Ugly stage and phosphate levels

[aus1230]

I've been reading on the ugly phase a little since my 40 gallon is taking longer than my 15 gallon tank did (in my opinion). And everything that I've been reading says that lower phosphates keep the ugly phase down. This last week I've been tracking my phosphate levels a little more and I've definitely seen an increase from a day after I did my water change with it being at .07ppm 3 days ago and just did one tonight with my phosphate at .12. According to BSRtv's "normal parameters" video it's normal to keep them .05-.15. But by looking at my coral it looks the best it has in a while and i'm just trying to learn more about these numbers and how they're flowing. For reference here's some other dates with tests numbers
7/3/2025: .03
7/10/2025: .05
7/12/2025: .04
7/18/2025: .07
7/21/2025: .12 (my tank and my coral have looked the best at this number)

I do realize that a weekly test is more common but I decided to test phosphates a little more to look at the trend. I also got these numbers around the same time of day.
The picture with it all bent over was tested on 7/12 and when it looks good is tested today.

 

[THE REEF WHISPER]

Ya that's what I thought my tank is 2 years old and I had the ugly phase and it went away four a couple of months and I came back and I use phosphate remover and it helps a little bit but I just have to clean it up that's what I do get

 

[THE REEF WHISPER]

Phosphate need to be a 0

 

[Fish Fan]

Phosphate need to be a 0

Friend, absolutely not

Corals have a symbiotic relationship with a type of algae called Zooxanthellae that like any other algae need both nitrogen and phosphorous, and running a tank at a zero-level of either of these parameters is very old news, and not what we strive for now. You need at least detectable levels of nitrate and phosphate for long-term coral health.

I hope this helps

 

[Fish Fan]

I've been reading on the ugly phase a little since my 40 gallon is taking longer than my 15 gallon tank did (in my opinion). And everything that I've been reading says that lower phosphates keep the ugly phase down. This last week I've been tracking my phosphate levels a little more and I've definitely seen an increase from a day after I did my water change with it being at .07ppm 3 days ago and just did one tonight with my phosphate at .12. According to BSRtv's "normal parameters" video it's normal to keep them .05-.15. But by looking at my coral it looks the best it has in a while and i'm just trying to learn more about these numbers and how they're flowing. For reference here's some other dates with tests numbers
7/3/2025: .03
7/10/2025: .05
7/12/2025: .04
7/18/2025: .07
7/21/2025: .12 (my tank and my coral have looked the best at this number)

I do realize that a weekly test is more common but I decided to test phosphates a little more to look at the trend. I also got these numbers around the same time of day.
The picture with it all bent over was tested on 7/12 and when it looks good is tested today.

I don't see an alarming issue with your phosphate concentration here.

I would ask, what are you using for testing?

There are many members here at R2R that run beautiful tanks at arguably high nitrate and phosphate. If your corals are looking "better than ever", I would not change a thing

I hope that helps!

 

[THE REEF WHISPER]

Phosphate need to be a 0

Friend, absolutely not

Corals have a symbiotic relationship with a type of algae called Zooxanthellae that like any other algae need both nitrogen and phosphorous, and running a tank at a zero-level of either of these parameters is very old news, and not what we strive for now. You need at least detectable levels of nitrate and phosphate for long-term coral health.

I hope this helps

Mine are a little bit higher then 0 like very very little bit is that ok

 

[THE REEF WHISPER]

I know that

 

[Fish Fan]

Phosphate need to be a 0

I know that

If you say so, friend

 

[THE REEF WHISPER]

Friend

 

[ZC aquatics]

Consider a CUC

 

[ZC aquatics]

Phosphate need to be a 0

Friend, absolutely not

Corals have a symbiotic relationship with a type of algae called Zooxanthellae that like any other algae need both nitrogen and phosphorous, and running a tank at a zero-level of either of these parameters is very old news, and not what we strive for now. You need at least detectable levels of nitrate and phosphate for long-term coral health.

I hope this helps

Exactly lol

 

[Fish Fan]

Exactly lol

I'm glad you understand

 

[Fish Fan]

Friend

Yes, friend, I'd like to believe. I do my best to be respectful to all members here, but when you post things that I strongly feel are wrong, I need to say something, in case someone else finds these posts in the future. This is a public forum, and we may not always agree, but I welcome your replies, friend

 

[aus1230]

I don't see an alarming issue with your phosphate concentration here.

I would ask, what are you using for testing?

There are many members here at R2R that run beautiful tanks at arguably high nitrate and phosphate. If your corals are looking "better than ever", I would not change a thing

I hope that helps!

This is the Hannah checker and it's brand new as of a week ago. I was having some issues with my other checker that I realized it was very random and not consistent if checking back to back.
I guess a question I have for you is would you consider that a high phosphate? While searching I saw someone had a phosphate of .25? I guess it's relative to each persons like you said.

 

[ZC aquatics]

Phosphate probably should be at 3ppt to prevent toxic algae and algae blooms

 

[Fish Fan]

This is the Hannah checker and it's brand new as of a week ago. I was having some issues with my other checker that I realized it was very random and not consistent if checking back to back.
I guess a question I have for you is would you consider that a high phosphate? While searching I saw someone had a phosphate of .25? I guess it's relative to each persons like you said.

No, I don't think that's high phosphate at all, I think a lot of members here would have similar numbers. IS that textbook a little high? Maybe, depending on who you ask, but you do not want to run at zero phosphate, that's bad for coral health. If your corals are looking well, I'd let this ride

I hope I've been of some help here

 

[Kasrift]

Mine are a little bit higher then 0 like very very little bit is that ok

Unfortunately there aren't absolutes in reef keeping. People have success with much higher phosphates, it depends on maturity, coral types and lots of other factors.

Near zero hadn't been the gold standard for a bit. Low phosphates can be "ideal" for SPS tanks, but it isn't required. It could help with desirable acro color, but again there are lots of factors.

 

[aus1230]

No, I don't think that's his phosphate at all, I think a lot of members here would have similar numbers. IS that textbook a little high? Maybe, depending on who you ask, but you do not want to run at zero phosphate, that's bad for coral health. If your corals are looking well, I'd let this ride

I hope I've been of some help here

Yes, you've given me some reassurance that I can keep riding this out and confirms what I was thinking was going on in my tank. As for all of the other comments above. I'll be honest I'm confused lol!

 

[aus1230]

Unfortunately there aren't absolutes in reef keeping. People have success with much higher phosphates, it depends on maturity, coral types and lots of other factors.

Near zero hadn't been the gold standard for a bit. Low phosphates can be "ideal" for SPS tanks, but it isn't required. It could help with desirable acro color, but again there are lots of factors.

Thank you too!

 

[ZC aquatics]

I don't see an alarming issue with your phosphate concentration here.

I would ask, what are you using for testing?

There are many members here at R2R that run beautiful tanks at arguably high nitrate and phosphate. If your corals are looking "better than ever", I would not change a thing

I hope that helps!

This is the Hannah checker and it's brand new as of a week ago. I was having some issues with my other checker that I realized it was very random and not consistent if checking back to back.
I guess a question I have for you is would you consider that a high phosphate? While searching I saw someone had a phosphate of .25? I guess it's relative to each persons like you said.

If you’re tank is thriving on higher phosphate levels I think you shouldn’t worry about anything but let me know your thoughts