Hanna ULR Phosphorous test shows 0. Red Sea Phosphate Pro test shows 0. Am I safe to beleive this? Tank has been set up about 2 weeks now with no livestock. Does ammonia or nitrite interfere with these tests? I find it super hard to believe there is 0 phosphate.
Phosphate Question
- Thread starter Gnawsome
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Fourstars
Valuable Member
Phosphates are not part of the nitrogen cycle. No life or food then no phosphates unless they are in the make up water, leaching from the rock. but that won't show up on most tests at first.
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If your rock doesn't have bound up phosphate and you aren't feeding or adding anything with phosphate, there is no phosphate input into the tank.
If you are adding food for the nitrogen cycle, you likely aren't adding much, so there isn't much going into the system. The little that would be going in would be binding to the rocks and sand. I think I had 40-50 ml of phosphate into my 20 gallon system over a week before I was registering anything on my Salifert test kit. It didn't stay detectable for long. The phosphate will bind to the sand and rocks, so it will take a little while to get the phosphate to stay in the water column.
Phosphates will have the reverse happen, phosphate will leach from the rocks and sand, when the levels in the water column decrease, which is why people struggle to get phosphates down with water changes.
If you are adding food for the nitrogen cycle, you likely aren't adding much, so there isn't much going into the system. The little that would be going in would be binding to the rocks and sand. I think I had 40-50 ml of phosphate into my 20 gallon system over a week before I was registering anything on my Salifert test kit. It didn't stay detectable for long. The phosphate will bind to the sand and rocks, so it will take a little while to get the phosphate to stay in the water column.
Phosphates will have the reverse happen, phosphate will leach from the rocks and sand, when the levels in the water column decrease, which is why people struggle to get phosphates down with water changes.
Ok cool, so after 2 weeks it's safe to say that phosphate is NOT leaching out of my rocks/sand? My last tank some 15 years ago immediately had phosphate that I was never able to control, so I'm just super excited that it seems like I'll actually be starting from 0 this time!
PatW
2500 Club Member
The Hanna ULR sensor is the most sensitive phosphate test for the home reefer. You could have phosphate in the water and it could be below detectable limits. Or phosphates could be absorbed by rapidly growing algae or into the rock work. Or your phosphates could be really low.
Usually, if the Hanna test registers 0, you do not have enough phosphates to grow SPS corals. Low phosphates are handled differently by different people. Some people feed their corals with coral foods. Other people just feed the fish lavishly to get phosphate levels up. Other people just dose phosphates.
Usually, if the Hanna test registers 0, you do not have enough phosphates to grow SPS corals. Low phosphates are handled differently by different people. Some people feed their corals with coral foods. Other people just feed the fish lavishly to get phosphate levels up. Other people just dose phosphates.
Phosphate doesn’t leach. It binds to aragonite. Coral skeleton. Then falls back into equilibrium with the water. Some dry rock will have Po4 bound to it. Newer mined dry rock generally doesn’t
As Po4 became the blame for all things problematic in a tank (even though algae and cyano use more no3 than Po4 ) gettin Po4 to zero became not the rage.
What we are no most commonly however is Po4 bottoming out and the nitrifying bacteria (that also consume Po4) dying and allowing organisms that use less Po4 or receive thier phosphate from other sources (organic and inorganic)can take over. Dino And chrystophytes most commonly.
And of course dying corals from Po4 starving.
So having detectable phosphate is a very good and needed thing.
As Po4 became the blame for all things problematic in a tank (even though algae and cyano use more no3 than Po4 ) gettin Po4 to zero became not the rage.
What we are no most commonly however is Po4 bottoming out and the nitrifying bacteria (that also consume Po4) dying and allowing organisms that use less Po4 or receive thier phosphate from other sources (organic and inorganic)can take over. Dino And chrystophytes most commonly.
And of course dying corals from Po4 starving.
So having detectable phosphate is a very good and needed thing.
So what I'm expecting to happen now, is after cycle is complete I'll add the Clownfish, and probably start to see the phosphate slowly start to rise as I feed it over time? It's rare to have to dose any phosphates correct?
Yes. You may or may not see a rise depending on a lot of variables. Skimming wc husbandry etc.
And no sadly as dry mined rock has become more popular and huge skimmers a thing, dino, pale corals and Po4 cures are pretty common.
Too clean a tank can be as bad as too dirty a tank. Just look for a balance.
Fourstars
Valuable Member
I agree, good husbandry and don’t over feed the tank. What you put in is not going anywhere, Except for what is burnt for energy, the rest will be converted.
It’s so easy, even a cave man can do it
It’s so easy, even a cave man can do it
