Is 0.02ppm Phosphate enough?

RaymondL · Mar 4, 2023

My Phosphates are consistently at 0.02ppm every week for the past 4 weeks - I'm wondering if this value is a good value to maintain and enough to strive off Dinoflagellates? Nitrates just as well are averaging 4ppm weekly. Do I need to dose phosphates?

mike550 · Mar 4, 2023

@RaymondL I think your phosphates and nitrates are fine. Generally speaking it seems phosphates < 0.1 and nitrates 5-10 are a nice place to be. From everything I’ve seen on the board, when you start to chase numbers — especially with chem —things can go wrong pretty quickly.

ReefSlice · Mar 4, 2023

Depends on the tank. I have to dose po4, but I've noticed that when it drops below .03/.04 in my tank, my growth slows way down on my zoanthids and even coralline. If your corals look good and are growing, don't change a thing.

vetteguy53081 · Mar 4, 2023

RaymondL said:
My Phosphates are consistently at 0.02ppm every week for the past 4 weeks - I'm wondering if this value is a good value to maintain and enough to strive off Dinoflagellates? Nitrates just as well are averaging 4ppm weekly. Do I need to dose phosphates?

I hover around .03-.04. Steady and consistent is as valuable as being in the right range.
Feeding the fish a tad more and coral reef roids will elevate it slightly higher

Lavey29 · Mar 4, 2023

Yes and no. It is enough but you have very little wiggle room at the ultra low number. As others mentioned just depends on how your tank is responding.