Is live phyto lowering my phosphates?

[Reefbuds]

So quick question. Having a problem w/ 0 phosphates recently. I can only get my phosphates above 0 for a very small amount of time before reading 0 the next day again. I do dose live phyto quite frequently and have heard it can lower phosphates. Could the phyto be consuming the phosphates so quickly that it can not rise above 0? Im currently up to dosing .02ppm phosphates nightly with tests still reading .00. Some days I can get a slight reading at .02 or .04 but it is fleeting and usually only after a night of reef roids + dosing, but back to 0 the next day. Thanks in advance.

 

[malfist]

How long has your tank been at zero phosphates? Argonite based sand and rock (most common) can bind and in some cases release phosphate. If you've been at zero for a long time you likely have a lot of unsatisfied phosphate consumers in your tank. It can take a lot of phosphate before you start seeing phosphate regularly. I had to dose for it, and dose a lot.

I was deficit for at least a year, and dosed 0.35ppm/day for about three months before I started seeing phosphate stick around. I try to keep mine between 0.03 and 0.09.

 

[Reefbuds]

Man I'm not sure to be honest. I only recently started testing again maybe a month or two ago and it has been .00 every time, except for the few exceptions on a few days. Ive been dosing small amounts for consecutive 3 days then testing to see if it has hit .01 yet, no luck yet. Starting to up my dosing and thought about cutting out the live phyto for now until I can get the phosphate result im looking for. Thinking maybe it could be one of the root causes of the issue.

 

[Reefbuds]

And btw I meant im up to dosing .02ppm a night NOT .2ppm a night. Big difference.

 

[malfist]

Do you culture your own phyto? If so it probably has leftover phosphate from F/2 whatever fertilizer. I have no idea about the commercial stuff though.

I highly recommend dosing phosphate if you can, it's easy to mix up a solution of sodium phosphate dibasic. I think Randy has posted a recipe. That's what I use. Neophos is really dilute

 

[malfist]

I missed your comment about already dosing phosphates. I'd up the dose if I were you. Take it slow, and measure every few days to see if you can establish a trend. I had to dose 0.35ppm/day for my tank

 

[Reefbuds]

Ok thats what I was thinking as well. Just wondering if it would ever work if the phyto is fighting against me on it. .35ppm is a ton! I upped my dose a little bit tonight, Ill give it another check tmrw. I use Neophos, thought it was suppose to be really strong. 1ml = .01ppm in my tank with it.

 

[moz71]

Same as @malfist I needed to dose phosphate a lot to for a long time to finally get a reading then it stabilized never needs to dose again. Finally getting everything in check now. The low phosphate caused me a lot if problems

 

[Reefbuds]

Thanks @moz71 . Sounds like I just need to keep up with the nightly dosing and increase until I finally get it to where I need it. Might cut back on the live phyto to every 3rd day to see if that helps.

 

[moz71]

Thanks @moz71 . Sounds like I just need to keep up with the nightly dosing and increase until I finally get it to where I need it. Might cut back on the live phyto to every 3rd day to see if that helps.

Just measure frequently as once it stabilized I cut ASAP.

 

[moz71]

Cut dosing

 

[Reefbuds]

Yea of course, otherwise it will go nuts. Ive been doing 3 days at a certain amount nightly then testing to see if it has risen above .00

 

[Reefbuds]

Does anything think phyto has been eating my phosphate up? Think that has anything to do w/ the zero phosphate number or is my tank just naturally starved of phosphate at the moment?

 

[Reefbuds]

Or maybe a bit of both

 

[moz71]

Does anything think phyto has been eating my phosphate up? Think that has anything to do w/ the zero phosphate number or is my tank just naturally starved of phosphate at the moment?

Personally I don’t think it is the phyto. I hear more of adding too much phyto can increase phosphate. If anything that is probably giving your corals phosphate it needs if you have corals. But that is my opinion

 

[jda]

The phosphates are likely binding to the rock and sand. It can happen very quickly. Unless you have a super accurate tool, like a Hannah Ultra low, and you have more than 1 or 2 PPB, then don't worry about this. My phosphates are constantly around 1-3 ppb and my corals get all that they need from fish waste.

 

[Reefbuds]

Im using the HI774-0. I'm trying to get my phosphate above 0 due to issues with dinos at the moment.

 

[c_johns89]

Does anything think phyto has been eating my phosphate up? Think that has anything to do w/ the zero phosphate number or is my tank just naturally starved of phosphate at the moment?

I think the only way to find out is if you stop adding phytoplankton for a little bit, and observe how it impacts your phosphate concentrations. If it’s still going down even without adding phyto, than you can at least rule that out as being the root cause.

 

[Forty-Two]

The question is what kind of rock do you have? Dry rock? How old is the tank?

 

[Lyss]

Does anything think phyto has been eating my phosphate up? Think that has anything to do w/ the zero phosphate number or is my tank just naturally starved of phosphate at the moment?

I think no, it would be the opposite. I use live phyto and it is also my main way to get extra needed phosphates into my tank.