Phosphate

[Craig was here]

My new tank bottomed out. Have Dino’s. However I can not get any readings of phosphate after adding neophos. Approximately 20 ml a day to a Fiji cube 32 gal. Had to add a bunch of neonitro to finally get a slight reading. Last I checked all other parameters are ok. what the heck is happening

 

[Formulator]

Just keep adding the neophos. I had the same issue with nitrate and just had to add way more than I initially imagined. I doubled the dose daily until I started getting a reading and leveled off there. Took me 2 months to get to my target…

If you used dry rock, it might be absorbing to the rock so you will need to add a lot to get it up in the tank.

 

[Craig was here]

Just keep adding the neophos. I had the same issue with nitrate and just had to add way more than I initially imagined. I doubled the dose daily until I started getting a reading and leveled off there. Took me 2 months to get to my target…

If you used dry rock, it might be absorbing to the rock so you will need to add a lot to get it up in the tank.

Thank you my friend!

 

[Rakan_ar]

My new tank bottomed out. Have Dino’s. However I can not get any readings of phosphate after adding neophos. Approximately 20 ml a day to a Fiji cube 32 gal. Had to add a bunch of neonitro to finally get a slight reading. Last I checked all other parameters are ok. what the heck is happening

Can you share your experience. I'm facing the same issue and finished neo-phos bottle without any signs of change, Hanna checker showing zero every time. Just got Reef Zlements Phosplus, i will dose 6ml daily to raise it to 0.02.

How long did it takes you to pump up your P04?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Bare rock and sand can bind a huge amount. if folks are reading zero, I'd keep upping the dose until it is detected rather than waiting longer at a low daily dose.

FWIW, I recommend food grade sodium phosphate (not tripolyphosphate) as it is inexpensive and carries a purity assurance many hobby phosphate products lack.

 

[Craig was here]

Can you share your experience. I'm facing the same issue and finished neo-phos bottle without any signs of change, Hanna checker showing zero every time. Just got Reef Zlements Phosplus, i will dose 6ml daily to raise it to 0.02.

How long did it takes you to pump up your P04?

I’ve been through a bottle and 1/2 of neophos. I still have to dose daily for now. About 5 mil I add every am. Gonna try the ME Coral po4

 

[Formulator]

I’ve been through a bottle and 1/2 of neophos. I still have to dose daily for now. About 5 mil I add every am. Gonna try the ME Coral po4

If you need more concentrated phosphate, you could also just mix up your own with food grade sodium phosphate. Its pretty simple and way cheaper also. If you do switch to ME Coral PO4, be careful. That stuff is 10000 mg/L. Neophos is about 5 mg/L. So you are talking 2000x more concentrated. To get the equivalent to your daily 5 mL neophos dose, you only need 2.5 microliters of the ME Coral stuff. For context, a single drop is about 50 microliters.

As you can see 5 mL of neophos is not very much at all. That’s why they sell it in 2 liter bottles :beaming-face-with-smiling-eyes:

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

As you can see 5 mL of neophos is not very much at all. That’s why they sell it in 2 liter bottles :beaming-face-with-smiling-eyes:

Sort of the opposite of shrinkflation. Containerflation. lol

 

[rhitee93]

... (not tripolyphosphate) as it is inexpensive and carries a purity assurance many hobby phosphate products lack.

Aww, but stp makes my shrimp and scallops stay so plump and juicy looking ;)

 

[Craig was here]

Sort of the opposite of shrinkflation. Containerflation. lol

If you need more concentrated phosphate, you could also just mix up your own with food grade sodium phosphate. Its pretty simple and way cheaper also. If you do switch to ME Coral PO4, be careful. That stuff is 10000 mg/L. Neophos is about 5 mg/L. So you are talking 2000x more concentrated. To get the equivalent to your daily 5 mL neophos dose, you only need 2.5 microliters of the ME Coral stuff. For context, a single drop is about 50 microliters.

As you can see 5 mL of neophos is not very much at all. That’s why they sell it in 2 liter bottles :beaming-face-with-smiling-eyes:

I think the directions said one drop should raise it .02. So a couple drops a day I’m thinking for now till the ya k matures and gets stocked and balanced better

 

[Formulator]

Sort of the opposite of shrinkflation. Containerflation. lol

I actually did the math and was pretty amazed at the disparity. They obviously are not pricing with regard to coat of goods…

Neophos: $5.20/mg PO4
ME Coral PO4: $0.34/mg PO4
ACS grade sodium phosphate: $0.00011/mg PO4

:face-with-spiral-eyes:

 

[Formulator]

I think the directions said one drop should raise it .02. So a couple drops a day I’m thinking for now till the ya k matures and gets stocked and balanced better

How big is your tank? The bottle says 10,000 mg/L. 2 drops will be the equivalent of adding 200 mL neophos. It is certainly possible your tank needs that much, I just wanted to make sure you were aware of the MASSIVE difference between the 2 product concentrations.

 

[Rakan_ar]

Bare rock and sand can bind a huge amount. if folks are reading zero, I'd keep upping the dose until it is detected rather than waiting longer at a low daily dose.

FWIW, I recommend food grade sodium phosphate (not tripolyphosphate) as it is inexpensive and carries a purity assurance many hobby phosphate products lack.

Unfortunately the bottle just arrived and it's a 1000ml, hopefully I can detect something before it dry out. I will take your advise to increase the dosage.

Thanks for your response and will update on this thread. Happy Reefing :)

 

[Craig was here]

How big is your tank? The bottle says 10,000 mg/L. 2 drops will be the equivalent of adding 200 mL neophos. It is certainly possible your tank needs that much, I just wanted to make sure you were aware of the MASSIVE difference between the 2 product concentrations.

Has a water volume of 27 gallons. Started w live sand and man made rock. Tank is about 4 months old. Been through a bottle and 1/2 so far. Still dosing 5-10 ml a day to hero around.04 if I’m lucky

 

[Rakan_ar]

Has a water volume of 27 gallons. Started w live sand and man made rock. Tank is about 4 months old. Been through a bottle and 1/2 so far. Still dosing 5-10 ml a day to hero around.04 if I’m lucky

Hi Craig, what did you do when you detected P04? Did you stopped to check how much the tank consume P04 or continue to dose?

Today I finally detected P04 which was 0.02, I'm shooting for 0.04 - 0.06

 

[Craig was here]

Working on that now tbh. When I do get a reading it’s zero within a day or two. So dose every day and test every other. Till it hopefully stays in there eventually w o daily additions. If you are getting a reading and it’s zero after a couple days. That should give you a good idea on what you need to do for now.

 

[Rakan_ar]

Working on that now tbh. When I do get a reading it’s zero within a day or two. So dose every day and test every other. Till it hopefully stays in there eventually w o daily additions. If you are getting a reading and it’s zero after a couple days. That should give you a good idea on what you need to do for now.

My last dose was 30ml which is adding 0.1 of P04, taking your advice I'm thinking to reduce the dose to 12ml equivalent to 0.04. Raising P04 was a hassle and I Don’t want to get trap in reducing it afterwards.

 

[Craig was here]

Give it shot. That’s what I’m doing. Dose test dose test lol. It will eventually stay somewhat consistent hopefully

 

[kozzy]

Give it shot. That’s what I’m doing. Dose test dose test lol. It will eventually stay somewhat consistent hopefully

hey, I am in your shoes here and gonna need to dose a heavy amount of neo phos to get some detectable levels. I was wondering if you could share what ppm you were dosing to daily in the case that its just being absorbed into the rocks and sand. I was thinking I should dose for 0.2ppm off the bat and I assume its just gonna read zero a few hours later anyway. If that was the case for you did you end up increasing the dose (to what ppm) and more than once a day? thanks :upside-down-face:... im very close to throwing my hanna checker at the wall if I read another zero

 

[kozzy]

My last dose was 30ml which is adding 0.1 of P04, taking your advice I'm thinking to reduce the dose to 12ml equivalent to 0.04. Raising P04 was a hassle and I Don’t want to get trap in reducing it afterwards.

if you have any insight to your experiences with all of this Id be greatful to hear. My situation is posted just above ^^:)