixed reef. Full pe and growth on everything. Colors are solid. From lobos and shrooms, to sticks and monti.

Maybe rakie will share the lecture he shared with me, but i think he usually avoids these threads for good reason

Part of the key here, is where is ur dKh and Ca relative to the higher nutrient levels.

 

[RichtheReefer21]

Hi dudes, actually I have a problem whit Po4, are in 0ppm.

How I ride this whit a product?

My No3 nearly 12 to 16 ppm and have really problem whit cyano, I think the problem was caused of the desbalance !

Which test kit are you using for these results of 0ppm?

 

[Armani]

Phosphates of .33 for me seem to be terrible but also along with that my nitrates are high at .50 so not good. Trying to lower them so everything can open back up