Curious…. What would you do?

[CHSUB]

 

[edsbeaker]

There are a number of choices depending on your setup. Do you have a refugium, turf scrubber or GFO running that you can stop? How are your nitrates? If low enough that they won’t go too high, you can try feeding more. There’s always NeoPhos too.

 

[rtparty]

Personally? I’d dose trisodium phosphate. I find phosphate is one of the most important elements and has been wrongly vilified for years.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I'm not going to answer because I think its a trick question. lol

 

[Fish Fan]

Personally? I’d dose trisodium phosphate. I find phosphate is one of the most important elements and has been wrongly vilified for years.

Hey brother! TSP is kind of a nasty cleaner to use, is that safe for reef tanks?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Hey brother! TSP is kind of a nasty cleaner to use, is that safe for reef tanks?

Yes. You can buy food grade and it adds the exact form of inorganic phosphate present in the ocean and detected by kits. I just used it myself in my refugium.

But I’m still not answering the op because it’s a trap.

Folks will say what to do and then he’s going to show how well the tank is doing at zero detectable phosphate, so the advice is probably wrong. lol

 

[Fish Fan]

Yes. You can buy food grade and it adds the exact form of inorganic phosphate present in the ocean and detected by kits. I just used it myself in my refugium.

But I’m still not answering the op because it’s a trap.

Folks will say what to do and then he’s going to show how well the tank is doing at zero detectable phosphate, so the advice is probably wrong. lol

Thank you sir! So this is not like the TSP you buy in the paint department of the hardware store?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Thank you sir! So this is not like the TSP you buy in the paint department of the hardware store?

Same chemical, possibly different purity. One can also use mono sodium or disodium phosphate.

 

[SomeHappyFish]

Reef roids

 

[Fish Fan]

Same chemical, possibly different purity. One can also use mono sodium or disodium phosphate.

Thank you again!

 

[Science/G]

Feed reef roids daily

 

[SomeHappyFish]

Feed reef roids daily

Daily ? How much daily

 

[Reefering1]

How do the corals look? Pics??

 

[mjszos]

I'd re-test because there's no way my tank actually had 0 phosphates with my import/export strategy.

 

[rtparty]

Hey brother! TSP is kind of a nasty cleaner to use, is that safe for reef tanks?

Like Randy said, totally safe. I have been dosing it for close to 7 months on my 25g. It was part of my experiment with this tank to see if I could avoid dinos and the such

 

[Fish Fan]

Like Randy said, totally safe. I have been dosing it for close to 7 months on my 25g. It was part of my experiment with this tank to see if I could avoid dinos and the such

Good to know, thank you for your reply!

 

[Science/G]

Daily ? How much daily

Hard to say, really a pinch between my fingertips dissolved. 1/16 to 1/32 of a tsp?

 

[CHSUB]

How do the corals look? Pics??

photos…

But I’m still not answering the op because it’s a trap.

I do have low levels of po4 and no3 confirmed by ICP and yes it was a bit of a trap, haha. Worked much better on FB which received over a hundred responses mostly of how “doomed”the tank is…

I do however feed corals every other day and have one NPS coral doing well so I know there is plenty of food.

Not implying po4 or no3 are not necessary….

 

[Reefering1]

photos…

I do have low levels of po4 and no3 confirmed by ICP and yes it was a bit of a trap, haha. Worked much better on FB which received over a hundred responses mostly of how “doomed”the tank is…

I do however feed corals every other day and have one NPS coral doing well so I know there is plenty of food.

Not implying po4 or no3 are not necessary….

Saw that coming!
But it's a good conversation on a diluted topic. It seems many people want to think corals need a certain(high, imo)no3/p04 or they are starving. Just the fact that they are called "nutrients", rather than considered waste products on N/P, is very telling. Many people seem to disregard the mouths on these creatures, and strive for crystal clear water/ sand- stripping the foods from the water and make the corals survive without. 1ppm n03/.01 po4 is plenty if sufficient food in water column. Heavy in/ heavy out.
Good topic!

 

[CHSUB]

Many people seem to disregard the mouths on these creatures,

Yes, it is particularly amazing how much food corals capture. I have a Fat Head Dendros that is doing well and really doesn’t consume any more food than many of my other corals, at least appears not to?