Phosphorous vs phosphate clarification please

[RabidDragon]

A few weeks ago I ran my:

• Hannah phosphate URL test with a result of 0.01
• Salifert Nitrate test with a result of >10 but <25
• I also sent a water sample to Triton for the first time, the results of which also confirmed my testing:
  • Triton results: Phosphorus 6 ug/L; phosphate : 0.018; total nitrogen 2.67mg/L; N/NO3 calc 11.8. All other parameters excluding iodine where well within range. I've dosed some iodine once since, need a kit to test it.

Realizing my phosphate was too low I started dosing 2.0ml of ATI "Phosphorous" into my 220gallon tank daily to compensate the same day I sent out the water sample to Triton and also did a water change. About this time I started noticing cyano growth. I increased water filtration... my filter sock that I was using was getting plugged up within hours which I would rinse out several times a day.

Source of confusion: I was concerned that my Hanna checker was specifically testing for phosphate and I was dosing "phosphorous" and was potentially not able to test for what I was adding and possibly over dosing. While investigating how I could resolve this testing issue today I discovered that there is also a Hannah phosphorous URL checker AND that ATI's website talks about phosphate and not phosphorous while displaying a picture of the exact bottle I'm using to dose my tank with.... So now I'm not clear what I'm actually adding to my tank or what to use to test it.

Today my Salifert Nitrate is 2, my Hannah phosphate is 0.02 and cyano continues to grow.

Off topic: I have also been fighting dinos of over 6 months. Originally Ostreopsis which gave way to Amphidinium after the addition of a pentair smart 50w UV filter. I "nuked" the tank a number of times over the past 6 months trying to beat the dinos... black-outs while dosing bacteria and peroxide. Dino-X worked for a short time on the Ostreopsis but it came back and didn't touch the Amphidinium at all. Still have the Amphidinium covering much of the sand bed.

In the tank:

• fat healthy fish
• a encrusting monti and a branching lepto that are both growing well
• hammer and branching euphilia that seem to be very slowing growing, currently in a separation box to keep them away from the filefish that thinks their tasty.
• GSP and zoa that are "just" hanging on due the dinos covering them, currently in a separation box to keep them away from the filefish that thinks their tasty.
  • I plan on returning the filefish back to the LFS tomorrow if I can catch it.
• snails, crabs, hermits, urchins, shrimp all doing well.

Please advise and thank you,

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Source of confusion: I was concerned that my Hanna checker was specifically testing for phosphate and I was dosing "phosphorous" and was potentially not able to test for what I was adding and possibly over dosing. While investigating how I could resolve this testing issue today I discovered that there is also a Hannah phosphorous URL checker AND that ATI's website talks about phosphate and not phosphorous while displaying a picture of the exact bottle I'm using to dose my tank with.... So now I'm not clear what I'm actually adding to my tank or what to use to test it.

You are not dosing phosphorus. It is not stable in water and burns when wet. It's a weapon of war (e.g., white phosphorus grenades).

The Hanna is detecting inorganic phosphate, regardless of how it chooses to report the data (some are in ppb phosphorus, some in ppm phosphate).

ICP detects only the atom P, and it may come from organic forms of phosphate (such as DNA, phospholipids, etc.) as well as inorganic phosphate.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

TO convert measure of phosphorus to measures of phosphate, multiply by 3.1.

Example: 1 ppb phosphorus = 3.1 ppb phosphate

 

[RabidDragon]

Thank you for the clarification, you are very appreciated.

 

[Reefahholic]

You are not dosing phosphorus. It is not stable in water and burns when wet. It's a weapon of war (e.g., white phosphorus grenades).

The Hanna is detecting inorganic phosphate, regardless of how it chooses to report the data (some are in ppb phosphorus, some in ppm phosphate).

ICP detects only the atom P, and it may come from organic forms of phosphate (such as DNA, phospholipids, etc.) as well as inorganic phosphate.

Randy…what is the difference with inorganic phosphate vs the Atom P?

ICP can measure both organic and inorganic. This is a better picture of what is in the tank right.?

Is that the main difference between them?
One can only measure inorganic (Hanna) and (ICP) can measure both?

Also, why do some companies that sell phosphate supplements/additives like Brightwell, Seachem, Nyos, etc…call them different names like Phosphate or Phosphorus if we’re only dosing phosphate to the tank and not phosphorus. This drives me nuts. Why can’t they just all call it phosphate.