Help. Phosphates suddenly drop to zero. Dosing doesnt heelp

[125mph]

Not sure whats going on but my reef system's phosphates dropped to zero all of a sudden. They usually around 0.06.

I usually dose NeoPhos if it drops too low but this time its not helping. I dose NeoPhos and test within 10 minutes, it shows 0.03-0.04.. Then in one hour its back to 0.00. I've dosed about 6 times today and same thing.. It initially has some phosphates after dosing, then drops to zero. There are no new rocks, no new sand.

One thing is, this is a fishless reef system for the last 10 weeks due to going fallow. I havent had to feed the system since the phosphates for some reason stayed stable at at 0.06 for a long long time. Before that i was dropping frozen foods or reefroids when I needed to boost nitrates/phosphates or dosing NeoPhos.

Any ideas?

 

[125mph]

Another thing to note, in case this hellps.. I had a dino problem 6 weeks ago.. fixed it and now I have a major GHA problem that been trying to fix.. I dont believe the GHA can be taking all the phosphates within a matter of minutes?

 

[Dan_P]

Another thing to note, in case this hellps.. I had a dino problem 6 weeks ago.. fixed it and now I have a major GHA problem that been trying to fix.. I dont believe the GHA can be taking all the phosphates within a matter of minutes?

In a brightly lit aquarium algae is capable of quickly consuming nitrate and phosphate. Is this a new aquarium?

 

[125mph]

Over a year old, mainly sps tank

 

[VintageReefer]

You probably are not truly zero and algae is consuming your excess.

 

[125mph]

You probably are not truly zero and algae is consuming your excess.

So the phosphate going into the system is equally being used by the algae and corals? So what to do? Do I dose or do I just let it be?

6 months ago my phosphate dropped badly because I dosed prazi and my sps really did not do well. When I figured it out, I dosed NeoPhos and that fixed the sps problem in a week.

Right now SPS appear fine and unbothered.

This morning, just checked again it shows zero, so I just dosed again.. probably will show zero in an hour

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Assuming its not test error, my recommendation is simply dose more.

 

[125mph]

No test error. I am using both the phosphate ulr and the phosphorus ulr to confirm and with different reagent lots.

 

[125mph]

Also strange thing is, no matter how much I dose neophos, it appears to cap out at 0.04… then in an hour drops to 0.00.

I have some trisodium phosphate coming from amazon tomorrow to see if that csn bring levels up.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Dosing enough will do the trick. :)

 

[BryanM]

If its not a testing error then dosing more seems to be the only thing you can do.

 

[125mph]

Thanks! Will continue to dose. But since I have a gha problem, will this fuel the gha more?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Thanks! Will continue to dose. But since I have a gha problem, will this fuel the gha more?

Maybe, maybe not. Can you post a tank picture?

 

[Timfish]

Thanks! Will continue to dose. But since I have a gha problem, will this fuel the gha more?

Adding PO4 obviously is going to help any algae. But it is also going to help prevent your corals from potentially suffering from a PO4 deficiency and help them compete against the algae. I would add urchins like the short spine pink or green from Florida and the gulf, halloween and tuxedo and also use steel straws to manually remove algae (this combination is used on reefs in the wild). FWIW, cryptic sponges in your system can remove and sequester large amounts of phosphate in crystalline form pretty fast.

 

[125mph]

Maybe, maybe not. Can you post a tank picture?

Lights off

 

[125mph]

Adding PO4 obviously is going to help any algae. But it is also going to help prevent your corals from potentially suffering from a PO4 deficiency and help them compete against the algae. I would add urchins like the short spine pink or green from Florida and the gulf, halloween and tuxedo and also use steel straws to manually remove algae (this combination is used on reefs in the wild). FWIW, cryptic sponges in your system can remove and sequester large amounts of phosphate in crystalline form pretty fast.

I do have a tuxedo urchin but seems like he just eats coraline and doesnt eat gha lol..

I also may have some spongues between my zoas.. I can remove some of them.

 

[Lasse]

Test to dose PO4 when the light is off and test again in the morning before light goes on. If your problem is photosynthetic uptake you will have nearly the same in the morning as in the evening after light got off - IMO

If its going down even during darkness -> sponge uptake or non biological uptake, If its not going down - photosynthetic uptake. It can be that way that your PO4 storage in rocks and sand has been used during the fallow period and that it is now going back to normal (when you dose)

Note that there are degrees in the inferno - some can be taken up by photosynthesis - some by sponges and some by non-biological processes. Dose the equivalent of 0.05 - 0.1 in the evening and take some samples during the night/early morning when it is dark and you will get a hint of what you are battling.

As others say - dose

Sincerely Lasse

 

[125mph]

Is this thing a sponge? I’ve remived it several times but keeps the coming back. Looks white and almost solid piece of tissue.

 

[BryanM]

Is this thing a sponge? I’ve remived it several times but keeps the coming back. Looks white and almost solid piece of tissue.

Hard to tell, but likely a sponge.

 

[Miami Reef]

This may help:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/d...ly-raise-phosphate-in-reef-aquariums.1109919/