No way my phosphate is this high

[Perthegallon]

Can my phosphate really be this high???

 

[Perthegallon]

This is my tank it looks perfectly fine

 

[MERKEY]

Sure they can.

How old is your tank?

How many fish?

Other parameters?

Did you start with live rock or dry rock?

 

[MERKEY]

This is my tank it looks perfectly fine

Tanks can run at higher phos with no problem. .4 is a bit higher but .2 with softies and lps shouldn't be a problem.

If you have a sump throw some phosgaurd in to remove the phos to get it down to where you want it.

 

[Ippyroy]

It probably is. Did you retest? Have you tried the standards to make sure it's correct?

 

[Jmasonreef]

Could be not unheard of.

 

[Perthegallon]

It probably is. Did you retest? Have you tried the standards to make sure it's correct?

Im doing a retest right now to check but I’m thinking it’s not wrong as the color of the vial was darker then normal

 

[Perthegallon]

Sure they can.

How old is your tank?

How many fish?

Other parameters?

Did you start with live rock or dry rock?

About a year and started with dry rock I have about 20 fish in a 65 gallon

 

[MERKEY]

Im doing a retest right now to check but I’m thinking it’s not wrong as the color of the vial was darker then normal

Could be the issue....but if you started with dry rock it could be releasing phos.

 

[flampton]

With all those fish to feed in a tank that small I'm surprised it's not higher. What export mechanisms are you using?

 

[MERKEY]

About a year and started with dry rock I have about 20 fish in a 65 gallon

Ah ok the rock is most likely releasing if the test comes back as high.

 

[MERKEY]

Oh wait 20 fish in a 65g...what kind of fish? Big tangs?

Poop factory for sure hahah

 

[Ippyroy]

Im doing a retest right now to check but I’m thinking it’s not wrong as the color of the vial was darker then normal

I highly recommend the standards. They are cheap and you get a couple of spare cuvettes. PO4 will bind to the rocks and sand and then it releases when you remove it via water changes. You need to use something to lower it like ChemiPure elite or GFO.

 

[Halal Hotdog]

.48 ppm phosphates isn't hard to get to. A couple of overfeeding and you can easily be past .5 ppm. For a softy tank this wouldn't be a problem at all. This only starts being a problems with SPS, more specifically Acros.

 

[92Miata]

I highly recommend the standards. They are cheap and you get a couple of spare cuvettes. PO4 will bind to the rocks and sand and then it releases when you remove it via water changes. You need to use something to lower it like ChemiPure elite or GFO.

I'm not a fan of Hanna's standards because they're generally in the wrong range for most reefers (5dkh? why?) - but the ULR Phosphorus/Phosphate one is .4ppm, so perfect here.

This is a weird one here - generally this sort of Phosphate range is fine in tanks with a ton of corals - but I'd think with these numbers and basically no coraline, and low coral coverage, and a year in, he'd have an algae mess.

 

[Perthegallon]

I'm not a fan of Hanna's standards because they're generally in the wrong range for most reefers (5dkh? why?) - but the ULR Phosphorus/Phosphate one is .4ppm, so perfect here.

This is a weird one here - generally this sort of Phosphate range is fine in tanks with a ton of corals - but I'd think with these numbers and basically no coraline, and low coral coverage, and a year in, he'd have an algae mess.

The red lights are starting to go off I’m going to crank my fuge and do some water changes with phosphate

 

[Perthegallon]

I'm not a fan of Hanna's standards because they're generally in the wrong range for most reefers (5dkh? why?) - but the ULR Phosphorus/Phosphate one is .4ppm, so perfect here.

This is a weird one here - generally this sort of Phosphate range is fine in tanks with a ton of corals - but I'd think with these numbers and basically no coraline, and low coral coverage, and a year in, he'd have an algae mess.

 

[Ippyroy]

I'm not a fan of Hanna's standards because they're generally in the wrong range for most reefers (5dkh? why?) - but the ULR Phosphorus/Phosphate one is .4ppm, so perfect here.

This is a weird one here - generally this sort of Phosphate range is fine in tanks with a ton of corals - but I'd think with these numbers and basically no coraline, and low coral coverage, and a year in, he'd have an algae mess.

The numbers on the Hanna standard don't mater. If the checker is out of range, regardless of the number, it needs to be fixed. If it reads it correct at that level, then it should be correct at the usual level. He has tons of hard green algae, which will go away after he gets the nutrients in check. I had the same thing. I will never dose coralline in a bottle because of it.

 

[Perthegallon]

The numbers on the Hanna standard don't mater. If the checker is out of range, regardless of the number, it needs to be fixed. If it reads it correct at that level, then it should be correct at the usual level. He has tons of hard green algae, which will go away after he gets the nutrients in check. I had the same thing. I will never dose coralline in a bottle because of it.

I’m having actually tons of corlaine spots growing now the only thing that gets rid of that hard alage film is my urchins

Green algae*

My urchins also avoid the purple corlaine which is awesome

 

[piranhaman00]

My phosphate is 5.0ppm, the only coral is GSP and it stopped growing even!