Phosphate

[Mike220]

hello guys

My phosphate always is undetected. I test with red sea and hanna reading is zero. My nitrate around 2-3ppm.

How do I get more phosphate. I need some phosphate to help my acro and SPS.

What do I need ?

Please help

Thank you

 

[jsker]

Very simple, feed, feed, feed.

 

[Mike220]

You feed too much will get high nitrate ?

 

[mtraylor]

you are obviously doing something to reduce phosphates. I suggest you cut down on what ever method you are using.

 

[ChiCity]

Juice from frozen foods is a great source!

 

[Servillius]

I regularly make the mistake of seeing a problem, deciding I know what the cause is, then seeking a remedy for the cause as I perceive it rather than the actual problem.

This is a mistake that always gets me into trouble.

In most cases, it is unlikely your phosphate is too low. If you think it is, tell us how you got there and show pictures of the problem you’re trying to fix. You’ll likely get better help.

 

[Elegance Coral]

what are the negative symptoms of low PO4 you're seeing in the tank? Other than the test kit results, what makes you believe you need more inorganic PO4 in the system?

 

[ChrisOFL]

My phosphates always register 0.00 as well, and I don't use any phosphate removers. This has never affected my coral negatively from what I can tell. I tried dosing phosphates and saw no difference, did cause some algae growth but nothing serious. I do have higher nitrates than you, usually between 10-20, because I do feed a lot of LRS Frenzy and my tang gets an algae sheet everyday. I think just putting more food in the water when you have low nutrients like yours benefits more than adding nitrates/phosphates. I've been dosing phytoplankton and the polyp extension is really fantastic from doing this regularly now. You just need to make sure the food is the right size for SPS and in enough abundance for the polyps to be able to capture what the coral needs.