Phosphates are zeroing out every day, a few specific questions

[LilShaz]

@living_tribunal did your tank settle out as expected? I've been dosing po4 for over a month now and I'm still having to adjust the dosage up every few days to keep po4 around 0.03. The more I add the more the tank uses.

Edit: I've actually been po4 dosing for more than two months now.

 

[Ross Petersen]

Compelling thread... I'm in the same boat (120 gallon mixed tank with lots of SPS frags/small colonies).

I attribute my phosphates bottoming out every other day (and hence me dosing phosphorous) to: A) Rapid growth of corals, B) dosing with Tropic Marine's all-for-reef (it's a form of mild carbon dosing = lots of bacterial export from the skimmer), and C) Unknown!

 

[Jonas Bergkvist]

This is one of the best threads i have ever read in this community. I have had 0.00 phosphates past three months, and 5+ Nitrate. I assume i have the same problem as many here, that my rock still absorb some of it, my tank is only eight months old.

Unfortunately I just got some Cyano again in my DT (purple one)... and probably Dino in my sump, it's slimy and it has bubbles in it So i started dose Phosphate. I know my system consumes at least 5 ml a day, but i haven't gotten to the point yet where i my Hanna checker actually gives me a reading, so i will keep adding it until i reach 0.05 or something.

Today i realized i had set my sump light on the wrong time during night, it was on for 16h lol....it might have added to the dino crap down there Anyway, again a great read here and now i'm not afraid of dosing Phosphate any longer!

 

[ScottB]

This is one of the best threads i have ever read in this community. I have had 0.00 phosphates past three months, and 5+ Nitrate. I assume i have the same problem as many here, that my rock still absorb some of it, my tank is only eight months old.

Unfortunately I just got some Cyano again in my DT (purple one)... and probably Dino in my sump, it's slimy and it has bubbles in it So i started dose Phosphate. I know my system consumes at least 5 ml a day, but i haven't gotten to the point yet where i my Hanna checker actually gives me a reading, so i will keep adding it until i reach 0.05 or something.

Today i realized i had set my sump light on the wrong time during night, it was on for 16h lol....it might have added to the dino crap down there Anyway, again a great read here and now i'm not afraid of dosing Phosphate any longer!

On the bright side, it is a lot easier to manually remove dinos from the sump. Filter them out of there. Your macro algae is kinda working against you in keeping nutrients.

I had to dump 2 liters of phosphate additive in order to saturate all my depleted rock. Are you keeping nitrates?

This is/was a good thread that just went quiet for a while.

 

[Jonas Bergkvist]

On the bright side, it is a lot easier to manually remove dinos from the sump. Filter them out of there. Your macro algae is kinda working against you in keeping nutrients.

I had to dump 2 liters of phosphate additive in order to saturate all my depleted rock. Are you keeping nitrates?

This is/was a good thread that just went quiet for a while.

Yeah i'm working on getting it out of my sump, little by little with a hand net. I don't want to scrub the area as i have a little fellow urchin down there and i want to save some algae for him. It's a Tuxedo urchin and got him a few days ago to clean up coralline and algae. He has already dressed up with both algae and crap lol i like him a lot.

As for the Macro, i harvested half of it and i hope it does a little to my Phosphates. I'm not sure i want to get rid of it because it stabilizes the pH. That and it is probable eating of my Nitrate as well. What is a safe way to lower Nitrate alone? I heard about carbon dosing.... i might give that a try. Most if not all additives strive to get both Nitrate & Phosphate down at the same time.

A few months ago i purchased two small Brightwell BIO plates i think they are called to get a better Nitrate remover.

Wow, two liters of Phosphates?! You had to add that much? And i just started....aww man it's gonna take forever to soak my rock. There is probably 50 kg of rock in there! You know what they say, nothing fast happens in reefing

 

[ScottB]

Yeah i'm working on getting it out of my sump, little by little with a hand net. I don't want to scrub the area as i have a little fellow urchin down there and i want to save some algae for him. It's a Tuxedo urchin and got him a few days ago to clean up coralline and algae. He has already dressed up with both algae and crap lol i like him a lot.

As for the Macro, i harvested half of it and i hope it does a little to my Phosphates. I'm not sure i want to get rid of it because it stabilizes the pH. That and it is probable eating of my Nitrate as well. What is a safe way to lower Nitrate alone? I heard about carbon dosing.... i might give that a try. Most if not all additives strive to get both Nitrate & Phosphate down at the same time.

A few months ago i purchased two small Brightwell BIO plates i think they are called to get a better Nitrate remover.

Wow, two liters of Phosphates?! You had to add that much? And i just started....aww man it's gonna take forever to soak my rock. There is probably 50 kg of rock in there! You know what they say, nothing fast happens in reefing

With PO4 solutions your mileage may vary. I think my DIY solution was a bit weak relative to the bottled stuff. I used the solution calculator from ukplantedtank.com

On the bright side, once you get the "saturated" to some degree, it will gradually release PO4 back into the water if the water is depleted, operating as a "store" of PO4.