PO4 Reduction, necessary or let it ride?

[CrunchyBananas]

So I have fairly high phosphates in my SPS dominant tank (0.42 last I tested, but it's been steadily rising).
Most all my SPS have been doing well, but I feel like a couple are a little washed out color wise, and my bubblegum digi never seems too happy (zero polyp extension).
I also feel like growth is a bit slow in my tank, despite maintaining steady parameters and water changes.
I also have a bit of algae, mostly little tufts around the tank.
I have some GFO and a reactor on hand and was considering doing half to a quarter of the recommended amount as to not crash my phosphates.

Would it be too risky to use gfo and tick off my corals, or has anyone had good luck with stepping back phosphates and getting better growth and/or coloration?

 

[smartwater101]

.4 or .04?

I shoot for .05 - .08

.4 is insane.

 

[Bryknicks]

So I have fairly high phosphates in my SPS dominant tank (0.42 last I tested, but it's been steadily rising).
Most all my SPS have been doing well, but I feel like a couple are a little washed out color wise, and my bubblegum digi never seems too happy (zero polyp extension).
I also feel like growth is a bit slow in my tank, despite maintaining steady parameters and water changes.
I also have a bit of algae, mostly little tufts around the tank.
I have some GFO and a reactor on hand and was considering doing half to a quarter of the recommended amount as to not crash my phosphates.

Would it be too risky to use gfo and **** off my corals, or has anyone had good luck with stepping back phosphates and getting better growth and/or coloration?

Have you tested nitrates? I would test that first to see what level your at. It's best to stick in the Redfield ratio for NO3 and PO4.

 

[CrunchyBananas]

.4 or .04?

I shoot for .05 - .08

.4 is insane.

Yes, that’s not a typo lol zero point four two 0.42

 

[CrunchyBananas]

Have you tested nitrates? I would test that first to see what level your at. It's best to stick in the Redfield ratio for NO3 and PO4.

No matter how much I feed I can’t seem to get testable nitrates. I’d like to get them 5-10 but nothing pops up, granted it’s an api kit, but it stays solid yellow

 

[CrunchyBananas]

I also forget to mention this was tested with a ppm hanna checker

 

[Stoney]

No matter how much I feed I can’t seem to get testable nitrates. I’d like to get them 5-10 but nothing pops up, granted it’s an api kit, but it stays solid yellow

This happens in all my tanks with too much ceramic media and I end up having to dose sodium nitrate. Are you running a lot of ceramic media or maybe excessive amounts of live rock?

 

[bluprntguy]

.4 is high, but it's not toxic. If you have high nitrates, I'd suggest nopox or some ther carbon dosing to bring them both down. If it's only phosphates that are high, I'd probably run a little GFO and gradually increase it until you get to the normal .03-.05 range that most people shoot for.

What are you using to test nitrates? It's pretty unusual to have absolutely zero nitrates.

 

[CrunchyBananas]

This happens in all my tanks with too much ceramic media and I end up having to dose sodium nitrate. Are you running a lot of ceramic media or maybe excessive amounts of live rock?

No ceramic media, just a fuge and skimmer as filtration. However that’s a good point, I do have a good bit of Marco rock(not actually Marco brand, but that type of quarry rock)

 

[CrunchyBananas]

.4 is high, but it's not toxic. If you have high nitrates, I'd suggest nopox or some ther carbon dosing to bring them both down. If it's only phosphates that are high, I'd probably run a little GFO and gradually increase it until you get to the normal .03-.05 range that most people shoot for.

What are you using to test nitrates? It's pretty unusual to have absolutely zero nitrates.

I’ve been considering some vodka dosing, and it’s just api but it’s a fresh kit and should give me some sort of ball park. I’m thinking in combination with my refugium and large coral biomass they’re up taking all the nitrates and then the phosphates are leftover since both corals and macro algae take up nitrates much more efficiently

 

[bluprntguy]

I’ve been considering some vodka dosing, and it’s just api but it’s a fresh kit and should give me some sort of ball park. I’m thinking in combination with my refugium and large coral biomass they’re up taking all the nitrates and then the phosphates are leftover since both corals and macro algae take up nitrates much more efficiently

Get a different test. I've had three different API tests register zero nitrates over a couple of months. It lead me to dose nitrates and still saw no effect. I finally decided to test the bottle of neonitro, and it read zero as well with both API tests that I had at the time. I ordered a salifert test and found out my nitrates in both tanks were well above 50.

I'd get a salifert test for verification before you do anything.

 

[CrunchyBananas]

Get a different test. I've had three different API tests register zero nitrates over a couple of months. It lead me to dose nitrates and still saw no effect. I finally decided to test the bottle of neonitro, and it read zero as well with both API tests that I had at the time. I ordered a salifert test and found out my nitrates in both tanks were well above 50.

I'd get a salifert test for verification before you do anything.

Oof I knew they were bad but not that terrible lol, I’ve had a similar issue with a salifert test kit reading zero consistently. Looks like I’ll pick up another brand or two to be certain of my nitrates

 

[Stoney]

Nyos is good too, I use both. I bet the zero nitrate (allegedly) is more of an issue than the high phosphate. I mean 0.4 is high but it's not unheard of, especially if you have a bunch of colonies. Dosing nitrates when its zero also lowers phosphate so two birds with one stone. Keep us posted with that test!

 

[CrunchyBananas]

Nyos is good too, I use both. I bet the zero nitrate (allegedly) is more of an issue than the high phosphate. I mean 0.4 is high but it's not unheard of, especially if you have a bunch of colonies. Dosing nitrates when its zero also lowers phosphate so two birds with one stone. Keep us posted with that test!

That's a good point too! Will do, thanks for the suggestions!

 

[Big E]

If your nitrates are zero you don't want to carbon dose, especially since you already have an algae filter and skimmer. They are already driving down your nitrates............this is a common problem with a lot of systems.

Using the GFO is the easiest option. I would run at half to 3/4 the recommended amount. Normally you can knock that in half in 8-10 hours. Pull the GFO for a day or two and then knock it down more to get where you want it.

I have to run GFO full time on my systems or it continues to rise. P04 in the range you're at will cause slower growth in a lot of acros.

 

[Breadman03]

Alternatively, you might consider dosing nitrate IF you are nitrate limited. This may allow your algae filter to grow more and begin consuming the phosphate.

 

[Bryknicks]

IMO I would start by getting a better test kit and go from there. If you truly are getting undetectable or very low nitrate numbers then I would dose NANO3 or KNO3. I have a lot of bio media filter and had undetectable nitrates along with elevated PO4. I started dosing KNO3 in my system and it brought the PO4 down to stay consistently between .3-.6. It also helped perk and color up my corals because they were starving!

 

[Halal Hotdog]

Before doing anything you just want double check your parameters. I have noticed most reef tanks with a moderate fish load will have detectible phosphates. I would not dose nitrates but just treat the phosphate issue. Lanthanum chloride is my go to binder to remove biologically available phosphate from the system. .4ppm is not the end of the world, and I have had it as high as 1ppm. With most things I go slowly, but with phosphate I noticed a rapid drop had no detriment to any corals.

 

[shred5]

Sounds like you maybe nitrate limited. Usually not the case but it can happen, usually it is carbon that is limited.
My guess is your rocks are leaching phosphates. Either they were like that when you got them or it bound to them at some point. Marco rock is mined rock and who knows what go into them. It also could be your phosphates were high and the bound to the rock since phosphates bind to calcium carbonate. Now it being released and are not dropping because the bacteria also need nitrate.

So basically carbon dosing would do nothing to lower your phosphate. Bacteria need phosphate, nitrogen and carbon and if on are missing they can not grow.

I agree with the post above double check parameters and with two kits.. when things are out of wack I always use two test kits because I have had so many bad ones especially Salifert..

 

[Jon Warner]

your numbers are out of balance so natural methods involving a C source won't work. Easiest thing to do is use GFO briefly to bring N and P back in balance. It's a common occurrence, excess P is introduced into the system via food, etc.