Phosphate challenged. Need help with particular problem.

[Silverfish]

Hello and thank you,
I have had my phosphates locked down for over a year at .02 to .04. I test now every other week.
They are now .20 and have been for a few weeks. I am trying to find the cause and am asking for some assistance with this problem. As far as I can tell it occurred when I ran out of my regular frozen cube food and started using bulk PE Mysis. I perhaps over fed bc I had to cut pieces. Around the same time I did a small aquascape adjustment and removed 4 -4x3 rocks. I have been feeding cubes for a week and reduced total amount with no results. I can see my corals r not happy and some are receding.
I don’t know if I should use some sort of phosphate control. Any advice would be very helpful.
I also started using ReefPro 2 part after using polyp one for 2.5 years. I started it around the same time.
Thanks

 

[HuduVudu]

I am confused your phosphates are at the lower end of the range you stated, but you want to use phosphate control?

Do you want to raise or lower your phosphates?

 

[Zero1091]

One problem I had was the mysis i was feeding getting stuck in the rock work or filters and decomposing. I used a bulb syringe and removed a lot of un eaten mysis after weeks. Although by that point damage was done so I used a product called phosguard. It does its job in a controlled steady pace within 3-5 days time to remove phosphates and you can adjust how strong it is by adding more or using less pellets in a media bag. Just be cautious not to completely exhaust your phosphates if you choose to use it.

 

[Silverfish]

I am confused your phosphates are at the lower end of the range you stated, but you want to use phosphate control?

Do you want to raise or lower your phosphates?

Hi,
my phosphates were .02-.04. Now they r .20-.21.

 

[Silverfish]

One problem I had was the mysis i was feeding getting stuck in the rock work or filters and decomposing. I used a bulb syringe and removed a lot of un eaten mysis after weeks. Although by that point damage was done so I used a product called phosguard. It does its job in a controlled steady pace within 3-5 days time to remove phosphates and you can adjust how strong it is by adding more or using less pellets in a media bag. Just be cautious not to completely exhaust your phosphates if you choose to use it.

If I feed less will they come down naturally or did I through the balance off. I don’t want to make it worse by using the additives. Meaning , I don’t want to have to use it forever. If I stop using the additive will it shoot up again. I feel like I should give it another week and then try. Am I damaging the corals with a phosphate this high?
Thanks

 

[Zero1091]

If I feed less will they come down naturally or did I through the balance off. I don’t want to make it worse by using the additives. Meaning , I don’t want to have to use it forever. If I stop using the additive will it shoot up again. I feel like I should give it another week and then try. Am I damaging the corals with a phosphate this high?
Thanks

Feeding less helps in the long run but once it has happened the damage is already done.
Im no expert but I have had this happen to me a few times during the early stages in the hobby learning from trial and error.
This would happen to me when over feeding. It wouldn’t naturally go down on its own especially if the source is still in the tank. I always tried to keep it between .03-.08 if at any point it went way above those parameters such as .20 or above coral did begin to suffer and I slowly worked at reducing it over a course of a few days. Its ok to use those additives, you just want to be cautious not to completely deplete your phosphates or you will have problems and coral will suffer badly. Use it and test water daily. Once it drops to a desired level remove it. Continue testing and see if the levels rise or remain stable. The source of phosphates may still be leeching into your tank if levels rise quickly within 2-3 days time. If thats the case it will take some detective work to try and figure out what you have done recently that can be causing the spike.

 

[Nano sapiens]

If I feed less will they come down naturally or did I through the balance off. I don’t want to make it worse by using the additives. Meaning , I don’t want to have to use it forever. If I stop using the additive will it shoot up again. I feel like I should give it another week and then try. Am I damaging the corals with a phosphate this high?
Thanks

The vast majority of phosphate input is via food, so if you cut down on the amount and/or type you can begin to lower it. Take a look at the phosphate content of your previous food cubes vs. PE Mysis. You can also reduce input by rinsing the food first (every little bit helps!).

Our reef aquaria are really quite sensitive to events such as live rock removal. Removing live rock removes resident bacteria, micro algae, sponges, fungi, filter feeders and who knows what else that use/sequester 'nutrients' such as phosphate. I had a similar issue about 6 months ago where I removed a good sized live rock from a small aquarium and then had to battle increasing nitrate with very low PO4 (PO4 is always very low in my system, likely due to Kalkwasser usage). Long story short, carbon dosing did the trick to lower NO3 and now the system is holding steady NO3 even without carbon dosing.

I have no personal experience with PO4 of 0.2 ppm, but it's on the high side of accepted norms. Reef tanks that aren't gradually acclimated to higher PO4 tend to experience algae blooms if they don't have sufficient herbivores. As to having an effect on corals, higher PO4 has been shown to stimulate zooxanthellae reproduction which can brown out corals and possibly disrupt the coral-algae symbiosis if it gets too high.

 

[Silverfish]

Good stuff. I appreciate your input. I’m due to do a water change And parameters tomorrow. I believe I will try to use a siphon to vacuum rocks And continue to watch the feedings. I’ll check again in 3 days. If It remains elevated I’ll try the phosguard and try to get it lowered and stabilized.
Much thanks

 

[Spieg]

To help get your corals in a happy place again, I'd use Lanthanum Chloride to knock PO4 level down (over the course of a couple of days) and then watch to see if it goes back up again. If it does go back up then you need to take a closer look at what you're putting in the tank that has high PO4 (could be food related).