Phosphates are zeroing out every day, a few specific questions

[living_tribunal]

Depends on the goal, but I’d keep ramping it up as long as you detect no phosphate and do not visually see any problem in the tank (like algae going wild).

So in my frag tank, which is experiencing this same issue and only has maybe 1pb of rock, there has been some turf algae. I’ve been dosing .02 a day. Should I stop the dosing or cut it down to maybe .01?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

So in my frag tank, which is experiencing this same issue and only has maybe 1pb of rock, there has been some turf algae. I’ve been dosing .02 a day. Should I stop the dosing or cut it down to maybe .01?

Id keep dosing unless the algae is threatening the frags.

 

[reef lover]

Great advice!! Randys got you!

 

[living_tribunal]

Great advice!! Randys got you!

I agree.

Going to stick with Randys advice for the next 1-2 weeks. Will update here with progress for others who are experiencing a similar issue.

 

[Tuan’s Reef]

I tried NeoPhos for phosphate and NeoNitro for nitrate, but got much better results with products made by FishOfHex . It was cheaper and far more effective then brightwell.

 

[BeejReef]

@Randy Holmes-Farley
Do hobby phosphate test kits measure organic phosphate content, or just free, unbound phosphate. I'm butchering the chemistry terms. If I'm dosing P and it's getting eaten by bacteria and is avail to the corals, will that show in a test?

 

[living_tribunal]

I tried NeoPhos for phosphate and NeoNitro for nitrate, but got much better results with products made by FishOfHex . It was cheaper and far more effective then brightwell.

I'm a fan of his channel, he delivers it very straight-forward. I'd be willing to give his phos product a shot. Overall, I'm way too pleased with brightwell neonitrate. It's so easy to measure compared to other nitrogen dosing products.

 

[living_tribunal]

@Randy Holmes-Farley
Do hobby phosphate test kits measure organic phosphate content, or just free, unbound phosphate. I'm butchering the chemistry terms. If I'm dosing P and it's getting eaten by bacteria and is avail to the corals, will that show in a test?

He touches base on that specific question here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/phosphate-vs-phosphorus.306429/

And here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/inorganic-vs-organic-phosphate.177025/

Hanna, like most hobby kits, only detect inorganic phosphates.

 

[BeejReef]

He touches base on that specific question here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/phosphate-vs-phosphorus.306429/

And here: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/inorganic-vs-organic-phosphate.177025/

Hanna, like most hobby kits, only detect inorganic phosphates.

ty

 

[living_tribunal]

In the last two days, the water in my display has become pretty cloudy. I have been a little bit more proactive in turkey basting the rocks as there seems to be a lot of detritus build up, or something like the outer layers of rock coming apart.

It doesn’t seem to be clearing up however despite running the skimmer 24/7. It might be from how much I’ve been feeding, nearly up to a full mysis cube a day for the two fish. I might scale back feeding and rely primarily on dosing phosphate to increase levels in a cleaner manner.

In hindsight, I should have maybe stopped at half a mysis cube but I was desperate to start increasing phosphate levels.

I’m hoping this isn’t a bacterial bloom or anything, the corals are growing well interestingly enough.

Here’s to wishing it clears itself up over the next few days.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

@Randy Holmes-Farley
Do hobby phosphate test kits measure organic phosphate content, or just free, unbound phosphate. I'm butchering the chemistry terms. If I'm dosing P and it's getting eaten by bacteria and is avail to the corals, will that show in a test?

organic phosphate will not show on a hobby kit. It does show in ICP tests.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I'm a fan of his channel, he delivers it very straight-forward. I'd be willing to give his phos product a shot. Overall, I'm way too pleased with brightwell neonitrate. It's so easy to measure compared to other nitrogen dosing products.

what is easy to measure about it?

 

[living_tribunal]

what is easy to measure about it?

I have used seachem flourish nitrogen in the past and when you’re trying to add nitrogen to small batches of water it’s terribly difficult to measure. When I have to measure under .1ml for a product I’m dosing, it tends to stress me out.

It seems like brightwell dilutes their solution so you can add a lot more to a smaller volume of water. Some would say this is a bad thing.

I’ve also heard seachem has copper in their nitrogen solution, I don’t know if there is any truth to this.

 

[amazongb]

I have used seachem flourish nitrogen in the past and when you’re trying to add nitrogen to small batches of water it’s terribly difficult to measure. When I have to measure under .1ml for a product I’m dosing, it tends to stress me out.

It seems like brightwell dilutes their solution so you can add a lot more to a smaller volume of water. Some would say this is a bad thing.

I’ve also heard seachem has copper in their nitrogen solution, I don’t know if there is any truth to this.

Could Seachem be diluted with RODI water to make it easier?

 

[living_tribunal]

Could Seachem be diluted with RODI water to make it easier?

I suppose it could but I have neonitrate so why go through the process of diluting it? That would be pretty time consuming to get perfect accuracy.

 

[LARedstickreefer]

Tropic Marin has a product (Plus NP) that is designed to provide phosphate in a form that is mostly accessible to the corals, and not to algae and rocks.

I just got some delivered yesterday and will we trying it out over the next few weeks.

 

[living_tribunal]

Tropic Marin has a product (Plus NP) that is designed to provide phosphate in a form that is mostly accessible to the corals, and not to algae and rocks.

I just got some delivered yesterday and will we trying it out over the next few weeks.

That's interesting. I wonder how they could manufacture phosphates that can remain in the water column but not bind to rock.

 

[SeaDweller]

what livestock do you have?

 

[LARedstickreefer]

That's interesting. I wonder how they could manufacture phosphates that can remain in the water column but not bind to rock.

It involves some included bacteria. I got a C in chemistry so it might as well be magic bacteria.

 

[living_tribunal]

what livestock do you have?

Just two clowns, I have a mccoskers flasher wrasse and tailspot blenny that will join them in a month after qt.

It's not a phosphate import issue (i.e. feeding). It's a I need to get the rock to bind as much phosphate as possible.