Is 0.02ppm Phosphate enough?

[RaymondL]

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]

@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]

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]

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]

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.

 

[Reeflix]

DO NOT dose. your tank is fine. phos is a poison in any amounts, coral need it but feed them reef roids to give them what they need