Neophos Phosphate dosing?

[CL0wning]

My phosphate is zero. How much phosphate do you add daily/weekly or monthly? I’m using salifert test kits. I bought Brightwell neophos. I started dosing 7 ml for three days now and it’s still reading zero. 6 months old tank. Thanks in advance!

 

[PeterC99]

Great clownfish anemone pairing!

See you are new to R2R!

Have your thought of adding more to your aquarium, feeding more, and brining up your bioload? My opinion is that it's a shame to dose something that many people are trying to get rid of...

 

[Gungo]

100% agree with the above. Get more fish, bring up your bioload and your levels will rise naturally. I am not against dosing because I've done it before, but I understood that while you're doing you're just skipping the biological cycle of your tank.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Neophos is fairly dilute, but even with a stronger phosphate additive (I recommend food grade sodium phosphate from amazon), it can take a lot to bring phosphate to an acceptable level if bare calcium carbonate rocks are sucking it up.

Start with their recommended dose, but expect to have to ramp up.

I personally would not wait. The risk of getting dinos is too high.

 

[Garf]

I dosed phosphate for a month before getting any results. Things just suck it up, till you get to a point. Feeding heavily increase hydroids, aiptasia, and crap. I never thought I would ever need to dose it as I spent 10years in my previous tank trying to get the dang stuff out.

 

[PatW]

I am not sure that the Salifert phosphate test is sensitive enough to be practical. The only tests that are sensitive enough are Hanna ULR phosphate and Hanna ULR phosphorous (a bit more sensitive than the first one).

I find that even with a 0 reading on the Hanna ULR phosphorous, feeding gives me enough phosphates to keep my acropora coral happy. In facts, it keeps my LPS corals happy too. So I think feeding would be enough for your tank unless you have soft corals (which I have never kept). But spot feeding them would probably be better anyway.

 

[PatW]

I am not sure that the Salifert phosphate test is sensitive enough to be practical. The only tests that are sensitive enough are Hanna ULR phosphate and Hanna ULR phosphorous (a bit more sensitive than the first one).

I find that even with a 0 reading on the Hanna ULR phosphorous, feeding gives me enough phosphates to keep my acropora coral happy. In facts, it keeps my LPS corals happy too. So I think feeding would be enough for your tank unless you have soft corals (which I have never kept). But spot feeding them would probably be better anyway.

 

[ChrisP]

Neophos is fairly dilute, but even with a stronger phosphate additive (I recommend food grade sodium phosphate from amazon), it can take a lot to bring phosphate to an acceptable level if bare calcium carbonate rocks are sucking it up.

Start with their recommended dose, but expect to have to ramp up.

I personally would not wait. The risk of getting dinos is too high.

How do you dose the food grade sodium phosphate? My reef is only 5 gallons.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

How do you dose the food grade sodium phosphate? My reef is only 5 gallons.

Dissolve it in fresh water and add it. I'd add 0.03 ppm per day and see what that does to start.

Here's a calculator. Use the entry for "phosphate from potassium phosphate". Sodium phosphate (any type; trisodium, disodium, or monosodium) will be close enough since this is not an exact science, but rather added in by trial and error.

http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/calculator.htm

 

[Nick Steele]

It will usually take a few days/weeks to see any increase of phosphate from dosing. I started dosing phosphates recently using the calculator that @Randy Holmes-Farley posted and I’m adding .05ppm daily for the past week and I’ve only seen .01ppm in one test about 12 hours after dosing. All other test still show 0.

I also recommend making your own solution. It’s not hard and will save you a ton of money. I’ve bought trisodium phosphate and have enough to make 100+ neophos bottles and it only cost me $10

 

[ChrisP]

Dissolve it in fresh water and add it. I'd add 0.03 ppm per day and see what that does to start.

Here's a calculator. Use the entry for "phosphate from potassium phosphate". Sodium phosphate (any type; trisodium, disodium, or monosodium) will be close enough since this is not an exact science, but rather added in by trial and error.

http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/calculator.htm

Thanks so much Randy!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

You're welcome.

Happy Reefing. :)

 

[Kansas Reefer]

You're welcome.

Happy Reefing. :)

Hi Randy. How do people manage to dose phosphate without it causing problems? My phosphate levels are lower than I want them on my two established reef tanks. Over a few days I dosed a little Seachem Flourish and now I have Cyano and other unidentified ugly algaes on my rocks and in my sand. How does a guy increase nitrate and especially phosphate without causing a plague of nasty algae. It seems like there is something else that needs to be in the water that somehow keeps available nutrients in suspension instead of being consumed by the nasties.

 

[Karliefish]

You're welcome.

Happy Reefing. :)

RANDY - can you recommend a specific product on Amazon that you trust….too many choices. Many thanks!

 

[kagisexton]

It took me about 1500ml for my tank to saturate with phosphate and I have a high fish load. I am on bottle #4 and still add .04 every week and can’t get my tank to exceed .08.