How much PO4 does your system use?

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specialk

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I agree that slightly elevated levels of nutrients are beneficial but I think you're missing a decimal point. The school of thought is that you want just enough NO3 and PO4 to not starve the coral but not enough to promote algae outbreaks. Systems with higher nutrient levels that show little to no nuscience algae growth typically have huge colonies of coral with very little room to spare. The coral is outcompeting the algae for nutrient use. I think good target numbers for the average reefer attempting to keep SPS corals should be around 3-5ppm NO3 and .02-.03 PO4. Check out the spectracide stump remover thread for lots of discussion on this matter.
Already did. And already dosed with spectraside. P04 however did not budge after weeks of testing with over feeding. Thus the need to dose Brightwell NeoPhos. The higher, now elevated level of Nitrate (now holding steady around 7 - 10) and lack of P04 caused some issues in my sps .. this is why I knew that over feeding was not going to do it and I needed to dose.

I get the ranges and where it should be at ... I was just curious if others knew how much P04 their systems used due to the swings mine was going thru.
 

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Already did. And already dosed with spectraside. P04 however did not budge after weeks of testing with over feeding. Thus the need to dose Brightwell NeoPhos. The higher, now elevated level of Nitrate (now holding steady around 7 - 10) and lack of P04 caused some issues in my sps .. this is why I knew that over feeding was not going to do it and I needed to dose.

I get the ranges and where it should be at ... I was just curious if others knew how much P04 their systems used due to the swings mine was going thru.

What specific issues did you see with your SPS?
 
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What specific issues did you see with your SPS?
Lack of color ... brown on some, although most shared this same issue.

When I raised the Nitrate and P04 did not raise (with over feeding) I noticed some "white spots" and small bleaching ... soI did some research on here and other spots and found this to be the common issue when Nitrate got raised and P04 was still 0.00

Since I have started raising things, as well as dosing Acropower, some colors def. coming back and looking better. My "$500 Efflo" REALLY colored up and got deep deep blue. I know patience and stability is the key so looking forward to the next 2 months (maybe more)
 

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Lack of color ... brown on some, although most shared this same issue.

When I raised the Nitrate and P04 did not raise (with over feeding) I noticed some "white spots" and small bleaching ... soI did some research on here and other spots and found this to be the common issue when Nitrate got raised and P04 was still 0.00

Since I have started raising things, as well as dosing Acropower, some colors def. coming back and looking better. My "$500 Efflo" REALLY colored up and got deep deep blue. I know patience and stability is the key so looking forward to the next 2 months (maybe more)

Did you happen to notice any differences with polyp extension?
 

bif24701

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Yes I did MEAN 0.03.

Ansd yes that is the reccomended, but I do NOT AT ALL agree with that being the set # of po4 and that is what everyone should keep theirs at. is it a good starting point ... sure. But reccomendation means just that ... "reccomended"

I don't think anyone was trying to make that point, ".03 is a requirement"
 

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You would probably be able to control your NO3 and PO4 more precisely if you would stop with the heavy GFO/Carbon reactor and migrate over to a carbon dosing regimen using a doser or your ATO if you have a solid ATO setup. Randy has great writeups on Vinegar dosing. I would use "premeasured" foods as well. Like frozen cubes and portions of sheets of nori etc... this way you are putting a consistent amount in and removing a consistent amount, allowing you to tune your nutrients to where you want them. Flake/Pellet in an auto feeder would work well for this as well.

FWIW, your colors are going to look best at about 1 ppm Nitrate and .02 ppm or less phosphate with the addition of an Amino Acid to keep them from paling out. Youll be balancing nutrition vs starvation of corals.

Your growth is going to be best with 5-10 ppm Nitrate and .02-.05 Phosphate with high alkalinity, calcium and magnesium (12,450,1400)plus lots and lots of light. This will grow them like weeds, colors a little browned out from nutrients (Can be combatted with uber PAR to reduce Zoox populations) Under this scheme you will be balancing coral growth consumption of nutrients vs algae consumption of nutrients.
 
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You would probably be able to control your NO3 and PO4 more precisely if you would stop with the heavy GFO/Carbon reactor and migrate over to a carbon dosing regimen using a doser or your ATO if you have a solid ATO setup. Randy has great writeups on Vinegar dosing. I would use "premeasured" foods as well. Like frozen cubes and portions of sheets of nori etc... this way you are putting a consistent amount in and removing a consistent amount, allowing you to tune your nutrients to where you want them. Flake/Pellet in an auto feeder would work well for this as well.

FWIW, your colors are going to look best at about 1 ppm Nitrate and .02 ppm or less phosphate with the addition of an Amino Acid to keep them from paling out. Youll be balancing nutrition vs starvation of corals.

Your growth is going to be best with 5-10 ppm Nitrate and .02-.05 Phosphate with high alkalinity, calcium and magnesium (12,450,1400)plus lots and lots of light. This will grow them like weeds, colors a little browned out from nutrients (Can be combatted with uber PAR to reduce Zoox populations) Under this scheme you will be balancing coral growth consumption of nutrients vs algae consumption of nutrients.
Good stuff thank you!

Yah I am currently NOT running GFO or Roxx Carbon .. took then offline about 2-3 months ago.

But all your advice was saved and taken into account and I will keep this in mind right now. Do you think that my Alk, with it now steady around 9, should be upped to maybe 10 or 11 ? (or 12 as you are saying .... ) as a higher Alk may work better with my P03 and P04 levels where they are now (p03 - 5--10, p04 0.05) ..??
 

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IMO, I think that you should see Redsea's accelerated growth regimen and if you decide to use it, use their coral pro salt. Always match your big 3 (Cal,alk,mag) to your salt and pick a salt based upon your goals. Its just easier, half of this reefing thing is making stuff easy so you actually do it. If its a pain to do, it won't get done consistently.

If your goal is rad growth, the coral pro amounts (Accel growth) with some nutrients is IMO the way to go.

Note that for later when you want to color up after your colonies have gotten to an acceptable size, they have the regular redsea salt(Enhanced coloration) that has NSW levels, this would allow you to reduce nutrients and get the color you want.

****DO NOT RAISE ALK THAT HIGH WITH LOW NUTRIENTS OR LOWER NUTRIENTS WITH HIGH ALK****

You have been warned, you will burn tips and PO all of your SPS. Could RTN.

http://www.redseafish.com/blog/enhanced-coloration-or-accelerated-growth/

Note that they recommend different amounts of nutrients than I said, I choose a little higher nutrients as a buffer for testing error and a buffer against nutrients dropping. I guess you could run a solid 1ppm nitrate if you had mass spectrometry gizmos and the like, but I don't.
 
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I would pick a goal, adjust to those levels and keep them as steady as possible. Automation is your friend.
All good stuff on both posts! Thank you and as soon as I get done here, going to look into that program, and salt.

Also, totally understand get picking the right salt that match the #s I want. Otherwise you are right ... total pain in the ###

And yes I am all set up for automatiuon ... have a bubble magus dosing pump right now working. So I am all set to get things the right way!
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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****DO NOT RAISE ALK THAT HIGH WITH LOW NUTRIENTS OR LOWER NUTRIENTS WITH HIGH ALK****

You have been warned, you will burn tips and PO all of your SPS. Could RTN.


uh, OK. lol

Not that this thread is about raising phosphate, not keeping it low.

You might want to read up here before "warning" folks. We have thousands of threads of this topic. no need to be so dramatic. It is well known. lol
 

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I know that its generally well known, it just seems like a good way for someone who might not know to make a small misstep and really take a hard hit for it.

I just wanted to make sure that there were no assumptions on the matter. Better to overemphasize than for someone to lose colonies.
 

Reef man 89

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What is a good way to bring my po4 up to .5? I am starving my Sps and don't know what to do my no3 is between 8-10.
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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What is a good way to bring my po4 up to .5? I am starving my Sps and don't know what to do my no3 is between 8-10.

Presumably you mean 0.05 ppm?

Feed more or dose a phosphate additive of some sort. :)
 

Reef man 89

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Presumably you mean 0.05 ppm?

Feed more or dose a phosphate additive of some sort. :)
Yes 00.5 is what I meant what kind of p04 additive would you suggest. I tryed feeding more but that's has not help. So step 2 is to dose somthing but not sure what to buy?
 

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