This is the mindset I am adopting although I would rather avoid a turn in the wrong direction since as we all know, getting it back on track can take months sometimes a year. This hobby is intriguing yet very contradicting at the same time. .50 phosphates should be deadly (theoretically) yet here we are.
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I agelCurrent tank of the month run PO4 0.5-0.65
REEF OF THE MONTH - November 2024: AaronFReef's SPS Dream!!!
R2R Username: @AaronFReef My Tank Thread: 225 CDA SPS Dream Build Six years ago, after a ten-year hiatus, I got back into reefkeeping. I had kept a variety of fresh and saltwater aquariums thanks to my marine biologist father, and started into reef aquariums when I was 16. What got me to...
I say as long as everything is doing well just keep an eye on things. I think to much emphasis is put on trying tin a certain number vs letting that tank tell you if it's too high. Often change causes more harm than good. IME
I appreciate your feedback.I think I'll do just that.
Who are you talking to? Me?If I had to guess, all of the coral have been slowly acclimated to the rising phosphate levels. I am wondering what will happen if you add anything new, that has been kept in lower levels? It looks great. Everything you are keeping does like dirtier water
The OP
It’s same for me though. I’m .5 and I add new corals every 1-2 weeks. They come from vendors or hobbiests who maintains <.1 and I don’t even acclimate I just dip and add them in to my .5 system. And I was doing this when I was .98 also
That was my question.....glad to see there were no issues. I have had issues in the past bringing in frags (mainly acros) that came from a system with elevated nutrients (mine were kept very low). Both systems looked great. That being said, could have been any number of things. Your stuff looks fantasticIt’s same for me though. I’m .5 and I add new corals every 1-2 weeks. They come from vendors or hobbiests who maintains <.1 and I don’t even acclimate I just dip and add them in to my .5 system. And I was doing this when I was .98 also
These frags were added a few weeks ago and no acclimation or stress at all
And these a few weeks before that
possible theory - just a quick guess without much thoughtThat was my question.....glad to see there were no issues. I have had issues in the past bringing in frags (mainly acros) that came from a system with elevated nutrients (mine were kept very low). Both systems looked great. That being said, could have been any number of things. Your stuff looks fantastic
Very well could be. My tank wasn't exactly starving though.....phosphates were sitting at about .05 with nitrates around 7. Makes sense though that going from high to low is harder. Anybody that has stripped their tank of phosphates using GFO can attest to that lol.
Your tank is going great! I wouldn’t chase numbers or try to go with the “standard” level of phosphates. If your tank is doing good at those levels, I would leave it beFor the first couple of months after setting up my tank, I maintained phosphate levels at around .13 and everything seemed to thrive, so I kept it steady at that level. Over time, phosphates gradually increased to .23 but I didn’t see any changes in coral color or growth. Now at the 6 month mark, the phosphates have risen to .50, which is a bit concerning, yet everything still looks great. Colors remain vibrant and I’m getting great polyp extension. I added a Bubble Gum Digitata SPS two weeks ago and it's doing well. My Birdsnest coral is also growing obnoxiously fast.
My question is: Should I be concerned about the higher phosphate levels and work to lower them, or should I continue maintaining the tank as is?
Interestingly, I’ve never seen nuisance algae growth, either on the rocks or elsewhere. Even on the glass, algae doesn’t build up for 2-3 weeks, and I sometimes leave it for my cleanup crew to graze on.
What would you recommend? Should I lower the phosphates or keep things at this level?
Thanks so much for your help!
Wow that's a nice tank! It's so clean. This makes me rethink my situation, thanks for sharing thisI tested my phosphate yesterday it was .5
I’ve been at .98 before with zero coral stress or algae issues
.5 is not deadly at all
Here is my tank today at .5
I looked into this, and it turns out that the phosphates we're currently testing only represent about 2% of what's in our tank. While these are measurable phosphates, there are other types present that we're not capturing in our tests. This limited testing scope explains why some people report high phosphate levels and others see low levels, we're only getting a small glimpse of the full picture. Richard Ross discussed this in a MACNA talk back in 2014.It’s same for me though. I’m .5 and I add new corals every 1-2 weeks. They come from vendors or hobbiests who maintains <.1 and I don’t even acclimate I just dip and add them in to my .5 system. And I was doing this when I was .98 also
These frags were added a few weeks ago and no acclimation or stress at all
And these a few weeks before that
I was thinking this exactly.
