What is the most Phosphate (PO4) you’ve needed to dose daily?

[Reefahholic]

I’m curious what is the most PO4 you’ve needed to dose daily. If you’ve ever had a tank drinking it down or currently have one drinking now you’ll know what I’m taking about. I’ve set a personal record with this tank at 0.16 ppm daily and the tank is still drinkin’ like she’s ready for more. Typically this doesn’t happen as much with Phosphate, but is more common with Nitrate and growing SPS/Acropora corals. Yes, you read that right…0.16 ppm daily! This has been going on for about 5 months! I won’t get into the reasons about what I believe caused it. That I’m not exactly sure, but I do suspect a few things. Just worth mentioning…my equipment is good and this is confirmed with ICP testing and I’ve dosed two different products at the same ppm potency.

I did just add 7 fish and I expect this level of dosing to decrease this week as the fish start to bring in their natural fertilizer.

 

[Sean Clark]

Dosing NeoPhos is not for me... I tried and it did not end well. Others experience will vary I am sure. I would not endorse dosing any amount of this to your tank ever.

 

[Reefahholic]

Dosing NeoPhos is not for me... I tried and it did not end well. Others experience will vary I am sure. I would not endorse dosing any amount of this to your tank ever.

Yeah, If the dose is a little too potent, the result will not be good. For this reason a max daily increase of .02 ppm is safe and recommended.

It would be wise for anybody that is starting to dose for the first time, to only increase PO4 by .005 to .01 ppm in a “one shot” daily (24 hrs) dose. Then ideally you would test the next day, log the result, and evaluate if further dosing is necessary.

N&P dosing is effective and absolutely necessary for starving systems especially with Acropora, but no doubt it can be tricky and takes a little practice and testing to understand how your system is responding.

 

[sixty_reefer]

What I am wondering is if it’s not your rock that is is absorbing the phosphates how much growth are you having in your system? phosphates will be used in tissues building are your coral, macro algae growing in a way that is visually ease to see?
Other way I see phosphates being depleted rapidly would be in carbon dosing, as a increase in organisms growth would also require phosphates.
in answer to your main question my tank uses around 0.01 a day.

 

[Reefahholic]

What I am wondering is if it’s not your rock that is is absorbing the phosphates how much growth are you having in your system? phosphates will be used in tissues building are your coral, macro algae growing in a way that is visually ease to see?
Other way I see phosphates being depleted rapidly would be in carbon dosing, as a increase in organisms growth would also require phosphates.
in answer to your main question my tank uses around 0.01 a day.

System is new. Only 5 months.

6 small Acro frags currently, this has been going on from first month.

No carbon dosing or anything that would deplete PO4.

 

[KStatefan]

I am dosing 0.02 ppm phosphate from tri sodium phosphate right now. I doubt this will be enough but dont want to over dose.

 

[sixty_reefer]

System is new. Only 5 months.

6 small Acro frags currently, this has been going on from first month.

No carbon dosing or anything that would deplete PO4.

No macro algae or nuisance algae either? They are a great source of organic carbon I’m in the process of investigating caleurpa as a source of N-Doc instead of the asexual stage that many think it does.

 

[BanjoBandito]

 

[mtraylor]

I have been dosing neophos in my frag tank for a very long time. Started with dry rock. I can sometimes get a reading above zero with the ultra low Hanna tester every now and then. I started dosing microbacter7 now to see if this helps.

Even with reading of zero. I have no issues with sps or colors on my sps. Would prefer though to get it stable at low level. I think I would have faster growth then.

 

[Aqua Man]

Phosphate Absorption Rates in Aragonite

I was chatting with @mcarroll the other day about phosphate binding to aragonite. I have seen many instances where phosphate bound live rock and sand requires massive amounts of media and water changes to remove all of the phosphate. Two instances: 1). Local purchased 120lbs of Pukani live...

www.reef2reef.com

have to look at my notes to see the actual ppm. I was dosing 5-8 ml of neophos a day in a 20 tall. Took almost 2 bottles of the stuff over 6 months to finally get a steady reading above 0.

 

[sixty_reefer]

I have been dosing neophos in my frag tank for a very long time. Started with dry rock. I can sometimes get a reading above zero with the ultra low Hanna tester every now and then. I started dosing microbacter7 now to see if this helps.

Even with reading of zero. I have no issues with sps or colors on my sps. Would prefer though to get it stable at low level. I think I would have faster growth then.

I would use mb7 with low phosphorus, the product is aimed at lowering nutrients

 

[Reefahholic]

I am dosing 0.02 ppm phosphate from tri sodium phosphate right now. I doubt this will be enough but dont want to over dose.

In all my old tanks, dosing .01-.02 was just fine to bring it up.

This tank is very unique to say the least.

I used to dose Trisodium Phosphate (TSP) and although it does work, I really got a chance to evaluate how well it performed when my system was severely starving. All I can say is that I’d try a different phosphate product the next time. Maybe like Sodium Phosphate Dibasic or something.

 

[Mike konesky]

I'm up to .22 in my 300 frag, and .24 in my 125. Great growth. Tanks just absorb it. 300 sitting at .04, 125 sits around .05.

 

[mtraylor]

I'm dosing 2ml a day on 40 gallon frag tank. Don't want to go any higher since everything looks and grows well even without it.....but want to see levels steady in ideal range

 

[Reefahholic]

No macro algae or nuisance algae either? They are a great source of organic carbon I’m in the process of investigating caleurpa as a source of N-Doc instead of the asexual stage that many think it does.

I did get some turf algae (due to the depleted level) which made matters worse (was incredibly difficult to dose up when the rock was aggressively binding and then turf also stealing everything going into the system as well), but this started long before that. It’s about 90% gone now and still the same issue, but it’s obviously getting easier to get it up. Still requiring .14 ppm currently.

 

[Reefahholic]

Phosphate Absorption Rates in Aragonite

I was chatting with @mcarroll the other day about phosphate binding to aragonite. I have seen many instances where phosphate bound live rock and sand requires massive amounts of media and water changes to remove all of the phosphate. Two instances: 1). Local purchased 120lbs of Pukani live...

www.reef2reef.com

have to look at my notes to see the actual ppm. I was dosing 5-8 ml of neophos a day in a 20 tall. Took almost 2 bottles of the stuff over 6 months to finally get a steady reading above 0.

Yes please check your notes. I’m interested. When a system is starving, it can take months to get it saturated.

Think of it like rocks leeching Phosphate, but reverse that. Rock is binding. Could also be any calcium carbonate surface like sand or similar.

 

[Reefahholic]

I'm up to .22 in my 300 frag, and .24 in my 125. Great growth. Tanks just absorb it. 300 sitting at .04, 125 sits around .05.

Wow, that’s insane. That’s a lot. What product and how many mL’s a day?

 

[mtraylor]

I would use mb7 with low phosphorus, the product is aimed at lowering nutrients

Yeah I'm trying to reduce nitrates a bit to see if I can get things around the 1/16 ratio range to see if they normalize quicker. Don't want to disturb the apple kart too much as everything has been thriving for years. So going slow

 

[Reefahholic]

I'm dosing 2ml a day on 40 gallon frag tank. Don't want to go any higher since everything looks and grows well even without it.....but want to see levels steady in ideal range

2mL?

What does that mean…

If you don’t know the potency you could be dosing .01 or 5 ppm? Hehe

 

[Mike konesky]

Wow, that is a lot. What product and how many mL’s a day?

Loudwolf tsp. My dosing solution is watered down and put in 5gal jugs. it would be the equivalent of 220ml of neophos to the 300, and 120ml to the 125. Using brs dosers on timers. Both systems get a .02 dose every 2ish hours. It takes 30min for the pump to complete 1 dose.