Blopple
Active Member
Hello!
Historical tank parameters: Salinity 1.026, Alk 8.3-8.7, Ca++ 390-420, Nitrate 20-25, Phos .08-.1 (testing error?)
Current tank parameters as of today - Salinity 1.026, Alk 8.5, Ca++ 420, Nitrate 16.9 (intentionally lowering), Phos 0.00
My system is a 40g AIO that's 7 months old or so and is run at 78f. I do not test pH or Mg++. I dose 5mL/day of AFR. I run my skimmer 10-20% of the time. More lately in an attempt to reduce nitrates. I average about a 5g water change per week.
I feed 1-2 times per day alternating between flake, PE mysis pellets, and a frozen mix of unrinsed spirulina brine/mysis/calanis. I -VERY- rarely feed a tiny amount of Reef Chili at night for some of the LPS. Like twice a month maybe. Recently reduced d/t a small vermetid population.
My build thread is fairly detailed and up to date-ish if anyone needs more info.
I did a quick search, but didn't see a whole lot on this topic. My nitrates are relatively high which I don't mind 20-25 or so. I've always thought my phosphates were generally in line (ratio off a bit) with that or even high, however I realized I was making a testing error. I tried to cluster tank maintenance so I would usually test after cleaning sand, scrubbing algae, feeding or something else. I've also recently decreased my feeding a bit to try to bring the nitrates down slightly which seems to have worked.
I started testing phos -before- other maintenance and I regularly come up with 0 or .01. I figured it wasn't a big deal since the tank and corals looked happy. Recently I have started noticing some reduced polyp extension (nothing too drastic), reduced growth on softies, and for some reason I have never been able to keep clove polyps alive.
I have never had significant algae problems. There is some minimal film algae on the rocks, sand, and glass, and a minor amount of what I believe is 'turf' algae that has recently started to 'crumble' and flake away (along with the clove polyps and general polyp extension this was another thing that led me to think about low phos).
I'm wondering if low phos is my problem. And if so, how did this happen? Generally speaking wouldn't the feeding which is my only nutrient input also be adding phos? My cursory search before posting seems to indicate that most people experience the opposite problem (Low nitrate, high phos)
Should I dose phos?
Historical tank parameters: Salinity 1.026, Alk 8.3-8.7, Ca++ 390-420, Nitrate 20-25, Phos .08-.1 (testing error?)
Current tank parameters as of today - Salinity 1.026, Alk 8.5, Ca++ 420, Nitrate 16.9 (intentionally lowering), Phos 0.00
My system is a 40g AIO that's 7 months old or so and is run at 78f. I do not test pH or Mg++. I dose 5mL/day of AFR. I run my skimmer 10-20% of the time. More lately in an attempt to reduce nitrates. I average about a 5g water change per week.
I feed 1-2 times per day alternating between flake, PE mysis pellets, and a frozen mix of unrinsed spirulina brine/mysis/calanis. I -VERY- rarely feed a tiny amount of Reef Chili at night for some of the LPS. Like twice a month maybe. Recently reduced d/t a small vermetid population.
My build thread is fairly detailed and up to date-ish if anyone needs more info.
I did a quick search, but didn't see a whole lot on this topic. My nitrates are relatively high which I don't mind 20-25 or so. I've always thought my phosphates were generally in line (ratio off a bit) with that or even high, however I realized I was making a testing error. I tried to cluster tank maintenance so I would usually test after cleaning sand, scrubbing algae, feeding or something else. I've also recently decreased my feeding a bit to try to bring the nitrates down slightly which seems to have worked.
I started testing phos -before- other maintenance and I regularly come up with 0 or .01. I figured it wasn't a big deal since the tank and corals looked happy. Recently I have started noticing some reduced polyp extension (nothing too drastic), reduced growth on softies, and for some reason I have never been able to keep clove polyps alive.
I have never had significant algae problems. There is some minimal film algae on the rocks, sand, and glass, and a minor amount of what I believe is 'turf' algae that has recently started to 'crumble' and flake away (along with the clove polyps and general polyp extension this was another thing that led me to think about low phos).
I'm wondering if low phos is my problem. And if so, how did this happen? Generally speaking wouldn't the feeding which is my only nutrient input also be adding phos? My cursory search before posting seems to indicate that most people experience the opposite problem (Low nitrate, high phos)
Should I dose phos?
