Phosphate dead zero again..

[rock_lobster]

Delete

 

[ZaneTer]

I’m in a similar situation. I cannot keep phosphates in my tank for long but I do have quite a large mass of chaeto. I dose daily to try to keep it above zero.

Corals bounce back pretty quickly from PO4 limitation. Have you considered setting up a doser to raise the level a little bit?

 

[rock_lobster]

I’m in a similar situation. I cannot keep phosphates in my tank for long but I do have quite a large mass of chaeto. I dose daily to try to keep it above zero.

Corals bounce back pretty quickly from PO4 limitation. Have you considered setting up a doser to raise the level a little bit?

Yes I have a doser setup probably will start dosing it more frequently it just seemed like such an unusual problem I thought it couldnt be right. But my tank sure bounces back quickly from a little PO4 dosing.

 

[ZaneTer]

Don’t worry you certainly aren’t alone in this. Many people on here have problems maintaining enough PO4.

There are some people on here that will claim that it is impossible to reach such low levels with a fuge and a skimmer, without some form of carbon dosing. I disagree with them.

Would you mind sharing your setup with us?

 

[Solis Reef]

I been battling low nutrients for a wile but I only have 2 fish in a 220gal 300 total large sump 20gal refugium and a really big protein skimmer rated for 500gal

 

[Solis Reef]

Sump on the right refugium on the left this is when I was building it

 

[ZaneTer]

@Solis Reef
Have you considered buying trisodium phosphate and sodium/potassium nitrate directly from Amazon? The prices are really low and you will probably find that you don't use much anyway. When you raise your nutrients you will probably find that algae begins to take hold on your rock work. Use it as a good excuse to get a grazing herbivorous fish such as a fox face. It will keep algae that crops up under control very nicely.

Also, that is a lovely setup you have there.

 

[Solis Reef]

@Solis Reef
Have you considered buying trisodium phosphate and sodium/potassium nitrate directly from Amazon? The prices are really low and you will probably find that you don't use much anyway. When you raise your nutrients you will probably find that algae begins to take hold on your rock work. Use it as a good excuse to get a grazing herbivorous fish such as a fox face. It will keep algae that crops up under control very nicely.

Also, that is a lovely setup you have there.

Thanks for the info. I have turf algae on my rocks right now. The chaeto is really starting to take of ant the turf is going away slowly. I’m planing to get some more fish I think that will help. But I will definily will look at those suplent.

 

[Solis Reef]

This is what I end it up with. I’m still working on it

 

[cracker]

I also have low/zero Po4 issues & have to dose.

 

[sghera64]

[emoji1]

I just returned from a short trip in my time machine. I went back to 1999 and showed some fellow reefers what you guys (all above) have been posting on the “boards”. [What we call the forums today were called the boards back then]. You should have seen the confused look on their faces. They wanted to know why any reefer in their right mind would actually *dose* nitrate and phosphate. They did not buy my ULNS explanation so I made up some BS story about a Y2K glitch that changed everything and they would have to wait a few months to see what I meant.

Seriously, welcome to the future of reefing; where our systems, packed with coral all hyped up on very well tuned and powerful lights and macro algae fuge’s on overdrive with the latest in horticulture lamps. We now have to add fertilizer into our tanks to keep sensitive animals healthy.

I dose calcium nitrate and TSP (Na3PO4). I can now measure about 30ppb-PO4, but struggle with very low (but not zero) nitrate. RedSea Pro kit says less than 0.25 ppm, but there is a very faint hint of pink. I have a medium load of SPS, LPS and a giant clam + a chaeto/ Ulva refugium.

I think the key is not to strive for a number. Strive for a consistent daily dose so that the tanks N/P levels are constant (but not zero) and the corals will adjust. AND, don’t mess with light settings. Keep them constant for the sake of stability.

 

[rock_lobster]

[emoji1]

I just returned from a short trip in my time machine. I went back to 1999 and showed some fellow reefers what you guys (all above) have been posting on the “boards”. [What we call the forums today were called the boards back then]. You should have seen the confused look on their faces. They wanted to know why any reefer in their right mind would actually *dose* nitrate and phosphate. They did not buy my ULNS explanation so I made up some crap story about a Y2K glitch that changed everything and they would have to wait a few months to see what I meant.

Seriously, welcome to the future of reefing; where our systems, packed with coral all hyped up on very well tuned and powerful lights and macro algae fuge’s on overdrive with the latest in horticulture lamps. We now have to add fertilizer into our tanks to keep sensitive animals healthy.

I dose calcium nitrate and TSP (Na3PO4). I can now measure about 30ppb-PO4, but struggle with very low (but not zero) nitrate. RedSea Pro kit says less than 0.25 ppm, but there is a very faint hint of pink. I have a medium load of SPS, LPS and a giant clam + a chaeto/ Ulva refugium.

I think the key is not to strive for a number. Strive for a consistent daily dose so that the tanks N/P levels are constant (but not zero) and the corals will adjust. AND, don’t mess with light settings. Keep them constant for the sake of stability.

Yes agreed it seems like a hidden secret in the hobby with so many companies selling nitrate and phos reducer. It seems that too low is far worse than too high in my experience. corals are after all composed of a lot of algae. Just make very little sense “let’s choke out Dino’s but somehow the coral will thrive?”