Where are my Phosphates going!!!!

Mark75 · Oct 8, 2016

60g. sps dominate cube,..tank is 7 months old with 15+ frags and a couple of mini colonies.

I have never ran any type of phosphate remover and do not grow any macro algae. I have a small skimmer and a mini reactor running BRS Rox carbon.

I just tested Phosphates with a Hanna ULR Phosphorous checker 3 times. First test 0, second test 1, third test 0. I have no measurable phosphates and poor coral growth/health to confirm it.

I have 7 fish I feed twice a day, New Life Spectrum pellets mid day and I alternate Reef Frenzy, PE Mysis and Spiralina brine shrimp at night.

3 months ago I started dosing nitrates(stump remover) because my nitrates were undetectable. I have raised my nitrates to 2.5ppm but stopped short of my goal of 5ppm due to my 0 phosphate issue. I have not dosed nitrates in 2 months and my phosphates are not increasing.

What should I do??

bif24701 · Oct 8, 2016

Mark75 said:
60g. sps dominate cube,..tank is 7 months old with 15+ frags and a couple of mini colonies.

I have never ran any type of phosphate remover and do not grow any macro algae. I have a small skimmer and a mini reactor running BRS Rox carbon.

I just tested Phosphates with a Hanna ULR Phosphorous checker 3 times. First test 0, second test 1, third test 0. I have no measurable phosphates and poor coral growth/health to confirm it.

I have 7 fish I feed twice a day, New Life Spectrum pellets mid day and I alternate Reef Frenzy, PE Mysis and Spiralina brine shrimp at night.

3 months ago I started dosing nitrates(stump remover) because my nitrates were undetectable. I have raised my nitrates to 2.5ppm but stopped short of my goal of 5ppm due to my 0 phosphate issue. I have not dosed nitrates in 2 months and my phosphates are not increasing.

What should I do??

Do you use Kalk?

nbagnardi · Oct 8, 2016

try to check all around your rock work. its possible you have some hidden algae consuming it. have any pics of the sps?

Mark75 · Oct 8, 2016

Yes,...I do use Kalk in my top-off water, 2tsp added to 5g. RO/DI.

My tank is small and has limited rock, I am pretty sure I do not have any algae.

I have recently stopped running the reactor with rox carbon. I have been out of the hobby several years and always ran lots of carbon but after some research it seems this rox carbon is really good at stripping water especially in the amounts I was using.

vsutarov · Oct 8, 2016

I am not surprised when dosing nitrates,phosfates to go down.Anyway, in this situation I would try raising nutrients by slowly adding more fish,just my opinion.

goatcorals · Oct 8, 2016

Maybe try some coral foods 3/week. I don't think it's the carbon but could be wrong. Kalk will remove some PO4. You don't need much PO4. Ocean has very little in most spots.

MasterBacon · Oct 8, 2016

You want Po4?

Bunnee911 · Oct 8, 2016

MasterBacon said:
You want Po4?

I can ship you some.

Ike · Oct 8, 2016

Mark75 said:
60g. sps dominate cube,..tank is 7 months old with 15+ frags and a couple of mini colonies.

I have never ran any type of phosphate remover and do not grow any macro algae. I have a small skimmer and a mini reactor running BRS Rox carbon.

I just tested Phosphates with a Hanna ULR Phosphorous checker 3 times. First test 0, second test 1, third test 0. I have no measurable phosphates and poor coral growth/health to confirm it.

I have 7 fish I feed twice a day, New Life Spectrum pellets mid day and I alternate Reef Frenzy, PE Mysis and Spiralina brine shrimp at night.

3 months ago I started dosing nitrates(stump remover) because my nitrates were undetectable. I have raised my nitrates to 2.5ppm but stopped short of my goal of 5ppm due to my 0 phosphate issue. I have not dosed nitrates in 2 months and my phosphates are not increasing.

What should I do??

It's from dosing the potassium nitrate. Start feeding heavier and as your nitrates continue to come down your PO4 should start to creep up.

Ike · Oct 8, 2016

MasterBacon said:
You want Po4?

Yes, it's an essential for life.

Mark75 · Oct 8, 2016

Ike said:
It's from dosing the potassium nitrate. Start feeding heavier and as your nitrates continue to come down your PO4 should start to creep up.

My nitrates are 2.5ppm, can't let them drop much.

Ike · Oct 14, 2016

Mark75 said:
My nitrates are 2.5ppm, can't let them drop much.

Do what you think is best, but I'm pretty certain keeping nitrates up while continuing to drive PO4 dangerously low isn't going to end well.

Mark75 · Oct 15, 2016

Ike said:
Do what you think is best, but I'm pretty certain keeping nitrates up while continuing to drive PO4 dangerously low isn't going to end well.

I can not bring nitrate up with out dosing and I can't raise phosphates while dosing nitrates!

reeferfoxx · Oct 15, 2016

I use dry plankton and zooplankton type foods, like reef-roids, to bring up my po4.

Mark75 · Oct 15, 2016

reeferfoxx said:
I use dry plankton and zooplankton type foods, like reef-roids, to bring up my po4.

I recently started feeding BRS Reef Chili a couple of times per week, but haven't seen my phosphates increase yet. Maybe I should increase to 3 times per week?

I also feed PE Mysis, no straining , 1/8 cube thawed in a small amount of tank water and dumped in. From what I have heard PE Mysis is loaded with phosphates yet I have none???

reeferfoxx · Oct 15, 2016

Mark75 said:
I recently started feeding BRS Reef Chili a couple of times per week, but haven't seen my phosphates increase yet. Maybe I should increase to 3 times per week?

I also feed PE Mysis, no straining , 1/8 cube thawed in a small amount of tank water and dumper in. From what I have heard PE Mysis is loaded with phosphates yet I have none???

Your new coral might be absorbing it. Where do you keep alk and calcium at?

Mark75 · Oct 15, 2016

reeferfoxx said:
Your new coral might be absorbing it. Where do you keep alk and calcium at?

That is also a problem at the moment.

I want to maintain my Alk @ 9 but I can't balance the amount of kalk I am adding to my top-off water,...as of last night Alk was 10.5 and Cal. 460! I am a few minutes away from dumping my top off reservoir and cleaning out the kalk and going back to just ro/di water and let my Alk drop to 9, maybe even 8 if I cant get my nutrients up! I am also using RC salt which doesn't help lower my Alk.

reeferfoxx · Oct 15, 2016

Mark75 said:
That is also a problem at the moment.

I want to maintain my Alk @ 9 but I can't balance the amount of kalk I am adding to my top-off water,...as of last night Alk was 10.5 and Cal. 460! I am a few minutes away from dumping my top off reservoir and cleaning out the kalk and going back to just ro/di water and let my Alk drop to 9, maybe even 8 if I cant get my nutrients up! I am also using RC salt which doesn't help lower my Alk.

Seems like you might understand what happens when you have high alk? Either way, the corals skeleton will absorb no3 and po4 while absorbing calcium carbonate. Higher alk means faster growth. I know Kalk has a formula but for me, where i'm at, there isn't a formula for humidity. So evaporation is always changing. For that I don't use it. I do dose alk twice a day with a 2 part. The tank i'm talking about is high in nutrients. Growth is exponential but lacking in colors. Which is what happens with high DOCs.

reeferfoxx · Oct 15, 2016

Calcium Phosphate Precipitation

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-09/rhf/#10

Mark75 · Oct 15, 2016

My tank is rimless open top and has a large amount of evaporation for its size, 50g cube that evaporates 7-8 gallon per week. I have always used kalk and really like the concept but I just can't get it to work on this tank. I am ceasing adding kalk to my top-off water and when my alk drops to 9 I will use two part to maintain.

I wish I understood why this tank is so void of nutrients! It seems higher nutrient tanks have a larger margin for error. I have not had any stn/rtn but have watched a couple of frags go down hill over the last 3 months. I am certain it is the combination of high alk/low nutrients.

I miss fighting algae!