High phosphate.

[Notsolostfish]

My tank doing amazing, corals are happy, its just my phosphate at 0.43. Tank is 1 year and 6 months roughly. Nitrate is 14.3. Checked with hanna checker. I have no algae beside the brown film i get weekly. But thats about it. Do i need to so anything?

 

[Uncle99]

My tank doing amazing, corals are happy, its just my phosphate at 0.43. Tank is 1 year and 6 months roughly. Nitrate is 14.3. Checked with hanna checker. I have no algae beside the brown film i get weekly. But thats about it. Do i need to so anything?

I ran at least 6 months at .4ppm with no issues.
I did lower it 6 months ago now to -.15 to .2ppm, still see no difference.

Some say high phosphate is lower growth, but I’ve not seen that.

 

[BryanM]

Tank looks good, critters are happy, you certainly don't need to do anything.

There's plenty of "dirty" high nutrient tanks around here that do great.

If I felt compelled to reduce phos in your tank, I would do it slowly. I am personally not a fan of .02-.06 phosphate numbers... But I am also very skittish about bottoming out nutrients after my dino outbreak.

 

[Miami Reef]

By Randy:

https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/randy’s-thoughts-on-nutrient-target-ranges.1087/
4. What targets seem reasonable? Of course, that depends on all the other factors at play, such as types of corals, availability of ammonia, particulate foods, etc. However, for a mature mixed reef, this would be how I personally would run it:

• Let nitrate float between 5 ppm and 50 ppm. I’d use gentle export in this range, such as growing macroalgae.
• Above 50 ppm, I’d begin to focus more on reducing it, by organic carbon dosing, turf or macroalgae, etc.
• Below 5 ppm, I’d begin to dose ammonia or feed more. The target level might drop lower if dosing ammonia, just like the heavy in/heavy out scenario where nitrate may not be as needed.
• Let phosphate float between about 0.06 ppm and 0.3 ppm. This range is higher than I’ve recommended in the past. I’d use gentle export in this range, such as growing macroalgae.
• Above about 0.3 ppm, I’d begin to focus more on reducing it, by turf or macroalgae, or a binder such as GFO or lanthanum (has its own risks to tangs). If a binder: GO SLOW. Turf and macroalgae will typically be slow enough.
• Below 0.06 ppm, I’d begin to dose sodium phosphate or feed more to get the level up.

 

[zheka757]

By Randy:

https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/randy’s-thoughts-on-nutrient-target-ranges.1087/
4. What targets seem reasonable? Of course, that depends on all the other factors at play, such as types of corals, availability of ammonia, particulate foods, etc. However, for a mature mixed reef, this would be how I personally would run it:

• Let nitrate float between 5 ppm and 50 ppm. I’d use gentle export in this range, such as growing macroalgae.
• Above 50 ppm, I’d begin to focus more on reducing it, by organic carbon dosing, turf or macroalgae, etc.
• Below 5 ppm, I’d begin to dose ammonia or feed more. The target level might drop lower if dosing ammonia, just like the heavy in/heavy out scenario where nitrate may not be as needed.
• Let phosphate float between about 0.06 ppm and 0.3 ppm. This range is higher than I’ve recommended in the past. I’d use gentle export in this range, such as growing macroalgae.
• Above about 0.3 ppm, I’d begin to focus more on reducing it, by turf or macroalgae, or a binder such as GFO or lanthanum (has its own risks to tangs). If a binder: GO SLOW. Turf and macroalgae will typically be slow enough.
• Below 0.06 ppm, I’d begin to dose sodium phosphate or feed more to get the level up.

what would you do if you have high phosphate but almost not detectable nitrates?

 

[Miami Reef]

what would you do if you have high phosphate but almost not detectable nitrates?

Are you asking me or Randy?

If you were asking me, I’d either use GFO or Lanthanum, as both of these methods only reduce Phosphate and not have any effect on Nitrate.

 

[BryanM]

what would you do if you have high phosphate but almost not detectable nitrates?

I would start by dosing to increase nitrates, and formulate a long term plan after that

 

[buruskeee]

what would you do if you have high phosphate but almost not detectable nitrates?

Nitrates aren’t as important as the hobby makes it seem. Nitrates are the last source of food for corals, they actually turn it back into ammonia. You want detectable nitrates and that’s just to make sure there’s enough feeding bacteria (nitrate is the waste after it’s converted). Phosphorus is the more important nutrient to monitor.

So as long as you’re detectable on nitrate, it doesn’t matter if it’s 1ppm or 50ppm. It’s all the same IMO. Some people like 5-10ppm just as a safe buffer to keep it from bottoming out.

I have to dose up nitrate so I dose ammonia and just enough to sustain 2ppm nitrate reliably.

GFO is safer but more expensive. Lanth is cheaper but more risky. If I’m high (like 0.3) then I use GFO. If I’m creeping up from 0.2 and creeping to 0.21 etc, I dose a tiny bit of lanth to keep it in check and bring it down to maybe 0.15 over a week or 2 (go very slow with lanth and triple check your dosage amount (and then cut it in half split between a few days).

 

[zheka757]

Thank you for replying guys. I have being using phosphateE by britewell with great success of lowering it down with no side effects. I just need to see how I can manage it more naturally by keeping it down with 10 large fat tangs i got im my 500 gallon system.

 

[QuinnLee512]

I have been battling high phosphates for the past week. Just lost a torch today. It's at .4 today. It got down to .1 one day then up to .5 the next. I've checked my ATO water. Only feeding frozen. A pellet twice a day. Been using Rowa and Phosphate-E without much success. Any idea where the phosphates are coming from? Tank is about 1 year old.