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

[Reefahholic]

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

1:16…heh

Try 100:1

That is a fairly good ratio that I’d say the majority of pro’s are having good success at. Although I see 200:1 a lot too.

100:1 is for every 1 N you’ll need .01 P
So the ratio I like is anywhere from 5-20 N to .05-.20 P,

Mostly I try to run at 6-15 and .06-.15

200:1 is for every 10 N you’ll need .05 P

 

[Reefahholic]

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.

Right now I’m dosing 150x in 24 hrs and a dose hits the water about every 10 minutes. Extremely weak dose, but something is available all day long.

 

[sixty_reefer]

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

I don’t want to complicate or send the thread of track just wanted to mention that that’s not a import ratio, every time your tank is at a balance, meaning residual phosphates and nitrates on a constant residual you have the ratios working already if that makes sense, the ratio from residual phosphates to nitrates doesn’t exist although there is a balance/ratio working for you whenever your tank is stable.

 

[Reefahholic]

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.

5 Gallon jugs he says! I thought I was dosing a lot.

 

[Mike konesky]

Right now I’m dosing 150x in 24 hrs and a dose hits the water about every 10 minutes. Extremely weak dose, but something is available all day long.

I really like adding stuff slowly when possible. Constant drip if I could. Does this stuff have any noticeable ph effect? Just curious because I sit around 8.2, don't vent the house much, and co2 in the house is around 800-1000ppm. What's your ph sit at?

 

[Reefahholic]

I don’t want to complicate or send the thread of track just wanted to mention that that’s not a import ratio, every time your tank is at a balance, meaning residual phosphates and nitrates on a constant residual you have the ratios working already if that makes sense, the ratio from residual phosphates to nitrates doesn’t exist although there is a balance/ratio working for you whenever your tank is stable.

If I can test it consistently and the tank is doing good…if it’s residual or not I’m happy because I have all the documentation to prove it.

A 100:1 ratio is a good place to be.

 

[Pkunk35]

I have to dose 0.16 into a 20g, I think the cause is corraline algae, the tank is absolutely covered in it.

 

[Reefahholic]

I really like adding stuff slowly when possible. Constant drip if I could. Does this stuff have any noticeable ph effect? Just curious because I sit around 8.2, don't vent the house much, and co2 in the house is around 800-1000ppm. What's your ph sit at?

I don’t notice the pH affected much. Not saying there is or isn’t an effect on pH…I just don’t notice much if there is.

My pH was sitting at 8.3 before I turned up the reactor recently (with a CO2 scrubber). With the added CO2 in the system it’s usually 8.1 peak photo period and 7.8-7.9 at night.

 

[Reefahholic]

I have to dose 0.16 into a 20g, I think the cause is corraline algae, the tank is absolutely covered in it.

That’s probably a great guess.

 

[sixty_reefer]

If I can test it consistently and the tank is doing good…if it’s residual or not I’m happy because I have all the documentation to prove it.

A 100:1 ratio is a good place to be.

And that’s absolutely fine although if you where to ask the same question to 100 successful reefers they would come back with 100 different residual phosphates and nitrates, one thing that all of them would agree on is that they keep those absolute values stable, this is wend the ratio is in balance independently of the absolute value of the ratio.

 

[Reefahholic]

And that’s absolutely fine although if you where to ask the same question to 100 successful reefers they would come back with 100 different residual phosphates and nitrates, one thing that all of them would agree on is that they keep those absolute values stable, this is wend the ratio is in balance independently of the absolute value of the ratio.

So where do you keep your tank? Sounds like your unsure.

 

[Reefahholic]

if you where to ask the same question to 100 successful reefers they would come back with 100 different residual phosphates and nitrates, one thing that all of them would agree on is that they keep those absolute values stable, this is wend the ratio is in balance independently of the absolute value of the ratio.

Let me ask you this. How do you know what is residual and what is not?

 

[Reefahholic]

@sixty_reefer gonna hit me with a 5
Paragraph response. He’s the only one I know who likes nutrients as much as I do. Haha Sixty…I have to get some sleep. I’ll check when I get up. Just worked 12 hrs…been up 16. I’ll get back later when I wake up.

 

[sixty_reefer]

So where do you keep your tank? Sounds like your unsure.

I normally just let the tank tell me we’re he wants to sit at, 20 nitrates and 0.05 phosphates seems to be close to stable, I’m losing stability as my phosphates keep going down at the moment.

 

[sixty_reefer]

Let me ask you this. How do you know what is residual and what is not?

Your tank is a constant tap of nutrients although you only add food once or twice a day it doesn’t mean that the organisms in your tank will only get feed once or twice a day, once the food is added to your system a process of decomposition will start and that process is constant until that piece of food is fully gone, wile the decomposition process is happening several organisms in your system will be transforming and assimilating the nutrients produced by the decomposition process. This process is what I call “the availability of nutrients” residual will be the nitrates and phosphates you can test for, at any given point what you can test for is part of the nutrient that not been processed by the system organisms.
The po4 and no3 is just a guide line of the nutrients that not have been utilised by the aquarium if you were to test at different times in the same day you would observe that they would vary in a very small difference.

 

[Aqua Man]

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

6ml of neophos added about .05ppm phosphorus, testing 1 hr after dose. 24 hrs after dose would be 0.0 My tank is 7 years old though! Not sure where it all went!! I’ve never used any PO4 removing media.

So yes I believe a system can be starved of PO4 and it can take awhile to build up a reserve.

I’ve changed my water change routine and my last PO4 test was .015 , haven’t dosed in awhile now.

 

[sixty_reefer]

@sixty_reefer gonna hit me with a 5
Paragraph response. He’s the only one I know who likes nutrients as much as I do. Haha Sixty…I have to get some sleep. I’ll check when I get up. Just worked 12 hrs…been up 16. I’ll get back later when I wake up.

It’s cool to interact with folks that think in a similar way, nutrition is such a interesting topic for me it becomes easier once the earlier forms of nutrients are more understood.

 

[shakacuz]

just dosed about roughly 4g of phos-n to raise my po4 to 0.02-0.03. moonshiner method really kicked my tanks consumption rate up. having some difficulties keeping up, especially with ALK. but po4 dosing is slowly beginning to be a daily thing for me

 

[Reefahholic]

I normally just let the tank tell me we’re he wants to sit at, 20 nitrates and 0.05 phosphates seems to be close to stable, I’m losing stability as my phosphates keep going down at the moment.

So that’s like 400:1 I believe.

Dose the PO4 up and tighten that ratio a bit and see what you observe. Report back.

 

[Reefahholic]

6ml of neophos added about .05ppm phosphorus, testing 1 hr after dose. 24 hrs after dose would be 0.0 My tank is 7 years old though! Not sure where it all went!! I’ve never used any PO4 removing media.

So yes I believe a system can be starved of PO4 and it can take awhile to build up a reserve.

I’ve changed my water change routine and my last PO4 test was .015 , haven’t dosed in awhile now.

100% agree a system can be severely starved. .05 ppm of PO4 is getting on the high end especially if you have Acro’s. Any adverse effects or anything getting pizzy.?

This process is what I call “the availability of nutrients” residual will be the nitrates and phosphates you can test for, at any given point what you can test for is part of the nutrient that not been processed by the system organisms.
The po4 and no3 is just a guide line of the nutrients that not have been utilised by the aquarium if you were to test at different times in the same day you would observe that they would vary in a very small difference.

That is what we are looking for in a system. We want to see a consistent amount of both N&P that registers on our home test kits, but they can only detect inorganic Phosphate. In cases were I believe the system is starving we try to get an ATI analysis onboard which can test for the Atom P regardless of the chemical form. It can detect organic forms of phosphate like DNA, Phospholipids, as well as inorganic phosphate. This gives a better snap shot of the tank and more clues as what is really going on with nutrients. However, most ICP companies calculate the PO4 from the Phosphorus value. Although I believe OCEAMO is now measuring directly. They measure Phosphate with Photometry, Nitrate with Ion Chromatography.