How to increase phosphates

[DirtMcGurt]

That's about what my nem looks like. It has a little red coming back at the tips. If yours came out and opened on it's own then that is a good sign. I believe the most I've ever raised P04 in a day is about 0.02. I used Brightwell's Neophos. I've heard of other people using diy solutions like you, but I don't trust myself enough with that lol. Since no one has hopped on this thread to correct use... then I can only assume the P04 dosing is the best corrective action for both of us.

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

That's about what my nem looks like. It has a little red coming back at the tips. If yours came out and opened on it's own then that is a good sign. I believe the most I've ever raised P04 in a day is about 0.02. I used Brightwell's Neophos. I've heard of other people using diy solutions like you, but I don't trust myself enough with that lol. Since no one has hopped on this thread to correct use... then I can only assume the P04 dosing is the best corrective action for both of us.

Yeah, that's fine I think we've got this. can I ask how long it was from when you started dosing to see a bit of colour on your nem.

 

[DirtMcGurt]

From my notes... I started dosing phosphates about 8 weeks ago. It seems like it first opened about 6 weeks ago. Once opened, and out of hiding, I noticed some red about 2 weeks later. Which has been the past 2 weeks. It appears to come back a little more each week but I'm still checking it every day.

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

From my notes... I started dosing phosphates about 8 weeks ago. It seems like it first opened about 6 weeks ago. Once opened, and out of hiding, I noticed some red about 2 weeks later. Which has been the past 2 weeks. It appears to come back a little more each week but I'm still checking it every day.

I'm not going to give up hope for them yet.

 

[Dierks]

Following along with this fella's this topic has me very interested. I also will be dosing Phyto in my tank to get the Phosphates up as my nano tank ran at 0 for a long time and it didn't end well. So with that the new tank will be getting Phospahte and Nitrate pumped into it. Thank you guys so much for sharing your knowledge and experience here it helps a lot!

 

[DirtMcGurt]

I wouldn't either. I think you found your problem a lot quicker then I found mine. I had no idea for weeks why everything was closing up. Also, that frogspawn coral I have looked completely dead at one point, but I left it in just in case. I could barely see the smallest amount of tissue way down in the skeleton. Now, it's one happy thriving coral. That one took a while but it just shows how bad it can get and still be saved.

 

[DirtMcGurt]

Following along with this fella's this topic has me very interested. I also will be dosing Phyto in my tank to get the Phosphates up as my nano tank ran at 0 for a long time and it didn't end well. So with that the new tank will be getting Phospahte and Nitrate pumped into it. Thank you guys so much for sharing your knowledge and experience here it helps a lot!

That's great! When I started in this hobby, no one told me to watch the Nitrates and Phosphates. Other then trying to keep them as low as possible. So I'm learning lol. Do you grow your own Phyto or buy it pre made?

 

[Dierks]

I grow my own, I also am in the grow out stage for my Pods as they will be the first ones in my system besides my wrasse from my old system. I want to dose Phyto everyday (Sounds like 50cc for every Gallon is the magic number as of right now), and replacement pods every week. I plan to start doing that as son as I can split my culture one more time.

 

[DirtMcGurt]

That's so cool! I would also like to grow my own phyto, pods, and maybe brine shrimp. There's a lady in my reef club who does this and I'm very envious of her set up. It's all in one area and she grows phyto, pods, brine Shrimp and even some kind of very small worms. I say "worms" but it may be a larva state of some sort. Not 100% sure but its amazing. Once I get back from a vacation I have in a couple weeks, I'll start getting things set up and try it out.

 

[Dierks]

I have that setup as well be it very small...

I just finished dropping White worms into my tank maybe those are the worms you are talking about!! Look into getting a colony of them. Super easy and the fish LOVE them, great way to get a stubborn eater to eat (Including Mandarin) Here is a great write-up on it by @Paul B https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/white-worms-for-food.635159/

I also do Brine shrimp again, super easy. I took all my advise from David Ramsey on Youtube. He has like 5 videos out but the 2 food videos are great and gave me a lot of inspiration. In fact it seems like there is a lot more info on Baby brine shrimp then all the others. Again super easy!

No idea why as I live in a busy city but I cant seem to find live food anyplace so I simply am doing my own this time around.

 

[DirtMcGurt]

I have that setup as well be it very small...

I just finished dropping White worms into my tank maybe those are the worms you are talking about!! Look into getting a colony of them. Super easy and the fish LOVE them, great way to get a stubborn eater to eat (Including Mandarin) Here is a great write-up on it by @Paul B https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/white-worms-for-food.635159/

I also do Brine shrimp again, super easy. I took all my advise from David Ramsey on Youtube. He has like 5 videos out but the 2 food videos are great and gave me a lot of inspiration. In fact it seems like there is a lot more info on Baby brine shrimp then all the others. Again super easy!

No idea why as I live in a busy city but I cant seem to find live food anyplace so I simply am doing my own this time around.

Thanks for the link! I've saved that link to my "favorites" for future reference. I'll also check out the David Ramsey videos you mentioned. Would you be able to estimate how much it might cost to get set up and going?

 

[Dierks]

With pods, brine Shrimp Eggs (Don't need many) Phyto and the containers, heaters I would say I have about $100 invested into everything. I am hopeful I will come out ahead though as I hope to not have to feed as much frozen along with less chemicals. So we will see... If you want to see my setup simply click on my build thread as I just snapped a photo last night I think of the baby brine shrimp going into their container.

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

I've only been dosing phosphates since Monday, I haven't had to clean the glass as often, normally I'd scrape it then within an hour it would have a dusting on the glass, I cleaned it Sunday night and it didnt look that bad until tonight as in when I wouldn't want to leave it. Plus the colours look slightly better? Possible more hopeful than it actually is.

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

This is 19 days growth from my so called dead digi.

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

I wouldn't either. I think you found your problem a lot quicker then I found mine. I had no idea for weeks why everything was closing up. Also, that frogspawn coral I have looked completely dead at one point, but I left it in just in case. I could barely see the smallest amount of tissue way down in the skeleton. Now, it's one happy thriving coral. That one took a while but it just shows how bad it can get and still be saved.

I didnt find it very quickly at all, it was months of chasing, possibly 5-6 months.
I was going down the wrong path, multiple wrong paths as well. I first thought lighting, so kept changing the settings on my light, I thought the paling was from too much, then not enough.
Then all the corals didnt open as much. I kept doing water changes thinking that it was something I couldn't test for, so I ran carbon and poly filter to check for any metals in the water, as that changes colour if something is removed by it. I checked all my equipment, which doesn't consist of much. I only have a return pump, a small flow pump, a wave maker and a heater and they were all fine.
I tried stray voltage and nothing. I just Couldn't put my finger on it, it was almost to the point I was going to just give up, I was losing love for the mini reef I had grown from frags, and It didn't seem to be getting any better no matter what I did. The glass was filthy within a day and I just got fed up cleaning it to the state I could hardly see through it, normally 4 days later.

The only thing that has helped, was having sleepless nights, while not sleeping I was reading endless posts here on R2R!
You pick up clues and other avenues to try, from posts here and there. Others have had similar sounding issues, not normally the exact same issues or not worded the same, so a search doesn't bring it up, as is normally the case.
You then find a solution from all the clues you have gathered, all of a sudden people have had or have got the exact same issues, that you've spent months trying to find.
So now I'm hoping that my tanks I'm having issues with make a good recovery, I know it's not going to be an over night fix and I'm still going to have to work at it. I think I'm now finally on the right road. It was all down to this fabulous platform and the knowledge of reefers on here.

 

[DirtMcGurt]

With pods, brine Shrimp Eggs (Don't need many) Phyto and the containers, heaters I would say I have about $100 invested into everything. I am hopeful I will come out ahead though as I hope to not have to feed as much frozen along with less chemicals. So we will see... If you want to see my setup simply click on my build thread as I just snapped a photo last night I think of the baby brine shrimp going into their container.

I checked out your build thread and saw your phyto and pod set up. Those containers are a really good idea. I'll definitely look into getting something like that.

 

[DirtMcGurt]

I didnt find it very quickly at all, it was months of chasing, possibly 5-6 months.
I was going down the wrong path, multiple wrong paths as well. I first thought lighting, so kept changing the settings on my light, I thought the paling was from too much, then not enough.
Then all the corals didnt open as much. I kept doing water changes thinking that it was something I couldn't test for, so I ran carbon and poly filter to check for any metals in the water, as that changes colour if something is removed by it. I checked all my equipment, which doesn't consist of much. I only have a return pump, a small flow pump, a wave maker and a heater and they were all fine.
I tried stray voltage and nothing. I just Couldn't put my finger on it, it was almost to the point I was going to just give up, I was losing love for the mini reef I had grown from frags, and It didn't seem to be getting any better no matter what I did. The glass was filthy within a day and I just got fed up cleaning it to the state I could hardly see through it, normally 4 days later.

The only thing that has helped, was having sleepless nights, while not sleeping I was reading endless posts here on R2R!
You pick up clues and other avenues to try, from posts here and there. Others have had similar sounding issues, not normally the exact same issues or not worded the same, so a search doesn't bring it up, as is normally the case.
You then find a solution from all the clues you have gathered, all of a sudden people have had or have got the exact same issues, that you've spent months trying to find.
So now I'm hoping that my tanks I'm having issues with make a good recovery, I know it's not going to be an over night fix and I'm still going to have to work at it. I think I'm now finally on the right road. It was all down to this fabulous platform and the knowledge of reefers on here.

I only assumed that yours hadn't gone on longer then mine because your corals looked better then mine. It does take some time to turn around but when it starts to recover, its really exciting. At least it was for me. This forum has been a huge help. Theres also people on here that don't have very good advice, so be careful. Ita rare tho. Once, I had someone suggest that I stop doing water changes completely and stop testing parameters... I think I see what they were trying to say but that seems kinda reckless lol. So just a heads up.

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

I only assumed that yours hadn't gone on longer then mine because your corals looked better then mine. It does take some time to turn around but when it starts to recover, its really exciting. At least it was for me. This forum has been a huge help. Theres also people on here that don't have very good advice, so be careful. Ita rare tho. Once, I had someone suggest that I stop doing water changes completely and stop testing parameters... I think I see what they were trying to say but that seems kinda reckless lol. So just a heads up.

I had the recommendation of no more water changes, but I turned that around and bought a 50 micron filter sock and made a holder to go on my water change bucket, as I dont have a sump. what I have been doing was scrape off any dino and I give the glass a clean with the pumps off and blast the rocks to kick up the waste, I then siphon out the crud through the sock. Then I put the old filtered tank water back into the tank, I then top up if needed with a little NSW. This way I'm not diluting phosphates and nitrates just removing the undesirable looking waste I have only done this twice as I only got the sock last week. I tried it through filter floss but that blocked up too quickly and was a pita.

 

[DirtMcGurt]

In the case up bringing up nutrients while trying to pull out debris, that makes sense. Do you have dinos now?

 

[Nicholas Dushynsky]

In the case up bringing up nutrients while trying to pull out debris, that makes sense. Do you have dinos now?

A little but not as bad and it's mainly on the rear filter box. So I'll do the same again in a week, as I'm going to do that every 2 weeks as I want to keep my hands out as much as possible. With my 7 gallon tank I hardly do anything to it just feed daily, top up when needed and test weekly and that give me much less hassle than the other 2 tanks, plus it's less volume and its allegedly harder to keep smaller tanks. Out of the 3 tanks it's the easiest. I think if I spent more time and effort on it it could be better and the colours could be better as the green has gone out of the hammers but it's been like that for 3 years now, and alk runs really low on it around 6.7dkh. what
I should do though is raise alk up to around
7.3-7.7dkh the same as my main tank and top up with kalkwasser, the same as my main tank.