How much phosphate is too much

[Love the Tang]

All my water parameters are good, my phosphate is at .25 is this too high my tank is the beginning of a general reef. I keep getting different answers about what the phosphate should be at and would like R2R's opinion.

 

[gettaReef]

Yes, much too high if you plan to keep coral; well, anything beyond softies. This high level will most likely not affect any fish. However, if you want to keep SPS or LPS, the standard phosphate level to shoot for is 0.03. To bring levels down you could use something like a phosphate removal chemical (many to choose from) but this is only a very short term solution and the level will go back up quickly. To keep healthy coral and establish flourishing system you will need to find the source of the problem and install some method of reducing phosphates,if you have not already, (consistent water changes, GFO reactor, carbon dosing, etc...).

 

[oscarinw]

This is a question that might find several or more valid answers. However, it all depends on what you are intending to keep. While .25 can be managed by fish in general, I think it is an overall high level for a reef aquarium. I like to keep my tank at under 0.1 but sea Phosphate levels are less than a third of that (under 0.03). So I think that the most important point is to adopt a phosphate management strategy for your system. Aside from water changes and feeding appropriately you can look into chemical filtering or carbon dosing as viable solutions. With all this said, I would suggest to start a disciplined regime of water changes and test to see how that is tackling your phosphate issues. After that, you can start cutting back on feeding a little bit and see if that helps. If none of these do, keep using the different tools. Maintaining good flow keeps organics suspended and more filtered so flow is also important on this...
I hope this sheds some light.

 

[Paul C.]

This is probably one of the most opinionated subjects. I can not offer any advice concerning SPS. However my chalice collection and zoas do like a dirtier tank. Only advice i would offer, is to monitor, and be prepared to do something if things dont look happy. Also, dont chase numbers. If your tank is stable there, i think you'd be fine. Your more than welcome to PM me. I dont want to start any chaos with what a number should be.

 

[Love the Tang]

Thanks for the replys I have. 40 gallon rant soon to upgrade to 125 but my phosphates have been .25 since day 3 of the beginning of my tank and until a week ago all zoos pally sand Xenia were doing fine now my Xenia has melted and some of my Zoa are shriveling up. I just did a 10 gallon water change last night and added one of those green phosphate removal filters to the tank. I will check my levels today this evening.

 

[TarHeelReefer22]

Are you using tap water to make your saltwater or top off? where is the po4 coming from? If you feed frozen foods and not straining the product before adding it to the tank you could just be adding po4 slowly to the tank and it builds up after a while. Then if on top of this you are using tap water that has po4 in it you are just increasing the levels and a water change isn't helping. Any reactors or media?

 

[Eckolancer]

My phosphates are up as high as .30 and low as .10 never have/had any issues growing SPS in my tank. Right now sitting close to .20 with good growth on sps each day. Also love to feed my fish only change water every few weeks. Best investment was my dosers, that has helped a lot on growth. Here is a few pics taken with iphone

 

[Eckolancer]

 

[Eckolancer]

Only thing I notice is with phosphate higher I do get a slight green hue on the corals. Once I lower phosphates it goes away and more of the red tints come out in the corals.

 

[Love the Tang]

I am using ro/di water for my top offs and when I mix my salt water I feed frozen food every other day but only 1 ice cube. My other water parameters are ph high 8.4, ammonia 0 ppm, nitrite 0ppm, nitrate 0ppm, calcium 460 ppm, magnesium 1200ppm, kh corbonate 10kh, and phosphate .25, temp 77-81. I will run tests on phosphates again tonight.

 

[goodtimes]

My po4 are at .4 and the soft corals are doing great. I've lost a couple sps but my montis are growing great. In a mixed reef I guess its hard to put a definite number on some parameters. I have some gha though so I'm installing a gfo reactor soon.

 

[gettaReef]

I'd raise Mg to 1350. Other parameters are great (except phosphate). You could also rinse cubes in RODI and strain before using. Also test RODI for phosphates. Do you run GFO or biopellets? After giving your new phosphate filter a chance, I'd try a GFO reactor. What is your filtration currently? Also, what phos test kit you using? I'd get another good quality kit to double check it (red sea, Salifert, Elos, hanna meter are all reliable).

 

[Love the Tang]

I'm using the phosphate test that came with the API reef master kit I'm working on replacing them with higher quality kits when I can. I am not using bio pellets or GFO I have a dual HOB skimmer with a cascade 300 filter I replace filters once a month.

 

[Eckolancer]

My params are ammonia, nitrate, nitrite all 0. Cal 490, alk 10, mag 1420, Salinity 1.027

 

[Love the Tang]

We'll come to find out the API test kit could not calculate my phosphate I got a test kit from Red Sea and tested .12 . also is the Red Sea kit any good? I saw you all recommend salifert and other brands how does the Red Sea compare.

 

[howaboutme]

Read up about redfield ratio. Basically, if you are nitrate limited, you may have trouble lowering your PO4. I am in the same boat so I am dosing KNO3 to bring up my NO3 to at least 2ppm. I am just beginning this process so we'll see what happens.

Also, do you have algae of any kind? If so, your algae will consume PO4 faster so you will get misleading readings anyways. Visually, by seeing if you have algae, is the best way initially to know if you have too high of PO4. Once your algae goes away, a tester will be more accurate.

 

[Love the Tang]

I have no algae I have what is growing on my live rock and coralline growing very well.

This is what my live rock looks like

 

[YVR]

I battled phosphates for a while. I think much of it was coming in from the food I was feeding my tank. I started using Tropic Marin Elimi-Phos about 6 months ago and haven't had an issue since.

 

[marinelife]

I had 1.09 for over a year and my SPS corals had awesome color. I am using pool phosphate remover to get it lower. I am down to .07 after 3 months

 

[vetteguy53081]

THIS can be a nightmare. Often associated with over feeding.