How long can phosphates leach

[Sam22]

As the tittle says. I had a post here before about a faulty Red Sea pro phosphate kit I had and when I got the Hanna phosphorus I found my phosphate to be about 140ppb.
I use rowa phos and for the past few weeks test my phosphate everyday at the same time I got them down to 13-15ppb. As they crept up usually after about 5-6 days I’d swap out the rowaphos and it would go back down so with daily testing I could keep it pretty stable and low 2 nights ago was the first night I didn’t test and yesterday when I tested they were up to 90ppb. Testing only takes 5 min so I don’t mind doing it everyday I was just wondering how long can the phosphate continue to leach?

 

[GoVols]

As the tittle says. I had a post here before about a faulty Red Sea pro phosphate kit I had and when I got the Hanna phosphorus I found my phosphate to be about 140ppb.
I use rowa phos and for the past few weeks test my phosphate everyday at the same time I got them down to 13-15ppb. As they crept up usually after about 5-6 days I’d swap out the rowaphos and it would go back down so with daily testing I could keep it pretty stable and low 2 nights ago was the first night I didn’t test and yesterday when I tested they were up to 90ppb. Testing only takes 5 min so I don’t mind doing it everyday I was just wondering how long can the phosphate continue to leach?

Not sure

Caught my old live rock leaching phos back in 2015 and have tumbled (shimmering) Rowa inside its own reactor, to this day.

 

[lapin]

Could you be somehow adding Po4 ?
Food, Water maybe?

Rocks leaching phosphate

Working towards setting my tank back up. I have always bought dry rock from my lfs and seeded from maybe a piece or two of live. Other then that I cycle by throwing a shrimp in to start it. Have on every tank I set up. Thinking ahead a bit on this one, almost every tank I battle with HA and...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Sam22]

I mainly feed frozen I do use flake and pellets for variety but not often and I only feed once per day. My source water is 0tds and when mixing up fresh salt it tests at 7ppb. I think when first getting corals I went ott with reef roids and that’s where I got the phosphate up so high. I’ve got it back down and with testing everyday can change rowaphos out before it rises. at the moment I use about 3 teaspoons and it lasts 5-6 days so it’s not to bad was just wondering if at some point it would start to last longer so instead of changing every few days it would last a few weeks

 

[Dkmoo]

Unless you are feeding amino only, all your food contain P. Reefroid is from plankton which is 16N to 1P which avg compared to ocean as a whole.

Algae and coral absorb lower P than avg (22N:1P). Bacteria, pods, fish absorb more P than coral (dont remember exact numbers but most are higher than avg, ie, fish is 5:1). In ocean, biodiversity average out to about 16:1. In our tanks the lack of diversity and heavy emphasis in coral and algae is whats causing excess P since consumption of P avg lower than 16:1

Adding more diversity will increase P absorption.

Algae based flakes lean towards the "high N low P" side, plankton-based flake will be avg, meat based will be "low N high P" side

Frozen meat tend to be on the low N high P side.

 

[Sam22]

So I have ocean nutrition spirulina flake and nori is it a good idea to start feed a bit more if that and a little less frozen. My nitrates have always been consistently low about 1ppm

 

[Dkmoo]

Yup should help, also adding more bacteria if you can. Over time should get better keep up with husbandry and as your tank matures with more worms, pods, etc..

If you have fuge, dosing nitrate can help too bc since algae absorbs at the fixed 20:1 ratio, if your nitrate is low (looks like it is) it will also prevent your algae from growing and absorbing P. When N and P ratio is off, reducing P can work, but so can increasing N bc it'll unlock growth and increase absorption.

 

[Sam22]

Ye I have a fuge I add a couple 100ml pack a week as I have a mandarin and what to make sure there’s always plenty of pods I have a few pineapple sponges to tank only 7 months old tho. I do have a fuge so is there a N Pom to aim for? Also what bottled bacteria I cycles the tank with dr Tim’s should I add that in again?

 

[Dkmoo]

5ppm to 10ppm no3

But in all honesty are you seeing any problems with your current po4 levels? The issue here is a lot of times we try to "chase numbers" and lose sight of what's really happening in the tank. Keep in mind what we are measuring is only the no3po4 thats left in the water after the tanks biological process finishes. And it's a very complicated process. Unnecessarily fiddling with it just for the sake of chasing numbers can have unintended consequences esp when we don't fully understand the exact biological processes thats causing the remaining level to end up where they are.

If you believe a change is necessary, just remember to do so slowly.

 

[ZoWhat]

I've been using Blue Life Phosphate RX for years. I drop 30 droplets directly into my DT every Sunday night for a 240g total water volume as preventative-maintenance. ZERO issues, losses. All fish, inverts just fine.