Phosphates

TbyZ · Feb 23, 2017

reefruss said:
Sorry about walking away from this thread but we had a 4 day power outage here in California

Crickey, what was the cause of that?

reefruss · Feb 24, 2017

Massive amounts of rain, even in California, and 70 mph winds. 100' tall eucalyptus trees taking out power lines.

TbyZ · Feb 24, 2017

reefruss said:
Massive amounts of rain, even in California, and 70 mph winds. 100' tall eucalyptus trees taking out power lines.

eucalyptus trees ?

You can blame us Aussies for that

reefruss · Mar 8, 2017

Nah, not Aussies just an American about 100 years ago who had the idea to use eucalyptus for lumber but he brought the wrong variety. To follow up on the phosphate dosing, I experimented with the product I got from Loudwolf and mixed 1/8 tsp in some tank water and then dripped it in the sump yesterday. Today I just measured a po4 level of 0.5 so that was a bit much IMHO. Time to throw some chaetomorpha in the refuge.

Bayinaung · Mar 8, 2017

If you are not a chemist and neither am I, what you can do is by taking a tiny amount of phosphate product you have that's measurable (i.e. 1 gram, or the smallest measuring spoon u have), and dissolve it in a gallon of clean SW and see what the reading is. And adjust dosage from there. That way you will be able to tell exactly what you're dosing. IMO it's dangerous to throw it in the tank and measure the results as some inevitably got absorbed or used up by inhabitants of the tank.

reefruss · Mar 8, 2017

That is a very valid point and procedure. I'm not horribly worried about it at the moment. I'm planning on testing again tomorrow morning to get an idea of the uptake/day and then I'll add the algae in the refuge and probably do a water change.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 9, 2017

reefruss said:
Sorry about walking away from this thread but we had a 4 day power outage here in California and I was more concerned with keeping the tank alive. I did receive the phosphate product. I'm not sure how to determine the amount of phosphate available. I tis calcium phosphate tribasic, Ca3O8P2. It's also 99.9% pure. Any help on dosing would be greatly appreciated. I have to measure all my parameters agan post near calamity. I'm sure my nitrate levels will rise as I did loose one rock full of polyps. All in all though everything looks pretty good.

Why did you pick that product? IMO, that's not a good product to use since it won't dissolve well and so you cannot make a good dosing solution and added as a solid, it may not dissolve in the tank water.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 9, 2017

Bayinaung said:
If you are not a chemist and neither am I, what you can do is by taking a tiny amount of phosphate product you have that's measurable (i.e. 1 gram, or the smallest measuring spoon u have), and dissolve it in a gallon of clean SW and see what the reading is. And adjust dosage from there. That way you will be able to tell exactly what you're dosing. IMO it's dangerous to throw it in the tank and measure the results as some inevitably got absorbed or used up by inhabitants of the tank.

It's easier to calculate it. Your method may also give a false reading with this specific product as the test may dissolve undissolved calcium phosphate.

reefruss · Mar 9, 2017

Agreed, I'm not a chemist so I didn't know any better. The place I was shopping only offered this product. It was difficult to get into solution prior to dripping into the sump. Will it precipitate out over time or get used by the corals?

reefruss · Mar 9, 2017

Interestingly one day later it now reads somewhere between 0.03 and 0.1. That's a drop of .4 or more. I am a bit sceptical as I don't have a super high coral load. Any guesses on what is happening?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Mar 9, 2017

reefruss said:
Interestingly one day later it now reads somewhere between 0.03 and 0.1. That's a drop of .4 or more. I am a bit sceptical as I don't have a super high coral load. Any guesses on what is happening?

Like I said, you dosed something that may not have dissolved.