Dosing Neophose for 7 days. Still have 0.00 Po4

[n4s]

My sps frags are on the pale side and some have stn. My po4 has been 0 since the start of the tank (8 months ago).

I've started dosing 3ml of nephos for the past 7 days on 280-300 gallons of water volume and still dont have a Po4 reading. Checking every morning. Also been feeding very heavy.
Using both Hanna low range and phosphorous ulr. Both are 0.
Nitrates are 5ish.

I have not done any water changes and have no algae anywhere. I have a algae turf scrubber running 10 hours and just getting diatoms. I have diatoms in display too otherwise I would turn it off. Same with protein skimmer.

Am I using the correct dose of neophos for 300 gallons? Is it normal for the tank to use up the po4 that quick? Do I just keep dosing everyday until I get a reading or add more neophos per dose?

 

[Shineymoose]

That size tank, plus whatever stock is in there aside from corals, is a lot of tank for the phosphate to get lost in. You still haven't cleared the diatoms phase. That's something you have to let run its course.

The acros probably aren't happy simply because the tank is new. Nothing is stable yet. It is a lot of space, don't get me wrong, the swing shouldn't be that bad, but you may have parameter swings that are ticking them off.

List any parameters you have and a stock list.

How much is heavy feeding? When did you introduce the acros? How did you start the tank, as in, did you use any live rock or all dead rock?

 

[n4s]

I started with dryrock Pukani (150lbs) 10-11 months ago cycled in a trough while dosing lanthanum chloride until the po4 was 0. Always used RO/DI with 0 TDS. The diatoms are still lingering for some reason. But much better as the weeks go on.
LPS and most zoas are doing fine. Just SPS frags are pale (not all of them). As far as parameters go its just the po4 that needs to be raised and thinking it'll help with the sps color. I started introducing to corals from my quarantine tank 7 months ago.

I feed about 3 cubes Mysis. 1/2 sheet of nori. TBS flake food and 2 rotations of pellets auto feeder everyday. (give or take)
Dose 1 ml every other day of Red Sea Coral colors A,B,C,D

Stocklist:
Foxface
Kole Tang
5 lyretail Anthias
Redhead wrasse
Lubocks wrasse
2 yellow wrasse
2 clowns
blue damsal
2 Banggai cardinal
blue/green chromis
yellow gobi
(yellow tang and mimic tang are getting out of quarantine tonight and into the display)

Salinity: 35ppt
Alk; 140-143 (test everyday with Hannah. Been very stable with 2 part)
Calcium: 425
Magnesium: 1450
No3: 5-10 (dose stump remover when it drops to 2.5)
Po4: 0.00
Potassium: 420

 

[n4s]

I'm up to dosing 12ml every day of neophos and testing everyday. I did get a reading of 3ppb on the Hanna ULR for a day but went back to 0 the next day. Also tested on a separate Hanna low range phosphate.
Is it normal for the tank to be using this much Po4?
Nitrates are currently around 25.
Still no Algae anywhere. Even on Algae turf scrubber. I do have a little Cyano, just a small patch or 2.

One strange but positive notice. When I stated dosing the Po4 I have to clean the glass less. Use to be everyday. This is the first time I haven't cleaned the glass in 3 days since the tank has been running and its still clean I think it was just diatoms though and they are on the way out. Not sure if its related to the Po4 dosing or just coincidence.

 

[CoralWealth]

I'm up to dosing 12ml every day of neophos and testing everyday. I did get a reading of 3ppb on the Hanna ULR for a day but went back to 0 the next day. Also tested on a separate Hanna low range phosphate.
Is it normal for the tank to be using this much Po4?
Nitrates are currently around 25.
Still no Algae anywhere. Even on Algae turf scrubber. I do have a little Cyano, just a small patch or 2.

One strange but positive notice. When I stated dosing the Po4 I have to clean the glass less. Use to be everyday. This is the first time I haven't cleaned the glass in 3 days since the tank has been running and its still clean I think it was just diatoms though and they are on the way out. Not sure if its related to the Po4 dosing or just coincidence.

I am somewhat in the same boat, wish I could help but I am here to follow along.

Getting your phosphates up should hopefully lower your nitrates too because with phosphates at 0 and nitrates at 25, that is pretty unbalanced.

Post some pictures of your tank and corals.

 

[n4s]

Finally got it up to 4ppb on the Hanna ULR. I'm going to keep dosing the 12 ml daily until I get to .003 phosphates. Also hope the dosing brings the No3 down a little. I have noticed a very slight increase in color since getting some po4. Here are some pics of the frags today.

 

[rocknut]

I'll be following along as well, as I am in the exact same spot with my 150 gallon tank. My NO3 got up to between 16-32 on the Red Sea test kit. I have been carbon dosing with Red Sea NoPoX for the past 9-10 months, and was down to a dose of 3ml/day, based on having a low PO4 reading of 3-5 on the Hanna Phosphorus test kit. My corals started looking pretty rough a few weeks ago, which was also the time my PO4 bottomed out at ZERO, and my NO3 jumped from around 8, up to 16+. Anyway, I am also dosing NeoPhos in an effort to kick start the NoPoX, and after adding 2ml/day for the past three days, it is still at ZERO. I am doing 25% water changes to hopefully bring the NO3 back down to around 10, thinking that if I can bring the PO4 up to 0.03, the carbon dosing should get things lined back up. Based on your findings, I might push my NeoPhos dose up to 5-6ml/day.
Good luck, and keep everyone posted!

 

[n4s]

Finally got my po4 steady between .025-.035
At first I had to dose 15ml per day per 280gallons for a little over a week. Testing everyday. When I finally got a reading I lowered the dose to 10ml every day for another week and now 5ml every few days For it to stay around .03 po4.
I'm still dosing 5ml every 3 days to keep it around .03 the No3 is 5
I'm also reducing the photoperiod of the ATS. Still no algae in tank and a little growing on ATS.
Coral colors improved getting po4 in the system. You can see by previous post 3 weeks ago the improvement. More noticeable in person than photo though.

 

[Bacon505]

What are you running for your filtration?

 

[n4s]

Reef Octopus 250int (which is undersized for my water volume and bioload) and Algae Turf scrubber running for 6 hours.

 

[Bacon505]

if you think your system is too clean then cut down on filtration, its a waste of money to dose whatever you're dosing to get po4 when you can get it from fish waste.

 

[Mattrg02]

I see a lot of bare bottom tanks and a lot of people having to dose nutrients, myself included. Could it be that our tanks, missing their sandbed, aren't as capable of "storing" nutrients?

Back when I had a sandbed, I couldn't keep my nutrients down. I had algae problems galore, but also never had a problem with sps. Now, bare bottom, I have to dose nitrates and phosphates, else they go to zero and corals die.

I'd rather dose, in these controlled fashions, nutrients rather than have to run a skimmer and all that jazz. No sump either.

 

[Bacon505]

Your sps is not that bad but if you think po4 is an issue then turn your ats off.

 

[rocknut]

Just wanted to chime in, because I was/am in the same situation. I dosed 6/ml day of Brightwell NeoPhos to my 150 gallon for about 10 days before getting any sort of reading (even then only between 1-3 ppb). Once I had a reading for two straight days, I reduced it to 5ml/day, and the phosphate zeroed out again. I have since cut back the dose to 2ml/day, and my Hanna Phosphorus checker is still showing "0", but my corals have started to look better, so I'm just going with it for now. Honestly, adding this was making me nervous, even though I know many have done it successfully. I have tried to increase feeding, and I have added a few more fish hoping to get some phosphate into the tank naturally, so I can eliminate the NeoPhos dose altogether...