GHA outburst 0 phosphates

[crazybanana2]

Hey guys, currently im dosing neophos at 0.1 ppm for weeks now because i was bottomed out at 0 and had dinos, which has now turned my tank into a gha outburst. I added a uv sterilizer yesterday and I think the dinos are starting to die back a bit, but i cannot fix the underlying issue which was my 0 phosphate. I’ve dosed so much and it still doesn’t raise. My plan is to manual removal the gha and increase my CUC as i only have 2 trochus snails and 2 cerith snails. So maybe a tuxedo urchin? or astrea snails too. I’m wondering if anyone can help guide me, as to raise my phosphate I would have to manually remove and increase the predators for GHA, as that’s whats consuming the phosphate that ive been dosing every night.

 

[Saltyreef]

How old is the tank?

 

[CHSUB]

Stop dosing po4! It was never needed….gasoline doesn’t put out fires!

 

[crazybanana2]

How old is the tank?

The tank is about 7-8 months old

 

[crazybanana2]

Stop dosing po4! It was never needed….gasoline doesn’t put out fires!

My phosphate would be bottomed out though

 

[Saltyreef]

My phosphate would be bottomed out though

I would not dose anything at the moment and start working on removing the algae by hand during water changes. Do not add anymore lifeforms into the tank. Did you start the tank with liverock or dryrock?

 

[Sam7]

there are a ton of phosphates the algae is using it all so your test is not detecting it

 

[Sam7]

like said above hand clean that alage from the tank....stop adding liquid of hope....and do water changes when needed and let the tank mature.....in time with patients it will become beautiful

 

[crazybanana2]

I would not dose anything at the moment and start working on removing the algae by hand during water changes. Do not add anymore lifeforms into the tank. Did you start the tank with liverock or dryrock?

I started the tank with dryrock.

 

[Sam7]

I started the tank with dryrock.

most of us have....it can be a long road but you can come out with a awesome tank

 

[Saltyreef]

The issue you are having is usually adherent of tanks started with dry rock. As said above. It will take a long time before you see stability. The substrate and aquascape will bind p04 and your test kits will show low to non existant p04 in water column.

 

[crazybanana2]

most of us have....it can be a long road but you can come out with a awesome tank

I’ll keep trying. It’s such a hard and confusing situation right now but I’ll try everything out

 

[Sam7]

I’ll keep trying. It’s such a hard and confusing situation right now but I’ll try everything out

you can do it. I did it. Stay the course

 

[CHSUB]

My phosphate would be bottomed out though

Like others said, stop the dosing!

Here is my po4 in the first year…no dosing po4 started with dry rock, I do spot feed the corals however.


And the tank now at year 2.5

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

If algae is growing and thriving, then the water has plenty of nutrients to feed it. I don't beleive test results are accurate when a tank has that much algae, the algae consumes the nutrients faster than corals do. I would not dose nutrients to a tank with an algae problem.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

What about your nitrates? What are those?

 

[crazybanana2]

What about your nitrates? What are those?

My nitrates are low, about 2

 

[CHSUB]

My nitrates are low, about 2

That is moderate but not close to “low”….

 

[EnterName]

My nitrates are low, about 2

All good, don't worry.

Nitrate is just one of many nitrogen sources (ammonia, urea and amino acids are other examples). Ammonia is generally preferred by pretty much all organisms because it can be taken up directly, while nitrate needs to be reduced back to ammonia before it can be consumed. This requires energy and precious trace elements, which can be limited, so nitrate often stays untouched if other sources are available.

Compared to natural coral reefs, where nitrate is usually well below 0.03ppm, your 2ppm is actually quite high (which is what CHSUB is referring to).
To be fair, natural reefs offer more alternative nitrogen sources than our tanks do (amino acids, for example, disappear extremely fast after being introduced in our tanks), so most people recommend running nitrate much higher than nature would offer. This ensures corals always have enough, and it's the reason why Randy (our favorite reef chemist ) recommends keeping nitrate detectable.

Bottoming out with phosphate (especially during the first year) is pretty normal as well. Phosphate constantly redissolves and binds to calcium carbonate (rocks & substrate), and it takes a while until so much phosphate is bound that it redissolves faster than it precipitates. Remember that your corals can digest particulate matter so they can get some phosphate through other means and there are also organic phosphates which your test won't pick up but some organisms have learned to make use of.

 

[Boehmtown]

Get a sea hare to clear it out and as many snails, hermits and crabs as you can afford after you pass on the sea hare. Gha is the easiest.