marvelousone
Well-Known Member
My po4 is at .006 on hanna phosphorus tester. 2 converted to po4. I know I can feed more but I have high nitrates so I really don't want to do that. What is the best way to add. store bought or home remedy.
whats best way to raise PO4
- Thread starter marvelousone
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The most common way to supplement phosphorus in your system is using rock phosphate. This is the natural form ,of phosphorus, and it is available at most gardening supply stores. There are other forms of supplemental phosphorus available that work just as well. You can basically use whichever phosphorus supplement is easiest for you to find.
Here. http://aquarium-fertilizer.com/phosphorus-p
Here. http://aquarium-fertilizer.com/phosphorus-p
Idoc
Getting lazier and lazier with upkeep!
Seachem Flourish Phosphorous can be purchased to dose into your tank if you don't want to make up your own mixture.
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marvelousone
Well-Known Member
what to use to make own mixture.
PatW
2500 Club Member
I dose phosphates. I use trisodium phosphate Na3PO4. I got mine on Amazon. It is produced by EisenGolden Laboratories. It is ACS regent grade and 99.9% pure. It is not that expensive and 8 ounces should last you a long time. I make a stock solution of the stuff and do .25 cup per gallon of RODI. I dose 1.5 teaspoons daily to a 300 gallon aquarium. And I have cheato and a big skimmer as nurtient removal systems.
Reef Roids....
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marvelousone
Well-Known Member
I use them once a week. Should I use more often.Reef Roids....
Aquavitro has a super concentrated phosphorus that I have been using for some time now with good results.
https://www.aquavitro.com/activate.php
This stuff is strong. for my 75g it only takes about 1 ml to raise it to .008 from undetectable.
https://www.aquavitro.com/activate.php
This stuff is strong. for my 75g it only takes about 1 ml to raise it to .008 from undetectable.
Why do you want to add po4? Is it because growth, color on your sps?
How old is your tank?
What is your filteration like? Do you use gfo or grow micro algae?
I know i ask a lot of questions, without the details about your system and goal its hard to give the best advice according to your need. If Po4 is dosed into a new system,they need to stay in low numbers but if your tank is matured with a lot of sps and lps, po4 can quickly used up. If that is the case, i would supportment po4. Check to see if your p&n is banlanced. I always used the 10 to 1 ratio. If your no3 is at 5ppm then your po4 would be less then .5. If you choose to dose po4, please make sure that you test your consumption daily. If you are not sure how much your tank needs then dosing po4 = red slime and unwanted algae.
Hope it helps. If your coral growth and color are fine, i would just leave it alone.
How old is your tank?
What is your filteration like? Do you use gfo or grow micro algae?
I know i ask a lot of questions, without the details about your system and goal its hard to give the best advice according to your need. If Po4 is dosed into a new system,they need to stay in low numbers but if your tank is matured with a lot of sps and lps, po4 can quickly used up. If that is the case, i would supportment po4. Check to see if your p&n is banlanced. I always used the 10 to 1 ratio. If your no3 is at 5ppm then your po4 would be less then .5. If you choose to dose po4, please make sure that you test your consumption daily. If you are not sure how much your tank needs then dosing po4 = red slime and unwanted algae.
Hope it helps. If your coral growth and color are fine, i would just leave it alone.
Phosphorus is a vital compound needed by all living things. Plants including xoozanthellae need it to sustain growth. Vertebrates need phosphorus as part of the process to build bone as well as assist the body in powering muscles for daily life. In corals phosphorus is used in the calcification process helping stony corals grow faster. Too much phosphorus in the water is obviously not good as it leads to algae blooms. So it's important to keep it in a very low range so the fish and corals can utilize it but low enough that nuisance algae is out competed by the other organisms in your tank.
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marvelousone
Well-Known Member
My tank has been up since Nov. 12 2015.
I have a few Sps. I am wanting a SPS only tank. There is a few softies and lps in the tank right now.
180gal dt 29 show tank attached and 60 gal sump
Filteration. Lifereef skimmer, cheato. carbon reactor and reactor for gfo. Have not used gfo for over a month. Po4 was reading zero. I up my feeding fish and coral. It is raising my nitrates.
Po4 is at .006 as of yesterday. Sps not growing like they where.
No3 not sure. I assume high because I have red cyano. test kit is bad. I have one on order.
alk 8.0
cal. 400
mg 1380
coral color is dull or slightly brown. With that said one brown coral is getting color. I am trying to get all my levels consistent. I do have a doser.
I dose Brightwell part A and B plus Magnesium.
I do water change of 30 gals every two weeks.
Hi, Given to fact that your system is well matured. high nitrate and low Po4 can be cause by 3 possibilities,
1. False readings on test kit. check not only the hanna checker, but also your no3 test kit. In reality, they do fail.
2 Relationship between algae and bacteria ,they both require phosphate to grow. So a tank low in phosphate could in theory do better with a little phosphate in the water column.
bacteria needs po4 to consume no3. if your nitrate is high and 0 phosphate that means your tank could possibly be low in bacteria count. algae do require both, but they also use sunlight, in our case grow light or 65K bulb.
When NO3 or PO4 is excessively out of balance, you will experience the other remaining high for a long time.. I would recommend that you take your GFO reactor offline for a while and get your PO4 levels up to help more bacteria growth in your water column in turn consume the excess NO3. Cyano lives more on organic phosphate then anything else, but we all have to deal with them.
3 lime water could cause it too, but you didn't mention anything about it. we can leave that out.
Things to consider before start doing anything to your tank. get an accurate testing result for both no3 and po4 , than if means to dose po4 start very slow. at the same time provide a carbon source for the bacteria to grow while dosing. sugar, vodka, zeo food.
considering feeding the tank with food that also has more po4. There are many out there.
your no3 will naturally fall. water changes also help. Do not make any sudden rise or fall on po4 and no3 is the kay.
once your system is balance with N/P. cyano will slowly go away.
hope it helps. good luck.
1. False readings on test kit. check not only the hanna checker, but also your no3 test kit. In reality, they do fail.
2 Relationship between algae and bacteria ,they both require phosphate to grow. So a tank low in phosphate could in theory do better with a little phosphate in the water column.
bacteria needs po4 to consume no3. if your nitrate is high and 0 phosphate that means your tank could possibly be low in bacteria count. algae do require both, but they also use sunlight, in our case grow light or 65K bulb.
When NO3 or PO4 is excessively out of balance, you will experience the other remaining high for a long time.. I would recommend that you take your GFO reactor offline for a while and get your PO4 levels up to help more bacteria growth in your water column in turn consume the excess NO3. Cyano lives more on organic phosphate then anything else, but we all have to deal with them.
3 lime water could cause it too, but you didn't mention anything about it. we can leave that out.
Things to consider before start doing anything to your tank. get an accurate testing result for both no3 and po4 , than if means to dose po4 start very slow. at the same time provide a carbon source for the bacteria to grow while dosing. sugar, vodka, zeo food.
considering feeding the tank with food that also has more po4. There are many out there.
your no3 will naturally fall. water changes also help. Do not make any sudden rise or fall on po4 and no3 is the kay.
once your system is balance with N/P. cyano will slowly go away.
hope it helps. good luck.
Rick Cavanaugh
Active Member
baking power is Sodium bicarbonate (raises alkalinity) monocalcium phosphate increases PO4), sodium phosphate (Increases PO$) and about 20% cornstarch (carbon source).
Rick Cavanaugh
Active Member
MTBake
2500 Club Member
I buy this from Amazon.
2 grams into 250ml of ro/di water. Shake very well. Let rest for an hour and shake again. To make sure it all dissolves. Adding 1ml of this solution to my 40 gallon system adds .04ppm of phosphates. I use the Hanna phosphorus ulr checker.
That said, I quit dosing my tank 6 weeks ago. My phosphorus hasn't dropped below 15ppb on the checker since. Everything is looking good so far. Go slow and test often if you go this route. Don't over do it.
MTBake
2500 Club Member
Rick Cavanaugh
Active Member
Think you mean Baking Soda is sodium bicarbonate
No Baking powder contains all of those ingredients, so it is something you buy at the grocery store and it will raise PO4. It will also have a slight effect on alkalinity too as it contains sodium bicarbonate. If you are looking for a quick and easy way to boost PO4 this works.
If you need to dose on a regular basis I would suggest purchasing monocalcium phosphate or dicalcium phosphate fromAmazon. Both are food grade additives.
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marvelousone
Well-Known Member
I checked po4 with salifert tester and redsea. they where always zero so I bought a hanna. it tested .006
No3 with salifert and it read zero ( I just tested it again) Date on tester is 01/2019
I do water change every other week.
GFO has been off line for 1 1/2 months now.
I am adding bacteria I need to feed it.
Cyano is bad
Thanks for your help.
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