Phosphate 0, dosing NeoPhos still 0, feeding heavy too.

[BeMoto]

Phosphate has been zero as long as I can remember. Assumed I had some phosphate since algea was growing. Nitrates bottom out at one point and I got dinos. Been feeding 2-3 cubes of frozen food/reef frenzy, nori, pellets, flakes and even some reef roids trying to get phosphates to go up. I only have a pair of small clowns and a tomini tang. I Feel like feeding heavy should've effected No3 and po4 by now.
I've since do NeoNitro to get No3 to ~5 ppm.
I've also tested po4 with a brand new kit. Same results. If there any more info you would like to see please ask.

Not having any luck I started dosing NeoPhos. I followed the direction on the bottle and found to raise a 55 gallons up .01 ppm I should does ~3ml. I did this and retested 24 hrs later and my salifert kit read 0. I dosed again and again and still didn't have any readable results. Directions then say if NeoPhos isn't working the tank is carbon limited. So now I'm supposed to do REEF BioFuel until my nitrates/phosphate starts to decrease. I'm not really following "carbon limited" and why feeding more and more hasn't effected my po4 at all.

Tank is almost 2 years old. I only have 1 small frag in the tank that's barley holding on. I also stopped doing water changes 3 weeks ago due to dinos.

N03 ~5
P04 ~0

If anyone can explain what is going on I would really appreciate it. I'm still doing research on this but any info would be nice to have.

 

[zafink]

Not sure whats going on in your tank, but I add PNS Substrate sauce when my phosphate is running low (I feed heavy as well and still struggle to keep it from bottoming out).

1 dose as directed adds .03 phosphate to tank. However it does much more then "phosphate dosing". It adds all sorts of yummy bacteria to your tank. Available on algae barn, and if you google algae barn promo code you can get 15%off it

 

[jpjerry]

If you have algae outbreak that’s your answer. The algae sucks out all your phosphates

 

[Morpheosz]

I had no luck ever getting a reading with salifert. I got the Hannah phosphorus ultra low range and have been checking my 2 month old 75 almost daily as it keeps bottoming out as well. I had to add 2 capfuls of neophos per day to keep it at the low end of acceptable. It bounces between .02 and .06 nowadays and I’m down to adding one capful every day or two depending on the test results. I also have been feeding heavy to try to do it more naturally and have added a bunch more fish and coral so that seems to be finally maintaining a bit more.

Long story short, I’d get a better test kit, seems everyone swears by the Hannah and it’s been working great for me. I found what read as acceptable yet low on the Hannah was not detectable by my salifert kit. I’ve since chucked it.

 

[BeMoto]

Dinos love 0 No3 Po4. From what I've gathered I need to increase nutrient to get rid of dinos and promote good algea to compete with the dinos. I've been dosing Po4 for for 3 weeks and haven't seen an increase in algea or Po4 levels. I've even increase dosing from 2ml to 15ml a day. I'm to the point where I don't think dosing is doing anything. I guess this is common, I'm just at a loss for how long it will take to see any difference. I'm going to try a different test kit brand and see if I can't get a reading.

I'm not buying that alge is absorbing all this Po4 I'm dosing in a 12-24 hr period. That's why I'm questioning what I'm currently doing.

 

[Pkunk35]

Def get algae out often, it will help imo with getting a reading as mentioned.

it took me weeks to get my phosphate readable and I still often test and have to dose neophos when it nears 0.

I would NOT carbon dose. This will lower your nutrient bc bacteria will consume it.

ime I dosed daily, test 24 hours later (or some set amount of time, could be weekly if u want). If still 0 I increase my dose and then test, repeat until readable and then monitor accordingly to your liking so as to be able to get a cadence of how your phosphate either rises/falls/stays stable. According to some threads and accounts like mine this can take weeks as your rock and sand can absorb phosphate from what I understand. I think of it like getting the tank to a saturation level and then thru feeding or dosing po4, we try to keep it just slightly over that level. Sort of like a sponge that can hold water.

maybe someone else can help explain the science better. I do think keeping phosphate in line and available is crucial as I have def had coral die or recede due to what I believe low phosphate, in particular as coral grow or as you obtain more coral.

hope it helps and GL!

 

[BeMoto]

I would NOT carbon dose. This will lower your nutrient bc bacteria will consume it.

I agree with that 100% That would be the complete opposite of what I'm trying to accomplish.

According to some threads and accounts like mine this can take weeks as your rock and sand can absorb phosphate from what I understand.

Full disclosure I did post my original post on a different forum. This was brought to my attention and I've never thought of it. But that makes more since to me.

I guess every system is different and I might just have to be patient and stick with it. I do have alot of rock in the tank. I started the tank with dead rock and seeded it with some live rock.

 

[FreeEnergyReefer]

I really hope you get your phosphate to a .03 as I am going through the same problem with my nano. Added 3 really high end across last month they were looking excellent till a week ago I looked at the tank and 2 of them bleached overnight while the 3rd bleached this morning freaked me out come to find out my phosphate bottomed out to 0.00. I dosed neophos & neonitro gotta wait 24hrs to dose again. Are you running a refugium? I believe %100 my 5gal bucket refugium is the culprit because my phosphate was .02 until I started reverse cycling the fuge lighting to raise ph. Just turned my light down really low so we'll see

 

[GarrettT]

Not having any luck I started dosing NeoPhos. I followed the direction on the bottle and found to raise a 55 gallons up .01 ppm I should does ~3ml. I did this and retested 24 hrs later and my salifert kit read 0. I dosed again and again and still didn't have any readable results.

If anyone can explain what is going on I would really appreciate it. I'm still doing research on this but any info would be nice to have.

This one is easy to answer. Your rocks and sand are sucking up the phosphate in the water. Are you sure your phosphate takes 24hr to get to zero? For me, it only takes 2 hours. I had to dose 5 times a day until my rock/sand reached equilibrium. My tank was consuming about 0.15-0.2ppm of phosphate per day. On my 220g, It took about 3 liters of po4 dosing to reach equilibrium. If you have dinos, don’t feed reef roids!

 

[Pkunk35]

@BeMoto any updates on your phos dosing? Curious to see how it’s been going for you.

 

[BeMoto]

@BeMoto any updates on your phos dosing? Curious to see how it’s been going for you.

I've finally gotten the phos and nitrates up. I ended up dosing several times a day until I got a reading. My dinos went away a few weeks later without doing anything different.

 

[BeMoto]

I really hope you get your phosphate to a .03 as I am going through the same problem with my nano. Added 3 really high end across last month they were looking excellent till a week ago I looked at the tank and 2 of them bleached overnight while the 3rd bleached this morning freaked me out come to find out my phosphate bottomed out to 0.00. I dosed neophos & neonitro gotta wait 24hrs to dose again. Are you running a refugium? I believe %100 my 5gal bucket refugium is the culprit because my phosphate was .02 until I started reverse cycling the fuge lighting to raise ph. Just turned my light down really low so we'll see

I finally got mine up after dosing heavy for a few days. I also do not have a refugium.

 

[BeMoto]

@BeMoto any updates on your phos dosing? Curious to see how it’s been going for you.

I finally got them up after dosing heavy for a few day.

Just realized I should've just tagged everyone or quoted everyone under one post.