Sharp spike in phosphate effect on SPS

[Bells>Waimea]

Have had my nutrients steady for a while now, but am battling a mild dino outbreak. No water changes, dosing nitrate from 2 to 10, and PO4 from .06 to .1

However, it seems I may have over feed on coral food or something as I tested this week and it went from .08 to .4

Noticed a few corals not happy, but im not sure if its a delayed reaction from the power going out over night one night a couple weeks ago or the sharp spike.

My question is, what are the effects of sharp spikes in PO4 on corals, mainly SPS?

Thanks

 

[rhastareefer]

Growth inhibition mostly. Rarely stn. What's important is the ratio of N to P (and the reason for your dinos is probably insufficient N). I'd want to get nitrates up to 30ish with that high of phosphate. That is, unless you get phosphates down, then targeting 10 is fine.

 

[jda]

N and P are both poisons to all living tissue at high levels. You need some, but not too much. The difference between some and not too much differs for each organism and even between corals. First comes inhibition of calcification, then inhibition of soft tissue growth. Usually next is the tissue retaining massive amounts of zoox (browning or greening). Then STN. Then death.

Some corals and even some acropora can take a lot of P before this happens. Some will start to suffer with 8 or 10 ppb. If you want to keep any type of acropora in a any-time-any-where type of paradigm, then it is best to stay near NSW type of values. If you don't care about keeping some of the harder kinds, then some people can have P up to .2 without issue and some even to .5 while keeping only the super-easy kinds.

You will surely get somebody post on this that their P is XXX (high) and their stuff is Ok. While this is true, they are only keeping the kinds that don't mind the higher P, whether they know it or not.

When judging P, the best indicator of a healthy range is the rapid growth of coralline algae. This stuff needs some to grow, but not too much and is often inhibited well before .1 ppb. It will still grow, but not pop up new spots all the time and spread like crazy.

When raising or lowering P, you want to go slow. Spikes are no good. Your corals might not mind the first few if they are super healthy, but eventually, the will start to suffer.

Read and study up on how P binds to aragonite. The aragonite will bind massive amounts of P and both act as a buffer when values are low (which is why it is nearly impossible to get to true zero without using chemicals and media) and also act as a reservoir when high (which can make it really hard to get the values in the water column down since the aragonite will release after you lower the water column values).

Lastly, do not chase or worry about P too much unless you have a good tool like a Hannah Ultra Low checker. Other test kits are not worth much more than a swag and not reliable enough to fine tune a dosing regiment.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

Mine spiked recently and colors were lost to a darker muted color or a brownish color and some of the harder to keep species died shortly after the spike from necrosis. I would tend to agree with most everything jda said too.