Phosphate overdose

[nkkm]

Hi all I have an emergency.

I just was doing some maintenance on the tank and about 30 mins later went to Apex fusion to check the Trident results and noticed my 1.1ml doser for my phosphate solution was in the ON position instead of Auto. I think it has been dosing for the 30 minutes.

I had just checked my Phosphates when doing the maintenance and they were 0.02. I have just checked now and they are 0.16 after 30 mins.

50 Gal frag tank, all SPS. I have no water made up but mixing up Brightwell Neo Marine now. I know its supposed to be left mixing a day though.

Any advice? Should i dose nitrate to bring down the phosphate?

Thanks in advance.

 

[fishguy242]

hi i think just wait check in 30 min see if still rising,turn off doser phos for a day or two ,think will gradually go down without actions,jmo ,others will come

 

[susan ingram]

bump
#reefsquad

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

160 ppb is nothing. I target over 100 ppb as my baseline. You may see better coloration and health of your corals and decide to keep PO4 at that level. If not, just stop dosing and let it drop over time.

 

[nkkm]

160 ppb is nothing. I target over 100 ppb as my baseline. You may see better coloration and health of your corals and decide to keep PO4 at that level. If not, just stop dosing and let it drop over time.

Thanks for the reply. I guess I am more concerned that it was raised so fast in 30 mins. Could it cause STN/RTN?

 

[fishguy242]

pretty confident with a no

 

[fishguy242]

have you checked again to see if risen?if has not in a hour not going to

 

[nkkm]

have you checked again to see if risen?if has not in a hour not going to

Just checked again now. Its showing lower at 0.13

 

[chipmunkofdoom2]

Thanks for the reply. I guess I am more concerned that it was raised so fast in 30 mins. Could it cause STN/RTN?

It's possible, but I think the remedies are all worse than the ailment if you're trying to reduce PO4 fast. Both GFO and lanthanum chloride strip PO4 away very quickly and tend reduce alkalinity too, which is a bigger problem than PO4 increasing quickly.

Your rock will likely bind a lot of the PO4 over the next 24 hours. If your target levels were 20 ppb, it likely has some surface left onto which additional PO4 can attach.

 

[nkkm]

It's possible, but I think the remedies are all worse than the ailment if you're trying to reduce PO4 fast. Both GFO and lanthanum chloride strip PO4 away very quickly and tend reduce alkalinity too, which is a bigger problem than PO4 increasing quickly.

Your rock will likely bind a lot of the PO4 over the next 24 hours. If your target levels were 20 ppb, it likely has some surface left onto which additional PO4 can attach.

I'm hoping there is definitely room as I was targeting 40 ppb and was having to manually dose additional on top of the doser every day to avoid it hitting 0.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Hi all I have an emergency.

FWIW, phosphate over-dose is never an "emergency" and when it is very high (your's is not), you generally do not want to crash it back down fast.

 

[piranhaman00]

No emergency here, just let it drop back down.

 

[nkkm]

FWIW, phosphate over-dose is never an "emergency" and when it is very high (your's is not), you generally do not want to crash it back down fast.

Thanks for the reply Randy, I will know for next time. Sorry for ringing the alarm bells unnecessarily.

 

[nkkm]

No emergency here, just let it drop back down.

Will do

 

[nkkm]

Just tested again and already at 0.05