Maintaining my phosphates at .1 vinegar, vodka, or NOPOX?

[Miami Reef]

My nitrates are at 5ppm and phosphates were .1. But I noticed that phosphates are slowly climbing because of my rigorous feeding.

I heard vodka doesn’t really work for phosphates like vinegar but I’m afraid the vinegar will lower my nitrates as well.


I don’t want to dose lanthanum chloride anymore. I did something stupid because I don’t think I mixed the vial well so it said my PO4 went from 30ppb to 40+PPB. I dosed a little too much and my phosphates are a little too low.

How can I sustainably get a dosing regimen to keep phosphates at an appropriate level? I would like it to be similar to 2 part where I dial it in and dose a certain amount x amount of days.

Also, I’m really concerned about lowering my alk as a side effect of lowering PO4.

 

[Miami Reef]

I used seaklear pool phosphate but I would like to switch to a product that has more information on dosing. NOPOX really intrigues me because it apparently lowers NO3 and PO4 at an even ratio and has dosing instructions

 

[Clownfishy]

I am doing something very similar. I am dosing NOPOX and started with very low dosage and slowly increased NOPOX dosage, testing each day and I am SOOOOOO pleased I did. For my 200 litre (53 US gal) reef, I started dosing .5ml per day and went up to 2ml per day. I stayed at 2ml per day for approx 2 weeks but noticed my phosphate drop below a level I was comfortable with and I am now down to 1ml a day dosage which is keeping my phosphates at a the level I want them. Had I not been testing every day, I may well have hit zero which I have done before using NOPOX and I ended up with Dino's. This was a nightmare hence why I am testing every day!!! The first picture shows the effect it has been having on my phosphates since dosing in early March. The second picture shows my phosphates in the last month and you can see the overnight drops in phosphate levels and this is when I cut the dosage back.

Hope this helps you.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I've never seen any evidence that different forms of organics dosed impact the relative nitrate and phosphate consumed, but it might.

Certainly, all normal types of organic carbon dosing have a bigger impact on nitrate than phosphate, partly due to denitrification that lowers nitrate and not phosphate, and partly because tissue growth by organisms uses a lot more N than P.

 

[jeffchapok]

First of all, how does your tank look? If it's okay, why worry about it? Many tanks have PO3 well in excess of .1 and do fine. My own PO3 has been .5 for the past 2 years. Above all else, corals crave stability. Unless you are experiencing problems. I'd leave it alone.

 

[MabuyaQ]

If you only want to lower PO4 no carbon product is going to be of any use. Just get some GFO and use a small amount.