Raising phosphates and dinoflagellates issue

[crazybanana2]

Hi guys, so my phosphate has been bottomed out 0, and I’ve dosed phosphate at 0.15 ppm yesterday just for it to go back down to 0 in a day. I’m dealing with dinoflagellates, I have no issue raising nitrates just phosphate. I’m not sure what to do if I should dose 0.15 ppm again or dose more? It’s a 40 gal lps softy reef tank. I’m not running any phos removers or macroalgaes, only thing I’m using is red sea reef spec activated carbon.

 

[Saltyreef]

Sounds like you need to keep dosing daily but dont up the dosage much if at all. You'll soon reach equalibrium and start showing it in the water column once the rocks and sand can bind as much as they can.

 

[EnterName]

I think you might be seeing phosphate "disappear" because rocks and substrate (calcium carbonate) is binding most of what you add to the water. Dissolved phosphate levels are determined by an equilibrium reaction that dissolves and bind phosphate. If the equilibrium lies on the "binding"-side you basically will see phosphate disappear within hours (or a day as you noticed). If you keep adding phosphate the calcium carbonate will get saturated over time and then the equilibrium will shift towards more dissolved phosphate which your tests can pick up. This obviously assumes you are dosing more than your tank is "permanently" assimilating on a daily basis, but 0.15ppm is A LOT and I highly doubt that your tank is actually needing that much

So if you want to try battling dinoflagellates by adding phosphate to your system, you can keep dosing, but I recommend testing before you dose every single time, especially when you are using as much as 0.15ppm. I would try 0.05ppm instead to be honest. Corals really don't appreciate phosphate spikes at all. This way you don't accidentally overshoot your target and end up with too much phosphate in your system.

 

[crazybanana2]

I think you might be seeing phosphate "disappear" because rocks and substrate (calcium carbonate) is binding most of what you add to the water. Dissolved phosphate levels are determined by an equilibrium reaction that dissolves and bind phosphate. If the equilibrium lies on the "binding"-side you basically will see phosphate disappear within hours (or a day as you noticed). If you keep adding phosphate the calcium carbonate will get saturated over time and then the equilibrium will shift towards more dissolved phosphate which your tests can pick up. This obviously assumes you are dosing more than your tank is "permanently" assimilating on a daily basis, but 0.15ppm is A LOT and I highly doubt that your tank is actually needing that much

So if you want to try battling dinoflagellates by adding phosphate to your system, you can keep dosing, but I recommend testing before you dose every single time, especially when you are using as much as 0.15ppm. I would try 0.05ppm instead to be honest. Corals really don't appreciate phosphate spikes at all. This way you don't accidentally overshoot your target and end up with too much phosphate in your system.

Ok, I’ll try 0.05. I did the initial dose as 0.15 because a nutrient raising guide said that when dealing with dinoflagellates

 

[mcarroll]

Hi guys, so my phosphate has been bottomed out 0, and I’ve dosed phosphate at 0.15 ppm yesterday just for it to go back down to 0 in a day. I’m dealing with dinoflagellates, I have no issue raising nitrates just phosphate. I’m not sure what to do if I should dose 0.15 ppm again or dose more? It’s a 40 gal lps softy reef tank. I’m not running any phos removers or macroalgaes, only thing I’m using is red sea reef spec activated carbon.

Consider posting in the big dino thread in the "Sticky" section of the Nuisance Algae Forum. At minimum read the first post and understand what's there. Ask any questions needed here or there. (Reading all the posts is interesting, but isn't necessary....we're past 12,000 posts!)

From your other thread, it's not clear if you really have a toxic dino bloom....seems like your cleanup crew is fine.

If this is correct (ie it's dino's but not toxins), you can pretty much treat this like a regular algae bloom and just focus on CUC and manual removal along with balancing the nutrient levels in the tank to support (eg) coralline alge growth along with othet beneficials.

Have you always run activated carbon? If so that could be a mask on the toxin situation....knowing whether you had copepods before and knowing how they're doing now would be really helpful.

 

[crazybanana2]

Consider posting in the big dino thread in the "Sticky" section of the Nuisance Algae Forum. At minimum read the first post and understand what's there. Ask any questions needed here or there. (Reading all the posts is interesting, but isn't necessary....we're past 12,000 posts!)

Will do that tonight

 

[crazybanana2]

Consider posting in the big dino thread in the "Sticky" section of the Nuisance Algae Forum. At minimum read the first post and understand what's there. Ask any questions needed here or there. (Reading all the posts is interesting, but isn't necessary....we're past 12,000 posts!)

From your other thread, it's not clear if you really have a toxic dino bloom....seems like your cleanup crew is fine.

If this is correct (ie it's dino's but not toxins), you can pretty much treat this like a regular algae bloom and just focus on CUC and manual removal along with balancing the nutrient levels in the tank to support (eg) coralline alge growth along with othet beneficials.

Have you always run activated carbon? If so that could be a mask on the toxin situation....knowing whether you had copepods before and knowing how they're doing now would be really helpful.

I have always been running carbon 24/7. Before the outbreak, I had dosed a bottle of pods and then another bottle later. I’m really a noob to this I am not even sure how to check on the copepod population

 

[mcarroll]

I have always been running carbon 24/7. Before the outbreak, I had dosed a bottle of pods and then another bottle later. I’m really a noob to this I am not even sure how to check on the copepod population

Usually they remain in cover zones to avoid predation....so looking with a dflashlight (at night might help) in the corners of the tank and around bases and crevices in and between rocks would be where to look. Might also help to shut off the pumps for several minutes before you go looking.

If you see *nothing* then I might still wonder about toxins.