phosphate e
- Thread starter drakebuffie
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Rtaylor
Valuable Member
It’s best used by dripping into a sock. It works by precipitating out the phosphate, so the finer the sock, the more effective it will be. I personally use 100 microns just fine.
If you put more than a few drops at a time, the water gets really cloudy and likely decreases the oxygen level some. But it is really safe and effective, the one watch out is tangs. If you have tangs you should be really conservative in dosing and may want the finer socks.
Typically you dose to get under .1PPM and then you can use GFO if you want to have constant phosphate reduction. Otherwise, you need to test and dose as needed.
If you put more than a few drops at a time, the water gets really cloudy and likely decreases the oxygen level some. But it is really safe and effective, the one watch out is tangs. If you have tangs you should be really conservative in dosing and may want the finer socks.
Typically you dose to get under .1PPM and then you can use GFO if you want to have constant phosphate reduction. Otherwise, you need to test and dose as needed.
Timfish
Crusty Old Salt
For it to work you have to remove it with a fine filter. FWIW .03 mg/l is the minimum threshold level to prevent phosphorus limitation in corals, identified by researchers at Southampton University in England using corals maintained in an aquarium for about a decade. .3 mg/l is what corals are subjected to with upwelling in the ocean. .5 mg/l is probably acceptable as acros have been shown to increase growth up to this level. .9mg/l is the level the Steinhart Aqaurium's ex situ sexually reproduced acro colonies are being grwon out with. Rich Ross's (who's part of the team at Steinhart sexually reproducing acros) has his acro dominate mixed reef sitting at 1.8 mg/l, his tank can be seen at the beginning of his MACNA presentation on phosphate.
drakebuffie
Active Member
English please....thats a lot of words....read it twice. Other than first sentence you lost me.
Timfish
Crusty Old Salt
Phosphate e binds with PO4 (dissolved inorganic phosphorus, orthophosphate) so it's unavailable for anything to use but it still has to be removed from a system mechanically with filtration, and since we're dealling with small particals a very fine filter pad or filter sock is needed.
You didn't mention what level the PO4 is in your system or what your target range is so I posted links to some of the research and a brief comment for you to determine what levels are acceptable for your systme. Breaking it down:
Rresearch done with aquarium corals over about a decade by reserchers at Southampton University in England identified a minimum threshold level of .03 mg/l to prevent corals from becoming phosphorus deficient - phosphorus deficiency in corals can cause them to be very sensitive to changes in temperature and/or lighting conditions, can cause bleaching and reduced growth. In short it can kill them. There are other forms of phosphorus (Dissolved Organic Phosphorus, Particulate Organic Phosphorus) that might make up for the deficiency in PO4 but we can't test for those and have no idea if there's enough to replace PO4 if it's too low.
Most of the ocean sits at much higher levels of PO4, as high as .3 mg/l, than reefs so it seems obvious to me reefs are sucking up phosphorus for levels to be lower around them. Due to upwelling, corals in the wild may see much higher levels than is commonly reccommended for aquaria, as high as the .3 mg/l most of the oceans sit at.
Research on the effect increasing PO4 levels has found contrary results to what had become dogma with reef aquarists. Increasing PO4 up to at least .5 mg/l shows a correlating increase in growth.
The Stienhart Aquarium is the first US facility to complete the life cycle of corals ex situ, ie, acheiving succesful sexual reproduction in a closed system with artificial lighting and artificial seawater. The grow out system they use for the juvenile corals has PO4 levels around .9 mg/l. Richard Ross, who is one of the researchers on the team that has achieved this astounding success, noted his PO4 levels of his acropora dominate reef system in a presentation given at MACNA 2014 on phosphates was at 1.8 mg/l PO4
I hope this helps clarify my previuos post.
drakebuffie
Active Member
It does thank you.
My last tank levels were
Salinity1.0255
calcium 464
alk 9.0
phosphate .38
nitrates 19.5
ph 7.7
mag 1475
tank is a year and a half old. At one point I had bad gha and got rid of it all but it has start to come back.
Nitrates are coming down but the phosphate E hasnt seemed to do a whole lot. 70 gallon tank adding 5 ml of phosphate e. I have never checked phosphates after adding just my regular 2-3 week testing and phosphates seem to stay around .2-.3
drakebuffie
Active Member
I just ordered some 5 micron filter socks. I will add the phosphate E again after I put socks in, let it run over night remove socks and test again.
Timfish
Crusty Old Salt
You're welcome!
One of the problems with using Phospahte e is even though the phosphate is bound up and can't be used it will still show up on test kits. Personally I would use GFO and more frequent/larger water changes and use steel straws to scrap algae off rocks and add an urchin or two to help contral the algae.
This is a technique I started using a couple decades ago and was gratified to see it being used for reef remediation in the wild.
To Save Corals in an Oahu Bay, First Vacuum up Invasive Algae, Then Apply Sea Urchins | response.restoration.noaa.gov
mrpontiac80
2500 Club Member
I had a hard time with gfo in a 65 gallon because it worked so well until it didn’t, so my phosphates level was always fluctuating. I eventually started using phosphate E by dosing directly into the skimmer neck. This worked extremely well and I was able to maintain a level I wanted. Sometimes I would have to change the dose, but I just used a syringe and X amount of ml per day.
I will say that I worry much less about nitrates and phosphates now and likely wouldn’t take action unless I start creeping up over .5+
I will say that I worry much less about nitrates and phosphates now and likely wouldn’t take action unless I start creeping up over .5+
