phosphates

[jose hernandez]

trying to get my phosphates up but i just cant noticing some of my sps are browing out ive tried feeding more turned off the skimmer only run it at night to try and keep ph up i took out the filter socks i have a carbon in the media cups i did no water changes in about a month what can i use to raise them up these are my parameters one thing to mention i have a black sea urchin he goes at the algae on the rocks like crazy do i get rid of him in hopes that it will help?

alk 8.3
cakcium 480
mag 1470
salinity 1.025
nitrates between 5 and 10
phosphates 0 for as long as i can remember

 

[bam123]

Strange to have hair algae when phosphates are at zero? Are you using a Hannah low PPM checker?

 

[Dom]

No, removing the urchin keeps the hair algae in check. Removing it will not bring up your phosphates.

 

[Birddog61]

Oddly if you have algae you have po4 you dont need to raise po4 you may need to reduce the amount algae is using. If in fact that is the cause of your browning

 

[jose hernandez]

i have no hair algae the urchin was givin to me from a fellow reefer as far as my hanna checker im using the low range 713 checker

 

[jose hernandez]

when u say reduce the amount of algae what do you mean if my hanna is reading 0 tank is only 6 months old

 

[Bryan68]

when u say reduce the amount of algae what do you mean if my hanna is reading 0 tank is only 6 months old

I think what he is saying is the algae is consuming the po4, therefore you essentially have po4, it's just within the algae.

 

[Birddog61]

when u say reduce the amount of algae what do you mean if my hanna is reading 0 tank is only 6 months old

I mean po4 is being used at a rate that renders it invisiable most likely by the algae the urchant is enjoying. If there was zero po4 avaliable there would be no algae and or existing algae would die off

 

[jose hernandez]

so what do i do to try and raise it?

 

[Birddog61]

so what do i do to try and raise it?

You first need to accept that it is there in the first place , and also understand there is more no3 than you see on your tests. What you see on your tests is the left overs that have not been consumed in addition understand providing more po4 will allow algae to use the remaning no3. And grow faster. That said you are actually on a path to recovery with the urchant the goal would be to keep the algae at bay while waiting for coraline to occupy the space and allowing no room for micro algae to use. however urchants eat coraline so you will want to change cleaners after the urchant or urchants get ahead of the algae. Bottle proudcts can kill algae quickly " 30 " days ish however many do so by locking no3 ,po4 and not nessarly a good idea as those nutrients will not be available to zoonhexthan eather. And also create conditions ripe for cyanobacteria and dinos

 

[HildebrandRarity]

Seachem seagel helps control phosphate

 

[tehmadreefer]

Just FYI, just because there is zero PO4 does not mean algae will not grow. There are many more factors that algae uses to grow besides po4, namely iron.

 

[GabeM]

Your tank is 6 months old, you have an imbalance of nitrates and phosphates which is not unheard of.

Algae is normal and good to have in the tank as long as it is not taking over which from your post it does not seem like an issue. I do not understand why people keep bringing it up.
Are you carbon dosing?

 

[jose hernandez]

no carbon dosing relying on my skimmer a bag of carbon along with filter socks as far filtration as far algae theres some on the rock as well as the glass but nothing out the ordinary the urchin is actually doing a great job eating it so good that i have white streaks on some of the rocks

 

[ScottB]

As said before, zero measurable PO4 in a relatively new system is quite common. The rock and sand you started the tank with must not have had much phosphate stored within it. Phosphate binds within the rock and substrate (calcium carbonate, aragonite) super quick. The rock will continue binding PO4 until it is saturated. Once saturated, it will release PO4 back into the water and become measurable.

I've been aware of this for some time, but had first hand experience just recently during a re-aquascape of a 5 year old system. I built a large branching rock structure with Marco rock. (Marco rock leaches no measurable PO4 when curing).

I took out 40lbs of rock from my display that runs consistently at .08 to .1 of PO4 without supplementing. Just fish waste.
I put in the new, PO4 depleted Marco structure.
The next time I tested PO4, it was .02

That was almost a month ago, and I am still dosing PO4 every couple of days to keep it .08 or so. At some point the new rock will be saturated and I won't have to supplement.

As to your situation, you can chose to dose if you want to. It will take a lot to saturate. Unless there is currently a problem you are trying to fix, I don't think it is necessary for a 6 month old tank.

Happy reefing.

 

[Dom]

I mean po4 is being used at a rate that renders it invisiable most likely by the algae the urchant is enjoying. If there was zero po4 avaliable there would be no algae and or existing algae would die off

Phosphates aren't the only nutrient on which algae survives. He stated his Nitrates are in the 5-10 range, so it is possible that Phosphates are zero and the algae is consuming Nitrates.

 

[jose hernandez]

i have very little sand in the back of the rock work for my wrasses but the majority of the tank is barebottom as far as dosing what should i dose

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Phosphates aren't the only nutrient on which algae survives. He stated his Nitrates are in the 5-10 range, so it is possible that Phosphates are zero and the algae is consuming Nitrates.

No, it doesn't work that way. Algae (and corals ) need N and P and lots of other things (e.g., iron, manganese, etc.) all in sufficient amounts. None alone are sufficient.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

i have very little sand in the back of the rock work for my wrasses but the majority of the tank is barebottom as far as dosing what should i dose

If you want to raise phosphate, i recommend either feeding more (which will also raise nitrate), or dose sodium or potassium phosphate, food grade, that you can get online at Amazon and other places.

 

[jose hernandez]

i will look into it