phosphates to low

[saltwaterpicaso]

this tank is about a year old I use aquaforest pro biotic reef salt a little carbon and a big skimmer I feed everday have a pair of clown a yellow tang and a royal gramma in a 90 gallon. my phosphates are reading 1ppb wich is to low and most my lps suffer in the color range most start to fade even with regualar feedings of reef roids reef chilly and fauna marine lps.. what can I do to get my phosphates up and keep them around 3 or 5 whichever is better for lps.. its an lps tank only I do a 5 gallon water change a week and filter sock change

 

[saltyphish]

Do you run any kind of media? Maybe take that out and stop water changes.

 

[andrew james]

run skimmer part time. I wish I had that problem.

 

[blazedmasta]

Yeah I have the same problem but I do have an reactor running rowaphos. I stared when I had an GHA problem. I do a 5 gallon water change in a 42 gal system every 2 weeks. And on a salifert PO4 test it's clear no blue tint. I'm afraid if I stop I'll have high levels which will lead to GHA again.

 

[Mel 2038]

If your fairly sure that phosphates/nutrients are your problem, my suggestion would be to double up on your feeding.

 

[FarmerTy]

Low phosphate is never an issue. You should really focus on your low nitrates IMO.

 

[bif24701]

I also have been having a problem with zero PO4. I removed my fish about a month ago to treat them and let the display go fallow. Well my Nitrates dropped like a rock, was only 2-3ppm. PO4 never reached any higher that .04 with fish but when I started adding potassium nitrate my PO4 disappeared. I've been struggling just to get a reading on my Hanna ULR checker, took me weeks of feeding like a crazy person. Still they are low but manageable now. In this time all my corals turned very pale and stopped growing. Starting to see colors returning now. Wish I had a way to increase PO4 without having to put food in my tank. The small aiptasia I had before have grown because there has been so much food added.

 

[andrew james]

You ever thing about adding it with something like this?
https://www.hydroempire.com/npk-ind...tm_source=bc&gclid=CPOI6r7urtECFdM2gQod9jgC5w

 

[bif24701]

I have, didn't have any on hand out there is a LFS that does high tech planted stuff so maybe they will have some Florish phosphate. May try that.

 

[FarmerTy]

I guess I should have expanded more on my post earlier. Low phosphates hardly has an effect on coloration and growth, in fact, with skeleton building corals, lower phosphates can actually help increase growth rates.

I've registered either zero or 0.03 ppm of phosphates in my system for the last 4-5 years. My last Triton test result was just flat zero for phosphate.

My nitrates are however at 5ppm. Nitrates, at least for acros, help with coloration and rids your tank of the pastel look you get at 0 nitrates.

Here's my tank so I don't sound like a crazy person.


Here are pictures of corals I fragged and how they looked two weeks later in case there are questions on growth rate.

Fresh frag

Two weeks later

Fresh frag

Two weeks later

 

[bubbaque]

@FarmerTy i have noticed though when my po4 was reading 0 on the Hanna ulr, when I would feed the tank my sps would put out feeders like they were needing nutrients even though my no3 was 8ppm. I was feeding the tank like crazy and would see nitrates go up but no po4. My chaeto started looking like it was dying. I started adding phyto feast to get po4 up some and my chaeto made an instant turn around and my nitrates dropped down to below 1ppm and I started dosing no3 lately. I even started to get burnt tips, I believe due to bright light and 0 po4, even though my alk wasn't too high, 8.5.

Btw I love your tank!

 

[Vaughn17]

IMO, if your PO4 is actually zero acros and other sps will start to stn. My sps seem to like PO4 a little higher. Well fed acros are hardier, IME.

 

[FarmerTy]

Its definitely not actually zero, or I should say not for long. My tank gets fed 5x/day and each feeding adds plenty of phosphates, especially how much I feed.

I'm also aggressive with phosphate removal. I believe a healthy system starts with heavy import of nutrition and heavy export of wastes.

 

[FarmerTy]

@FarmerTy i have noticed though when my po4 was reading 0 on the Hanna ulr, when I would feed the tank my sps would put out feeders like they were needing nutrients even though my no3 was 8ppm. I was feeding the tank like crazy and would see nitrates go up but no po4. My chaeto started looking like it was dying. I started adding phyto feast to get po4 up some and my chaeto made an instant turn around and my nitrates dropped down to below 1ppm and I started dosing no3 lately. I even started to get burnt tips, I believe due to bright light and 0 po4, even though my alk wasn't too high, 8.5.

Btw I love your tank!

I stopped running chaeto myself mainly because the amount of macro algae required to offset the amount of nutrients going into a normal system is much more than I could ever hope to house in my sump. Though I do see some benefit to it as a natural buffer to offset swings of nutrients in a support role to other systems of nutrient export, such as a large skimmer, biopellets, GFO, etc.

I'm also not 100% sold on the observation of mesenterial filaments being a mechanism of feeding in acropora. I see it more of a stress reaction and think most see it during feeding because of the abrupt changes in nutrient levels causing a smaller scale stress reaction from the acros. But thats just my personal opinion and that's not worth much in internet currency. [emoji6]

In a normal system where food is being fed and there are fish, most won't ever run into too little phosphates. Though plenty run into too little nitrates IMO.

 

[Robthorn]

You have higher po4 than the ocean. Your po4 is not too low.
I have good color and growth with low po4 and undetectible no3.

I don't understand the new fad of having to have high nutrients. Just isn't true at all. Something else is wrong if you have pale corals.

 

[bubbaque]

I feel you can't go with ocean values for nutrient levels. The corals in the ocean are being fed 24/7 .

 

[Robthorn]

I feed once a day. Maybe twice on the weekend. I also feed a pinch of reefroids once or twice a week. No aminos.
My corals look pretty good to my eyes. Too me they are not pastel for the most part. Always going to be a small percentage that could look better.
I run as low of nutrients as I can with a very small carbon dose each day.
Exactly why we always see people saying no 2 tanks are alike.