Low phosphates.

cillam · Sep 26, 2023

I have been carbon dosing my tank to lower my nitrate levels and would test phosphate with the API tester which I leant for all intents and purposes is useless so I bought the salifert phosphate kit and it is showing 0 phosphates.

It seems like my nitrates are not going down anymore and I think it is due to having no phosphates.

How do I go about adding phosphate back to my tank?

gbroadbridge · Sep 26, 2023

cillam said:
I have been carbon dosing my tank to lower my nitrate levels and would test phosphate with the API tester which I leant for all intents and purposes is useless so I bought the salifert phosphate kit and it is showing 0 phosphates.

It seems like my nitrates are not going down anymore and I think it is due to having no phosphates.

How do I go about adding phosphate back to my tank?

You can buy a commercial phosphate additive, or make a DIY solution using something like monosodium phosphate purchased online.

Alternately, you could simply feed your fish more food, or feed coral with reef rods.

I prefer using a direct additive as you can dose exactly the amount you need.

cillam · Sep 29, 2023

I have purchased Brightwell Aquatics NeoPhos and will be dosing that for the time being,, once i see my phosphates go above .03ppm i will resume carbon dosing again, to try and bring my nitrates down.

gbroadbridge · Sep 29, 2023

cillam said:
I have purchased Brightwell Aquatics NeoPhos and will be dosing that for the time being,, once i see my phosphates go above .03ppm i will resume carbon dosing again, to try and bring my nitrates down.

Sounds like a good plan.

EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal · Sep 29, 2023

cillam said:
I have been carbon dosing my tank to lower my nitrate levels and would test phosphate with the API tester which I leant for all intents and purposes is useless so I bought the salifert phosphate kit and it is showing 0 phosphates.

It seems like my nitrates are not going down anymore and I think it is due to having no phosphates.

How do I go about adding phosphate back to my tank?

What is your nitrate level?

MrPike · Sep 29, 2023

Unfortunately the salifert is just about as useless. Hanna 774 or 736 are kind of the phosphate gold standards.

cillam · Sep 30, 2023

EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal said:
What is your nitrate level?

Nitrates are now at 40ppm but was higher. I have been carbon dosing to lower then and for the first few weeks i did see a decrease but then it stopped decreasing even though i was still carbon dosing. I tested the phosphates and it came up showing nothing, i know the salifert tests can only read as low as .03 so i doubled the chemicals to see if it show anything and still nothing.

EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal · Sep 30, 2023

cillam said:
Nitrates are now at 40ppm but was higher. I have been carbon dosing to lower then and for the first few weeks i did see a decrease but then it stopped decreasing even though i was still carbon dosing. I tested the phosphates and it came up showing nothing, i know the salifert tests can only read as low as .03 so i doubled the chemicals to see if it show anything and still nothing.

Best way by far to lower nitrates is a water change.

cillam · Oct 4, 2023

I have now been dosing neophos for 4 days now and i still see no measurable phosphates. I am assuming my sand and rock is absorbing it. I am continuing to dose 5ml a day, and will continue until i see them show up on the test kit.

I have noticed my nitrates are going up since i stopped carbon dosing as well, so hopefully i get some kind of measurable phosphates in the coming days.