What is to high for phosphate? I think mine are high

Rscott

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Tested with my Hanna UL phosphorus tester today
Came up with 86.

Apparently translates to .26 phosphate
Should I be freaking out? It’s a newer tank 3 months old

Only 3 frags but 7 fish

Turns out tomorrow is water change day anyway but want to be sure something else isn’t wrong?
Thanks
 

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You never want to be zero, but I find 0.03-0.10 to be ideal for my tank. I wouldn’t stress about 0.20 ppm, and Just remember you need some nitrate and phosphates for corals. Never shoot for zero and don’t chase some magic number. Gauge it by how your tank looks
 

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Your tank is still pretty young and it will take some time for it to find it's happy place. How about your nitrates? Do you have a refugium? I would avoid trying to lower phosphates chemically if possible.
 
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Rscott

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Tank is 9 weeks old now

Seems to be doing very well.

2 clowns
2 springer damsels
2 watchman goby
1 bristletooth tang

6 Babylonia snails
Few hermits
1 fire shrimp

3 frags
A monti cap
Xenia
And a cyphastrea

I noticed adding the frags caused my alk to go from 10 to 8

I do a 20 gallon water change every other week

Nitrates stay at 10 on week 1 and are 20-25 by the time the 2 week mark hits for the water change



Almost no algae

All in all, I’m pretty happy. This is the first time I have seen higher phosphates

Ammonia and nitrite undetectable

Running some carbon in a media basket
Lights on 8 hours a day

No refuge given the Red Sea sump situation
May put some GFO in a media bag
 

IslandLifeReef

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Tank is 9 weeks old now

Seems to be doing very well.

2 clowns
2 springer damsels
2 watchman goby
1 bristletooth tang

6 Babylonia snails
Few hermits
1 fire shrimp

3 frags
A monti cap
Xenia
And a cyphastrea

I noticed adding the frags caused my alk to go from 10 to 8

I do a 20 gallon water change every other week

Nitrates stay at 10 on week 1 and are 20-25 by the time the 2 week mark hits for the water change



Almost no algae

All in all, I’m pretty happy. This is the first time I have seen higher phosphates

Ammonia and nitrite undetectable

Running some carbon in a media basket
Lights on 8 hours a day

No refuge given the Red Sea sump situation
May put some GFO in a media bag


PO4 could be leaching from your rock. If I remember, you used dry rock. It could also be coming from overfeeding. It is probably a combination of both. Nitrates rising from 10 to about 25 in a weeks time is a lot, so I would cut back on the food.

Also, be very careful with GFO. It can strip your water of PO4 overnight. If you use it, start with a quarter of the amount that is recommended and wait a couple weeks to see how things settle out. IMO, I would try the reduced feedings first. :)

Edit: P.S. 3 frags won't have that much of an effect on your Alk. Something else is going on there.
 
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Rscott

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PO4 could be leaching from your rock. If I remember, you used dry rock. It could also be coming from overfeeding. It is probably a combination of both. Nitrates rising from 10 to about 25 in a weeks time is a lot, so I would cut back on the food.

Also, be very careful with GFO. It can strip your water of PO4 overnight. If you use it, start with a quarter of the amount that is recommended and wait a couple weeks to see how things settle out. IMO, I would try the reduced feedings first. :)

Edit: P.S. 3 frags won't have that much of an effect on your Alk. Something else is going on there.


I suspect the consumption of alk was strictly a bad test. I agree 10.6 to 8.4 in 3 days is probably wrong

I only feed once a day a few pellets

The rock was Carib Sea life rock

Nitrates 10-25 nitrate Change is just my best guess. I truthfully don’t know because it’s hard to tell the color change

All I know is week one it’s 10 and week 2 it’s tiny bit darker
Is it truly 25? Probably not, it’s just the next number on the scale so that’s what I was throwing out there
 

IslandLifeReef

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I suspect the consumption of alk was strictly a bad test. I agree 10.6 to 8.4 in 3 days is probably wrong

I only feed once a day a few pellets

The rock was Carib Sea life rock

Nitrates 10-25 nitrate Change is just my best guess. I truthfully don’t know because it’s hard to tell the color change

All I know is week one it’s 10 and week 2 it’s tiny bit darker
Is it truly 25? Probably not, it’s just the next number on the scale so that’s what I was throwing out there


The PO4 is coming from somewhere. The 3 likely sources are new water, rock, or food. Carib Sea life rock isn't live rock, so that could be a source since it is man made. Pellet foods typically have higher PO4 than frozen foods, so that could be a source as well.

One thing you could do is add copepods and phytoplankton to your system. I used @AlgaeBarn for my reefer 170. No refugium, but the pods are thriving on the rock and sand. When the glass gets a little dirty, I can see them at night cleaning the glass. The pods will eat left over food and the phyto will help consume the PO4 as well as NO3.
 
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Rscott

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The PO4 is coming from somewhere. The 3 likely sources are new water, rock, or food. Carib Sea life rock isn't live rock, so that could be a source since it is man made. Pellet foods typically have higher PO4 than frozen foods, so that could be a source as well.

One thing you could do is add copepods and phytoplankton to your system. I used @AlgaeBarn for my reefer 170. No refugium, but the pods are thriving on the rock and sand. When the glass gets a little dirty, I can see them at night cleaning the glass. The pods will eat left over food and the phyto will help consume the PO4 as well as NO3.
Interesting
Didn’t know you could do pods without a fuge
Have to look into that
 

IslandLifeReef

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Interesting
Didn’t know you could do pods without a fuge
Have to look into that

I added 1 jar in January and 1 jar in February. I haven't added any since and I have tons crawling on my rock at night. I can also see them in the water column at night. I do have to use magnification to see them. Though I don't know exactly how long each of the species of copepods in my tank live, I do see all different sizes and the population seems stable. That leads me to believe that they are reproducing in the tank.
 

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