Phosphate opinions??

[Reefing.with.Rich]

So I hear quite a few corals prefer high phosphates and wanted to hear opinions from the reef2reef community.
In my opinion my corals look great and are always open and happy and quite a few zoas iv had for a short time are already multiplying
My phosphate is sitting at 0.35ppm
What about yours?
Thanks!!

 

[Saltyreef]

What are you using to test with?

Care to list your other parameters?

How old is the tank?

 

[Red_Beard]

.1 is where i am now. I've let it get up into the. 4s though and like 60 no³. Coral for the most part was fine, but the one acro i had slowed way down when nutrients were that high.

 

[Pistondog]

Mine waver between 0.1 and .4, if they get above that, gfo or lc.

 

[X-37B]

Mine is around .05ish most of the time. I shoot for under .1. Higher po4 gives me washed out colors but im 95% acros in one system and 80% in the other.

 

[areefer01]

So I hear quite a few corals prefer high phosphates and wanted to hear opinions from the reef2reef community.

What corals specifically? Curious as to source.

My phosphate is sitting at 0.35ppm

There are numbers. Then there is the hobbyist display. If you are happy with your measurement and the display is healthy then the number doesn't really matter. This is just my take on it. Do your daily observations on the display, never over react, and enjoy the ride.

 

[Reefing.with.Rich]

What corals specifically? Curious as to source.


There are numbers. Then there is the hobbyist display. If you are happy with your measurement and the display is healthy then the number doesn't really matter. This is just my take on it. Do your daily observations on the display, never over react, and enjoy the ride.

My zoas(high end and lower end pieces), my leathers,my CC Goldfinger torch, and acans are all looking great and growing well

 

[ElementReefer]

It’s cool to watch the conversation slowly shift away from numbers and towards ecosystem management in reef tanks. Here’s one that’s particularly entertaining, and insightful:

 

[Reefing.with.Rich]

It’s cool to watch the conversation slowly shift away from numbers and towards ecosystem management in reef tanks. Here’s one that’s particularly entertaining, and insightful:

I recently watched this video
Great advice
Just wanted to hear from the reef2reef community

 

[c0kefree]

Mine has been sitting at .16-.19 for maybe 10 months now. No issues. I occasionally get ancy and throw some gfo in which drops it down to .1
has never been below .1 in my recent memory.

Mixed reef. My acros grow like weeds. Here’s one of my faves.

Speaking of Rich Ross, you should watch/listen the podcast he hosts with Ben Johnson called Reef Beef. They’ve covered the nutrient subject in depth

 

[areefer01]

My zoas(high end and lower end pieces), my leathers,my CC Goldfinger torch, and acans are all looking great and growing well

I was asking more about your comment: "So I hear quite a few corals prefer high phosphates"

Personally speaking and as I noted each system is different and numbers are numbers. Mine will be different than yours. As Rich (author in the video below) noted several years ago that people would start dosing phosphates and/or nitrates because they can now test for it. He wasn't wrong.

In any case as you noted your corals look great and growing which we take as healthy. Clearly you are doing something well so keep it up. All the best.

 

[ZoWhat]

Here's my thoughts having a mostly LPS tank fir 15yrs

No3 around 10-15
Po4 around .1 - .3
Controlled by WCs and BactoBalance

Dosing amino acids, vitamins and fatty acids an absolute must. I love Reef Energy AB+ dosed DAILY

 

[vetteguy53081]

Everyone will have a different happy range and depends on if reef, mixed reef, type of coral and accuracy of test kits.
An indicator of high levels is generally algae growth or cyano as examples. This reverts back to stability- if a parameter value is working- Leave it. I have 7.9 ph steady and I do not chase it or change it.
Coral are Not complaining

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

So I hear quite a few corals prefer high phosphates and wanted to hear opinions from the reef2reef community.
In my opinion my corals look great and are always open and happy and quite a few zoas iv had for a short time are already multiplying
My phosphate is sitting at 0.35ppm
What about yours?
Thanks!!

My recommendation is for 0.02 to 0.1 ppm phosphate and 2-10 ppm nitrate.

I do not believe that there is any evidence that phosphate above 0.1 ppm is an improvement over 0.1 ppm phosphate. At that point it is not likely a limiting factor in the growth of any corals.

 

[maxthisout]

The proof is what is in your tank, if your corals look happy to you there's no need to change/chase anything. I was rewatching a few videos on this very topic yesterday.

One from Coral Euphoria that is a few years old. Abe has stunning corals and the explanations/diagrams are top notch.


And one from a tour in Australia where he's talking specifically about Scoly care and having almost no detectable phosphate to have ideal conditions plus ample non-direct flow (I have a number of Scolies in my DT).

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

I think it's important to keep in mind that at the end of the day, corals just need to eat. Some beautiful SPS tanks have zero detectable NO3 and PO4. These tanks likely have abundant floating particulate foods. So the corals can meet their nitrogen and phosphorus needs strictly by feeding, like they do in the ocean.

On the other hand, some tanks with SPS and zero or near-zero nutrients don't do as well. It's my theory that in these cases, the corals can't meet their nutritional needs by particulate foods and light alone. So they need some dissolved nutrients. Increasing dissolved PO4 (and NO3, if it's also low) allows corals to uptake these nutrients from the water instead of from foods.

This was the case in my tank. PO4 was relatively low, 0.03 ppm, the oft-recommended "target" in the hobby. My SPS didn't do well for years. After I started dosing crazy amounts of PO4 and keeping it elevated, corals colored up and started growing. My current level is between 0.15 and 0.2, although I'm considering lowering my targets to 0.1 to 0.15.