Phosphates bottoming out

[Cbones1979]

Went from .06 to .01 overnight. Have corals in tank with 3 fish. Adding new fish after quarantine.
Here are the readings over last few weeks. After adding corals they started to dip.

 

[WIReefer]

Could you tell us a little more about to your system? What’s is your Nutrient export?

 

[Cell]

Running GFO or dosing anything?

 

[Cbones1979]

Could you tell us a little more about to your system? What’s is your Nutrient export?

Sure

here is pic. 45 gallon. Been up over 2 months. Skimmer and overflow setup. 3 fish just moved corals in which I believe caused the dip in phosphates. I feed cube daily for the fish.

 

[Cbones1979]

Running GFO or dosing anything?

I am not. Just skimmer at this point

 

[Cbones1979]

 

[WIReefer]

Sure

here is pic. 45 gallon. Been up over 2 months. Skimmer and overflow setup. 3 fish just moved corals in which I believe caused the dip in phosphates. I feed cube daily for the fish.

I’m sure adding the other fish from qt will help. Also try running your skimmer at just night to help. Could also feed a tad more but I’m not a fan of that. I dose PO4 in my tank.

 

[Cbones1979]

I’m sure adding the other fish from qt will help. Also try running your skimmer at just night to help. Could also feed a tad more but I’m not w fan of that. I dose PO4 in my tank.

I’ll turn skimmer off for now and feed.

 

[Marc2952]

Just dose phosphates until it stabilizes, thats not such a big swing after i had dinos for months my phosphates where swinging from 0.15 to 0.03 daily and no corals where harmed even my acros.

 

[Cbones1979]

Just dose phosphates until it stabilizes, thats not such a big swing after i had dinos for months my phosphates where swinging from 0.15 to 0.03 daily and no corals where harmed even my acros.

Yeah I’m just trying to avoid dinos mostly. Have UV running at night

 

[Cbones1979]

I’m sure adding the other fish from qt will help. Also try running your skimmer at just night to help. Could also feed a tad more but I’m not a fan of that. I dose PO4 in my tank.

What brand do you dose?

 

[Marc2952]

Yeah I’m just trying to avoid dinos mostly. Have UV running at night

Yea i rather have high nutrients then deal with dinos,if you have a doser i would dose the phosphate through that slowly. I never sugest feeding more as theres more then phopshates in food and the water will start to get dirty and accumulation of detritus.

 

[WIReefer]

What brand do you dose?

Dose this product from amazon.

 

[Cbones1979]

Dose this product from amazon.

Can’t find on amazon haha. Found elsewhere tho

 

[WIReefer]

Can’t find on amazon haha. Found elsewhere tho

It’s a great product, @Randy Holmes-Farley suggested it

 

[Ike]

Start feeding more, add more fish, use a high protein flake food for additional feedings. Bump your snails and hermits as needed before algae can take hold.

 

[Cbones1979]

Think this would work? I can get tomorrow. The other stuff comes end of next week

 

[Ike]

Think this would work? I can get tomorrow. The other stuff comes end of next week

I would highly suggest avoiding this path unless you're a VERY experienced hobbyist and understand the needs of corals and bacterial growth as it relates to the redfield ratio and the complex relationship between bacterial growth and N and P levels. Start this and in time there's a good chance you will struggle to keep enough N available for healthy coral growth and you will just have to keep adding more and more N and P to not drive either of them to dangerously low levels.

 

[Cbones1979]

I would highly suggest avoiding this path unless you're a VERY experienced hobbyist and understand the needs of corals and bacterial growth as it relates to the redfield ratio and the complex relationship between bacterial growth and N and P levels. Start this and in time there's a good chance you will struggle to keep enough N available for healthy coral growth and you will just have to keep adding more and more N and P to not drive either of them to dangerously low levels.

So do you suggest less skimming and more natural nutrients ia fish

 

[Ike]

So do you suggest less skimming and more natural nutrients ia fish

Skimming will have little impact on PO4 levels. You need high protein food that your fish can consume and then convert into residual P and resulting N. If your N gets too low then less skimming is a solid option.