Trouble with phosphates.

[Sean Duggan]

Hi everyone I’m having some confusions with phosphates. I have the Hanna ULR check and it always gives me a reading around 70-80 so that’s around .25 ppm. I have confirmed this with an ati test. So that’s phosphate should be way too high. But all my corals have always grown wonderfully and I had good colors. I have all types of zoas and some fancy hammers and torches and acros. Recently with everything going on I have some more time on my hands and decided to try and lower the phosphate. Was going to try gfo but read that it could work too much too fast so I went with phosguard. Since I’ve started using it my phosphates have been slowly going down. Close to .1ppm. But since I started my corals coloration have not looked as good. I talked to a Reefing buddy he suggested I stop. Said if my tank was going good and growing with good coloration I shouldn’t mess with it. Pretty much If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. Which I agree with Just wanted a second opinion. Thanks for any suggestions in advance!

 

[Topreefer92]

I would agree with the if it ain't broke don't fix it but it is smart of you to be slightly skeptical of what you are experiencing. I personally would get a ICP test done and see if there is other things causing the issue. I know I experienced something similar, I did that and figured out other corrections I needed to make. Also gave me a more accurate reading of phosphates. As of right now I would stop and see how fast it comes back up to where it was when the tank was looking better. If it is still not coloring up get that test done and it will help point you in the right direction!

 

[Sean Duggan]

Yeah I did the ati icp test a couple months ago. When it came back nothing was really out of wack. My nitrates were a little high around 12 but other than phosphate and phosphorus being through the roof nothing else was in the red zone. My tank has been like this from day one. I have checked my RODI source and that came back at 1 ppb. So I think it might be leaching off the rocks which I got at a LFS but the tanks been up for over a year. Besides the first couple of months of getting weird algae breakouts I haven’t had any really ugly algae. I get tons of coraline, had a few spots of bubble that died off and a little green cyano a couple weeks ago which I think was caused by me accidentally shutting off my protein skinner for a couple days. I just can’t figure out why it wouldn’t naturally be consumed by my refugium over time. I will order another ICP test in the meantime and stop the phosguard and see what happens. Hopefully the ICP can give me some guidance.

 

[Copingwithpods]

+1 on don't change a thing, if everyone is happy why throw a stone in the pond

 

[Topreefer92]

I ran into the exact issue. I fixed it with regular water changes, mine turned out to be tin in the water. I am really curious to see the levels go back and see if that makes a difference. If it was done slowly than I don't see an issue, usually something like that would happen if it was lowered in a week or two.

 

[ckalupa]

Lps and softies tend to like a little higher phos and nitrates levels. As long as it is not causing algae issues. What is “too high” you have to watch the tank to know. If you start noticing GHA or cyano patches you are probably getting too high.

 

[Sean Duggan]

I have not had green hair algae since I started the tank. And only a few small patches of cyano here and there that have gone away on their own. I will send out and ICP test and see what comes back and update but might be a while with everything going on

 

[Marc2952]

Tbh i rather i have those levels then keeping phosphates too low and causing dinos lol

 

[Sean Duggan]

Haha that is true, I never had to battle Dinos and never want to. I did log into my old ICP test just to look it over and did notice a little tin was getting through my RODI filter. i have changed it since them and I will see how it looks like in the future.

 

[Daniel92481]

0.25 is an acceptable level of phosphates. If your corals look happy and healthy, I would stop the GFO and continue doing what you have been doing thus far.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

You might find some corals grow better at higher phosphate, and some better at lower phosphate.

Just noting that they are growing "wonderfully" doesn't mean they wouldn't grow even faster at a different level, but it does suggest there's not a strong reason to do anything about it at the moment.