Maintaining PO4 with dosing or Reefeoids?

hoffmeyerz

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I am finding it challenging to maintain P levels since adding my first coral, I was really shocked at how much nutrient uptake they presented.
I upped my feeding of Reefeoids carefully and was able to get P to register on my Hanna low range phosphate checker after having been reading 0.
It's a bit challenging to keep the level consistent though, getting readings anywhere from .03 to .09. I did pick up some food grade trisodium phosphate so I could just dose that directly. Is there any benefit to one over the other? Currently I just have three zoa frags and a goni.
 

josh57

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I don't have a correct answer. I am having the same situation. I tried reef roids a couple of times. But the phosphate spike for the two days after was significant for me. Like going from .02 to 1.5 bad. I felt like I used an appropriate amount to spot feed the corals I did.
So currently my decision is to dose straight phosphate instead on a doser. I was manually dosing it on occasion before but not on a doser. And not consistently.
Only been doing it a couple of days on the doser. I’ll try and remember to update how it goes.
 

rishma

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I am finding it challenging to maintain P levels since adding my first coral, I was really shocked at how much nutrient uptake they presented.
I upped my feeding of Reefeoids carefully and was able to get P to register on my Hanna low range phosphate checker after having been reading 0.
It's a bit challenging to keep the level consistent though, getting readings anywhere from .03 to .09. I did pick up some food grade trisodium phosphate so I could just dose that directly. Is there any benefit to one over the other? Currently I just have three zoa frags and a goni.
I theory, I prefer to feed particulate foods over dosing TSP; however I have not dialed in a reef roids dose to maintain consistent and stable phosphate. TSP has the advantage of consistent and predictable phosphate addition.

I am currently adding controlled amounts of reef roids to my daily feeding to see if I can finally crack this nut, but that is only because I like to experiment. It’s much more difficult than just dosing a known amount of phosphate.
 
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hoffmeyerz

hoffmeyerz

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Like going from .02 to 1.5 bad. I felt like I used an appropriate amount to spot feed the corals I did.
Only been doing it a couple of days on the doser. I’ll try and remember to update how it goes.
I am currently adding controlled amounts of reef roids to my daily feeding to see if I can finally crack this nut, but that is only because I like to experiment. It’s much more difficult than just dosing a known amount of phosphate.
I started doing four pinches of Reefeoids in 10ml of tank water and spot feeding. I did that two-three times a week and I finally went from 0 to .03 after about a week-and-a-half. Thought that was going to be it but then I shot up so now I do three pinches which is better but still can't stay consistent.
Let us know how your dosing and/or feeding go, I'm very interested in your results.
 

GSPClown94

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Another thing to consider is the phosphate uptake might not be all from the corals you added. Rocks and sand could be binding phosphate since you mentioned seeing 0 phosphate on your test. If this is the case then just dosing trisodium phosphate might be easier to bind enough phosphate to meet your desired value. Then you could play around with reef roids and/or trisodium phosphate to maintain your phosphate level.
 
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hoffmeyerz

hoffmeyerz

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Another thing to consider is the phosphate uptake might not be all from the corals you added. Rocks and sand could be binding phosphate since you mentioned seeing 0 phosphate on your test.

Agreed. My tank is about 3 1/2 years old and prior to adding corals I used to run Phosgaurd to keep p around .06-.09. Testing 1week after adding the coral and it was reading 0.
I have no idea what the current uptake rate would be only that I can raise it with Reefeoids for a few days then it's back to 0.
 
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hoffmeyerz

hoffmeyerz

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rishma

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I started doing four pinches of Reefeoids in 10ml of tank water and spot feeding. I did that two-three times a week and I finally went from 0 to .03 after about a week-and-a-half. Thought that was going to be it but then I shot up so now I do three pinches which is better but still can't stay consistent.
Let us know how your dosing and/or feeding go, I'm very interested in your results.
I am being fairly precise. I normally weigh my food on a scale but it’s not precise enough for reef roids because it is too light.

I am using a tiny spoon that came from an old test kit., I think it’s 1/16 of tsp? Not sure. But I am using level scoops of reef roids to try and dial it in.

Will let you know if I get there.
 
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hoffmeyerz

hoffmeyerz

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Bumping to follow up and see if anyone else feels more of a benefit to use Reefeoids over dosing tsp to maintain phosphates. Currently I'm leaning towards dosing tsp through the DOS but curious on any other opinions.
 

aSaltyKlown

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Bumping to follow up and see if anyone else feels more of a benefit to use Reefeoids over dosing tsp to maintain phosphates. Currently I'm leaning towards dosing tsp through the DOS but curious on any other opinions.
I'd use TSP and keep an eye on it once it balances out, when the PO4 is bound to the rock and sand. After this, it will start unbinding and then you have the opposite problem, too much PO4.
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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Bumping to follow up and see if anyone else feels more of a benefit to use Reefeoids over dosing tsp to maintain phosphates. Currently I'm leaning towards dosing tsp through the DOS but curious on any other opinions.

Feeding a food can obviously have some benefits, but also some detriments (harder to control, may add N and organic matter) relative to P dosing.
 

Randy Holmes-Farley

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I'd use TSP and keep an eye on it once it balances out, when the PO4 is bound to the rock and sand. After this, it will start unbinding and then you have the opposite problem, too much PO4.

It generally won’t be released unless and until you try to lower phosphate below where it was when it bound.
 

aSaltyKlown

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It generally won’t be released unless and until you try to lower phosphate below where it was when it bound.
Thanks for pointing that out, I miss spoke. I had meant to say once it is at equilibrium, the PO4 will be going directly into the water column and start rising.
 
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hoffmeyerz

hoffmeyerz

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Thanks for pointing that out, I miss spoke. I had meant to say once it is at equilibrium, the PO4 will be going directly into the water column and start rising.
I'm not sure much if any PO4 is still bound to the rock and/substrate. Tank is 3 1/2 years old and prior to this I was running Phosgaurd to keep levels down. After adding corals I began testing 0 PO4 where it stayed for awhile as I monitored the tank before raising with Reefeoids. Could still be some but I don't think much.
 

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