Po4 0. Even when dosing. gHa

Michael Gray · Mar 10, 2020

Randy, my acros are dying. Incant put po4 in the water column. It goes to zero after a few hours. I use Hanna ulr phosphorus. Now is GHA taking it within hours or do you think the rock is. And what should I do. Continue to dose .02(2ml) until it stays. I'm scared I'm just feeling GHA and it will go crazy. I brushed it. Looks good but 0 po4. Not sure if I should dose and try to save the acros. Or stop because whatever I put in is just gonna continue the take over of GHA

I dosed a 1ml today and it's at 5ppb just tested just now. I'm dosing vibrant to help hopefully other time.

No3 is 6-8ppm now it was 2. I slowly raised it.

Alk now is 7.4dkh.

Neoalchemist · Mar 10, 2020

Youve got to manually remove the algea to break this cycle.
Bottled products may help but also may cause other problems. Theres no free cure. It will either be work, money or tading one problem for another.
The healthy way is to remove algea then correct your numbers.
Repeat often.

Michael Gray · Mar 10, 2020

I been brushing. I got a good amount off. I can't get in the rock crevices. I got small patch of bryopsis. I'll fix after GHA is gone. I just keep scrubbing and netting. I noticed my kole Tang is picking at rocks more. I wonder if the brushing is working or vibrant is making it taste better. Lol.

But my trochus and Mexicans just arrived so the added cuc hopefully will help.

Question is do I continue to dose po4 when it shows 0 on my hanna and take the chance. I really want whatever sps I have on rack to survive atleast the ones that might be able to recover.

Graffiti Spot · Mar 10, 2020

I would not dose po4 if you have hair algae. The hair algae is there because it’s using po4, hince why you can’t read it on the test kit. Don’t dose anything and just keep pulling the algae out manually. Or also use gfo or lc carefully.

Michael Gray · Mar 10, 2020

So don't dose and just let the sps die and take it as a loss until GHA is gone then try more frags.

I gave the sps no3. But po4 will be impossible until GHA is gone

Dan_P · Mar 10, 2020

Michael Gray said:
Randy, my acros are dying. Incant put po4 in the water column. It goes to zero after a few hours. I use Hanna ulr phosphorus. Now is GHA taking it within hours or do you think the rock is. And what should I do. Continue to dose .02(2ml) until it stays. I'm scared I'm just feeling GHA and it will go crazy. I brushed it. Looks good but 0 po4. Not sure if I should dose and try to save the acros. Or stop because whatever I put in is just gonna continue the take over of GHA

I dosed a 1ml today and it's at 5ppb just tested just now. I'm dosing vibrant to help hopefully other time.

No3 is 6-8ppm now it was 2. I slowly raised it.

Alk now is 7.4dkh.

With the PO4 rate of consumption so high, and I presume your system is not a mass of GHA, I have to wonder whether the aragonite in your system is adsorbing PO4 not the algae.

You are never going to starve GHA of phosphate. Also, keep in mind that beyond a certain level of PO4, algae does not grow any faster. Ditto for nitrate. Having more than 0 ppm nitrate helps grow GHA, but beyond a certain point it does not grow faster. What high concentrations does permit is the continued expansion of the algae amount, but not faster. So, you have time.

So, dose to save your coral, and get an army of snails or something to help knock down the GHA. Or try Vibrant, though I have read mixed reviews on cyanobacteria growth after using it.

Michael Gray · Mar 10, 2020

Dan_P said:
With the PO4 rate of consumption so high, and I presume your system is not a mass of GHA, I have to wonder whether the aragonite in your system is adsorbing PO4 not the algae.

You are never going to starve GHA of phosphate. Also, keep in mind that beyond a certain level of PO4, algae does not grow any faster. Ditto for nitrate. Having more than 0 ppm nitrate helps grow GHA, but beyond a certain point it does not grow faster. What high concentrations does permit is the continued expansion of the algae amount, but not faster. So, you have time.

So, dose to save your coral, and get an army of snails or something to help knock down the GHA. Or try Vibrant, though I have read mixed reviews on cyanobacteria growth after using it.

I'm on week 4 of vibrant. No cyano yet. Just got a shipment of turbos and trochus. Today to beef up cuc. And of course scrubbing the rock with grout brush. I have a few patches of bryopsis. But I'm not to worried about that. One thing at a time.

Now I've read about the sand and rock absorbing my po4. What does that mean. Or do will it stop after awhile should I be worried about it absorbing it.

It's all marcoo rock and tropic edan reef flakes dry sand been running since August 3. Po4 has been a pain to keep steady since day one.

rmurken · Mar 10, 2020

Shot in the dark—can you meet your acros’ PO4 requirement with an SPS food while your tank stabilizes? I’m not an SPS guy, but just occurred to me.

Michael Gray · Mar 10, 2020

rmurken said:
Shot in the dark—can you meet your acros’ PO4 requirement with an SPS food while your tank stabilizes? I’m not an SPS guy, but just occurred to me.

Enlighten me. U mean feed like reef roids

rmurken · Mar 10, 2020

Michael Gray said:
Enlighten me. U mean feed like reef roids

I don’t know about reef roids, but I know there are liquid SPS foods. I know acros aren’t big eaters, but they do eat. Any food made from plant or animal matter will have phosphate in it, so....

Michael Gray · Mar 10, 2020

I'm gonna rest po4 again and see if my 5ppb earlier is now 0

Marc2952 · Mar 10, 2020

Pedoconfuego said:
I would not dose po4 if you have hair algae. The hair algae is there because it’s using po4, hince why you can’t read it on the test kit. Don’t dose anything and just keep pulling the algae out manually. Or also use gfo or lc carefully.

How do you go about managing GHA and dinos at the same time? I cant let the Phosphate go down due to the dinos but cant add because of GHA? I bubble scrub and clean the rocks everyday through a filter sock but isnt doing much.

rmurken · Mar 10, 2020

Also, are you sure the reason your acros are struggling is due to insufficient PO4? I’d think the minimum “adequate” concentration in the water column is probably below what the Hanna ULR can pick up.

Michael Gray · Mar 10, 2020

Just retested and reading 13ppb so it's up now. I fed a little lrs maybe like 30 min before that. But it's plenty currently I think.

Michael Gray · Mar 10, 2020

rmurken said:
Also, are you sure the reason your acros are struggling is due to insufficient PO4? I’d think the minimum “adequate” concentration in the water column is probably below what the Hanna ULR can pick up.

Not 100% but no3 and po4 were low.

All is steady 7.2-7.6
Temp 77.2
Salt 35
Ca 415
Mg 1350
No3 now 6-8

Marc2952 · Mar 10, 2020

Michael Gray said:
Not 100% but no3 and po4 were low.

All is steady 7.2-7.6
Temp 77.2
Salt 35
Ca 415
Mg 1350
No3 now 6-8

Have you tried vibrant? Some folks have said it has helped alot.

Michael Gray · Mar 10, 2020

Marc2952 said:
Have you tried vibrant? Some folks have said it has helped alot.

Currently on it now. Today was my week 4 dose.

rmurken · Mar 10, 2020

How long have you had the acros? Are they close to other corals or otherwise vulnerable to stinging or chemical attack? Anything eating them? It just seems like you’d have to try really hard to get NO3 and PO4 low enough to harm corals. Not that it can’t be done, but that seems to be a risk with ULN systems, and I don’t understand you to be using that methodology.