Very high PO4 level with no bad effects on corals

[Yehuda Dana]

I used Monopotassium Phosphate (KH2PO4) to raise my Phosphate level on SPS dominant reef tank.

Actually, I miscalculated the amount needed to be added by mistake...
So for the last 10 days or so, my PO4 level is above 2.5 (!!!).
Even though, no any bad effects on the corals...

How come?
I thought it will make them brownish... but color remains good as it was.
Maybe such effect needs more time (although I thought 10 days is enough time to see any effects) to appear?

 

[areefer01]

There was a time when we didn't measure for phosphates or run ICP tests....and had successful displays.

 

[Yehuda Dana]

There was a time when we didn't measure for phosphates or run ICP tests....and had successful displays.

Correct.
But still, such drastic change in such short time - I assumed I should see any effects

 

[piranhaman00]

There’s many stories like this is phosphate , nothing ever happens

 

[areefer01]

Correct.
But still, such drastic change in such short time - I assumed I should see any effects

Question to you then - are you seeing a change? How does the tank look before and after? If you are running manual tests are you noticing a trend going down on its own?

The key to this hobby is not over correcting and knowing ones system. They are all different and no single recipe for success. We are getting inundated with market material and the pulse of ones reef is often lost as a result. You noted dosing for phosphate, made a slight mistake, measured, report high, but see no sudden change over a given period of time.

I don't know - different camp here but if there isn't anything screaming at you and everything looks fine and the results are trending back to "your" normal just trim to a holding pattern and relax. Works for Frankie

On a serious note it sounds like your display is good based on what you are saying. That is good.

 

[Yehuda Dana]

There’s many stories like this is phosphate , nothing ever h

Question to you then - are you seeing a change? How does the tank look before and after? If you are running manual tests are you noticing a trend going down on its own?

The key to this hobby is not over correcting and knowing ones system. They are all different and no single recipe for success. We are getting inundated with market material and the pulse of ones reef is often lost as a result. You noted dosing for phosphate, made a slight mistake, measured, report high, but see no sudden change over a given period of time.

I don't know - different camp here but if there isn't anything screaming at you and everything looks fine and the results are trending back to "your" normal just trim to a holding pattern and relax. Works for Frankie

On a serious note it sounds like your display is good based on what you are saying. That is good.

Thank you.

Exactly. I see no changes at all.
All seems just good.

 

[ReefGeezer]

Them sticks are weird. Some like Montipora are pretty tough. Others like some of the finer branched Acros are touchy. Bleaching or RTN can occur quickly, but manty times the impact of a sudden change doesn't show up for weeks. Reduced growth, loss of color, tissue loss, and other things might not be recognized for weeks or months after the event that caused them took place.

That said. Slowly reducing the level would be best. If it will fall naturally, all the better. I can't put my finger on why, but I think reducing phosphates quickly would be more dangerous than raising them quickly.

 

[Yehuda Dana]

Them sticks are weird. Some like Montipora are pretty tough. Others like some of the finer branched Acros are touchy. Bleaching or RTN can occur quickly, but manty times the impact of a sudden change doesn't show up for weeks. Reduced growth, loss of color, tissue loss, and other things might not be recognized for weeks or months after the event that caused them took place.

That said. Slowly reducing the level would be best. If it will fall naturally, all the better. I can't put my finger on why, but I think reducing phosphates quickly would be more dangerous than raising them quickly.

Thank you.

Actually, I thought of reducing the phosphate slowly by adding KZ Coral Snow Plus every other day (3 times a week) is a such amount that will reduce up to 0.08 ppm per dosing.

 

[ReefGeezer]

Thank you.

Actually, I thought of reducing the phosphate slowly by adding KZ Coral Snow Plus every other day (3 times a week) is a such amount that will reduce up to 0.08 ppm per dosing.

I think that's a fine plan. If some of the excess phosphate will bind to the calcium carbonate and be removed a little at a time, that would be great. I use a DIY version about weekly just for water clarity and to keep Cyano at bay.

 

[Yehuda Dana]

I think that's a fine plan. If some of the excess phosphate will bind to the calcium carbonate and be removed a little at a time, that would be great. I use a DIY version about weekly just for water clarity and to keep Cyano at bay.

DIY version of Coral Snow?
Sounds great!
May I please get the information how to make it too?

 

[ReefGeezer]

DIY version of Coral Snow?
Sounds great!
May I please get the information how to make it too?

Per @SunnyX - Here's the link

This has worked very well for me. The water clarity it creates is great and I have no Cyano issues. I use 50ml of it, mixed with 30ml of MB7, once a week. When I started, I used it 3X per week. I think it has greatly reduced excess organics in my system.

 

[Yehuda Dana]

Per @SunnyX - Here's the link

This has worked very well for me. The water clarity it creates is great and I have no Cyano issues. I use 50ml of it, mixed with 30ml of MB7, once a week. When I started, I used it 3X per week. I think it has greatly reduced excess organics in my system.

Great!
Thank you

 

[Yehuda Dana]

Now I really curious what is the extra material in the Coral Snow Plus (comparing to Coral Snow), and how may one make such as DIY

 

[ReefGeezer]

Now I really curious what is the extra material in the Coral Snow Plus (comparing to Coral Snow), and how may one make such as DIY

I suppose the actual make-up of KZ Coral Snow is proprietary and super secret. It is no doubt a good product & does exactly what it is said to do. If I had to guess, I'd have to say it contains, among other things, calcium carbonate, some sort of heterotopic bacteria, and maybe a little organic carbon.

 

[taricha]

There was a paper I saw a long while ago that found that corals were surprisingly good at shielding very high water PO4 levels from the zooxanthellae. For some period of time anyway.

 

[thejacgues]

There was a paper I saw a long while ago that found that corals were surprisingly good at shielding very high water PO4 levels from the zooxanthellae. For some period of time anyway.

According to Lou Ekus, coral's zooxanthellae have general issue with absorbing PO4, which is vital for their growth and functioning (a bit opposite with NO3, as allegedly these numbers have smaller impact, but are more easily absorbed).
The only difference would be very high levels of NO3 (around 50 and above) which are toxic to most corals and other animals. He used this statement during explanation of key mechanism of NP Bactobalance polymers, which are intended to not only reducing nutrients in the water column, but also transferring it along with the bacterioplankton to the coral's tissues.

 

[Yehuda Dana]

During the last 11 days, I dosed KZ Coral Snow Plus every other day, and indeed the Phosphate level is reducing.

However, in the last couple of days, I noticed some SPS burned tips...
NO3 level is 7
PO4 is 2.27
KH is 8.5

 

[Lavey29]

Per @SunnyX - Here's the link

This has worked very well for me. The water clarity it creates is great and I have no Cyano issues. I use 50ml of it, mixed with 30ml of MB7, once a week. When I started, I used it 3X per week. I think it has greatly reduced excess organics in my system.

50ml, wow, how big is your system? I use sunny mix too and 7.5ml for 80g system.

 

[Yehuda Dana]

During the last 11 days, I dosed KZ Coral Snow Plus every other day, and indeed the Phosphate level is reducing.

However, in the last couple of days, I noticed some SPS burned tips...
NO3 level is 7
PO4 is 2.27
KH is 8.5

I wonder if the burned tips are due to the high PO4 level, or due to trying to reduce it...

 

[ReefGeezer]

50ml, wow, how big is your system? I use sunny mix too and 7.5ml for 80g system.

90 gallon tank w/ 30 gallon sump... maybe 80-90 gallons total water. I mix 10 TBSP of calcium carbonate in 1000 ml of water to make a stock solution that is half as potent as @SunnyX recommends. I use up to 50 ml of that stock solution, mixed with up to 30 ml of MB7, roughly weekly. The amount of the stock solution and MB7 I use depends on my perception of the condition of the tank. When I use 50 ml, It clouds the water so that I can't see from one in to the other in my 4' tank. I stop the pumps for about the first hour. Then I start the pumps so the water is filtered by filter socks and my skimmer. The water clears 2-3 hours after turn the pumps on. The next day I use a turkey baster to blow any excess calcium carbonate off the surfaces. I'd have to say that now that the tank is running well, I'm more often only using about 20-30 ml of the stock solution.

The only downside I've noticed is a little calcium carbonate build-up (little white specs) behind the rocks on my overflow partition.