Brightwell’s Phosphat-E

mrpontiac80 · Nov 6, 2024

2Plus2 said:
My only question is do you recommend going at the half dose or even lighter to begin with?

Im thinking of dosing 1ml into the skimmer body, wait 24 hours then test.

It is so much easier to up the dose. So I generally start at 1/4 of the recommended dose.

2Plus2 · Nov 7, 2024

mrpontiac80 said:
It is so much easier to up the dose. So I generally start at 1/4 of the recommended dose.

Got ya! That’s what i was thinking, full dose for me would me 8ml, i’ll dose 2ml and wait 24 hours and test. that’s about 25%

2Plus2 · Nov 10, 2024

mrpontiac80 said:
It is so much easier to up the dose. So I generally start at 1/4 of the recommended dose.

Dosed into the skimmer body, 2ml 25% of the dose didnt notice any drop in phosphates.

I also only have the Hanna ultra low phosphate tester which has a max read of 0.90 and its been steadily stuck at 0.90.

I know it's reading properly since I have the test kit from Hanna and it reads dead on 0.40 which is what the test kit should.

I kicked up to 4ml in the skimmer body the next day after 24 hours, and still the same 0.90

I believe my rock is a phosphate gold mine since this rock has been sitting in my garage dry for 10 years.

Today ill be kicking up the dose based off a phosphate reading of 1pmm at 50gallons, which is 6ml at 75% recommendation.

Ive tried 2ml, 4ml, no change in 24 hours.

Dosed nitrates to 15ppm, since Id like to keep nitrates around that range and phos around .25-.15 im not picky I just need to get into a decent range.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Nov 10, 2024

2Plus2 said:
Dosed into the skimmer body, 2ml 25% of the dose didnt notice any drop in phosphates.

I also only have the Hanna ultra low phosphate tester which has a max read of 0.90 and its been steadily stuck at 0.90.

I know it's reading properly since I have the test kit from Hanna and it reads dead on 0.40 which is what the test kit should.

I kicked up to 4ml in the skimmer body the next day after 24 hours, and still the same 0.90

I believe my rock is a phosphate gold mine since this rock has been sitting in my garage dry for 10 years.

Today ill be kicking up the dose based off a phosphate reading of 1pmm at 50gallons, which is 6ml at 75% recommendation.

Ive tried 2ml, 4ml, no change in 24 hours.

You could dilute the samples with new salt water to bring it on scale.

2Plus2 · Nov 10, 2024

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
You could dilute the samples with new salt water to bring it on scale.

Im sorry I dont follow?

Randy Holmes-Farley · Nov 10, 2024

2Plus2 said:
Im sorry I dont follow?

If you are reading the max value with any test, you do not know what the level is or whether changes are altering it.

If you mix 1 part tank water to 1 part new salt water, a real value of 1.5 ppm which you cannot accurately read becomes 0.75 ppm, which you can.

If that value is still too high you can try a larger dilution.

2Plus2 · Nov 10, 2024

Im also fighting a st

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
If you are reading the max value with any test, you do not know what the level is or whether changes are altering it.

If you mix 1 part tank water to 1 part new salt water, a real value of 1.5 ppm which you cannot accurately read becomes 0.75 ppm, which you can.

If that value is still too high you can try a larger dilution.

ah! got ya, ok doing so now!

2Plus2 · Nov 10, 2024

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
If you are reading the max value with any test, you do not know what the level is or whether changes are altering it.

If you mix 1 part tank water to 1 part new salt water, a real value of 1.5 ppm which you cannot accurately read becomes 0.75 ppm, which you can.

If that value is still too high you can try a larger dilution.

Randy, because of the massive imbalance in my tank could that be the reason im now fighting dinos.

They arent rough, just sand. I atleast want to get the phosphate/nitrates in check first before I start the fight with the dinos, though my nitrates are extremely easy to deal with now since i dosed only 4ml to get them to 15ppm from 9ppm.

I stopped feeding pellets and only frozen to focus more on nitrates and not pump more phosphates into the tank.

I currently only have fish, all gobies since I want a lot of tiny fish that can co-exist peacefully. I know the tank wasn't dirty enough because nitrates were undetectable after the cycle but recently just found my phosphates to be a massacre.

Targets id like, but im not chasing perfection. Nitrates 10-15ppm, Phos .15-.25

EDIT: Just diluted as mentioned, did an even 5ml of fresh new salt which I know sits at 0.01 phos NYOS, and 5ml of tank water.
Phosphates read 0.63, which in return gives me a total phosphate reading of 1.26PPM. Ouch.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Nov 11, 2024

2Plus2 said:
Randy, because of the massive imbalance in my tank could that be the reason im now fighting dinos.

They arent rough, just sand. I atleast want to get the phosphate/nitrates in check first before I start the fight with the dinos, though my nitrates are extremely easy to deal with now since i dosed only 4ml to get them to 15ppm from 9ppm.

I stopped feeding pellets and only frozen to focus more on nitrates and not pump more phosphates into the tank.

I currently only have fish, all gobies since I want a lot of tiny fish that can co-exist peacefully. I know the tank wasn't dirty enough because nitrates were undetectable after the cycle but recently just found my phosphates to be a massacre.

Targets id like, but im not chasing perfection. Nitrates 10-15ppm, Phos .15-.25

EDIT: Just diluted as mentioned, did an even 5ml of fresh new salt which I know sits at 0.01 phos NYOS, and 5ml of tank water.
Phosphates read 0.63, which in return gives me a total phosphate reading of 1.26PPM. Ouch.

FWIW, I've not seen any evidence that "imbalances" contribute to dinos. Excessively low nutrients can, presumably because they can thrive at low levels where competitors for space cannot.

GARRIGA · Nov 11, 2024

I've only used it once and worked as claimed although I didn't dose into a 10 micron sock as recommended. No ill affects but next round I'm looking for the proper low micron filter to avoid potential issues as tangs have been reported to have issues although it seems this was with the pool product therefore ample research and caution might be warranted.

2Plus2 · Nov 12, 2024

GARRIGA said:
I've only used it once and worked as claimed although I didn't dose into a 10 micron sock as recommended. No ill affects but next round I'm looking for the proper low micron filter to avoid potential issues as tangs have been reported to have issues although it seems this was with the pool product therefore ample research and caution might be warranted.

Been dosing for a week now but I didn't have the proper phosphate tester as mentioned above.

Now that I'm diluting I'm getting accurate or ballpark readings to work with, Im doing directly into the skimmer body as it's running and cleaning the cup today Ive noticed a bit of crustiness.