Question about raising phosphate

Bthomas · May 21, 2018

I've been trying to get my phosphate above 0 by dosing brightwell Aquatics neophos. By following the instructions on the bottle I'm dosing enough that it should be raising my p04 level to .1 (15 ml) but immediately after adding that dose it still reads 0 on a Hanna phosphate checker. While playing around with it yesterday I was finally able to get it to
.12 after adding 60ml of neophos (150 gallon tank) but then maybe an hour later I tested again and it read 0 again..

Not sure what could be going through phosphate that quick in my system. I'm running a skimmer and carbon in a reactor that's it.

I'm kinda at a loss for how to get this number up..

Randy Holmes-Farley · May 21, 2018

Binding to calcium carbonate surfaces with take up a huge amount. Consumption will also take up a smaller amount.

Bthomas · May 21, 2018

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Binding to calcium carbonate surfaces with take up a huge amount. Consumption will also take up a smaller amount.

So what do I need to do to raise phosphates and get it to stay above 0

cracker · May 21, 2018

Same thing happened to me. the tank will take up a lot at 1st then level out. Be careful not to over dose Like I did.

Bthomas · May 21, 2018

cracker said:
Same thing happened to me. the tank will take up a lot at 1st then level out. Be careful not to over dose Like I did.

Did u just keep dosing same amount daily even if tests were still showing 0 and it eventually catches up?

Randy Holmes-Farley · May 21, 2018

Bthomas said:
So what do I need to do to raise phosphates and get it to stay above 0

Keep dosing.

It may take a lot. one member showed that 1 pound of rock in 5 gallons of water could absorb 50+ ppm of phosphate, leaving only 0.16 ppm in the water itself.

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/phosphate-absorption-rates-in-aragonite.352405/page-4#post-4501532