Dosing PhosphateE daily?

[Gho5t]

Has anyone setup PhosphateE on a dosing pump to dose daily? My phosphates rise on a daily basis and I've tried cutting all the way back to no feeding and they still rise. I'm thinking maybe it's leaching out from the rock?

Currently NO3 is 7.1 and PO4 is .12. I'm trying to get my NO3 up to 10 by dosing NeoNitro. If I don't dose nitrates they drop very low. My phosphates rise about .03-.06 a day regardless of how much I feed.

I've run RowaPhos but it was always a crapshoot if I was going to 0 out my phosphates or when it would expire.

PhosphateE seems very predictable, so much so that I was thinking I could put it on a dosing pump. Right now my tank is needing about 5ml a week to keep from endlessly rising. I was thinking of dosing 1ml a day in the middle of the night directly into the protein skimmer. I haven't come across any mentions of issues with long term continuous use.

I've got an NP that is actually accurate compared to my Hanna checkers so I can keep a close eye on the PO4 trends.

Thoughts?

 

[KrisReef]

If everything you stated is true, then your dosing would be fine for some amount of time but eventually the equilbrium source of P will be exhausted in your system. The level's measured would not change until you reach exhaustion and then the levels should drop. When you get to the drop off, if you are measuring P you should see it dropping and stop dosing E before it zeros out. Key to your plan is to know who often you need to test to detect the exhaustion level.

 

[Gho5t]

Thanks.. that's exactly what I was thinking as well. The NP tests daily and I'm still doing weekly Hanna tests to make sure the NP is behaving. :) As soon as I see the trend reverse I'll stop the dosing.

 

[KrisReef]

Thanks.. that's exactly what I was thinking as well. The NP tests daily and I'm still doing weekly Hanna tests to make sure the NP is behaving. :) As soon as I see the trend reverse I'll stop the dosing.

Recommend keeping eyes on the critters as they sometimes decide the levels are too low before the test kits. :smiling-face-with-sunglasses: