Will my torch and hammer corals recover from high phoshpate?

[marcosnano]

Hello reefers,

I was at vacation for 7 days and I left my tank with auto feeder and I made mistake with over dosing with food.

When I came back my tank was over taken with brown algae and high phosphate

2 torches and 1 hammer coral closed 90%. Other corals like GSP, candy cone, SPS's are fine.

Alk 7.7
Nitrate 5ppm
Amonia 0
Salinity 1.025
Temp 78.5f
Phosphate 0.25

48 hours ago phosphates were 0.50 so I managed to lower it to 0.25 with phosguard product and 20% water change.

So my question is, when I lower back phosphates so desired levels, will corals recover and how long does it take?

Thanks!

 

[randomfishdude]

I'm not 100% shure. But In my case my touches and hammers have been in a alk of 3 a cal of 220 and phos being all the way up at .37
They've been just fine. That all was 2 weeks ago and I've corrected stuff but I've seen no issue's.
But I would say they most likely would survive. I've found them to be pretty hardy.

 

[Propane]

Do they look bad?

 

[Lavey29]

That's not high phosphate just slightly elevated.

 

[Salty_Northerner]

That's not high phosphate just slightly elevated.

,5 is high. Maybe your thinking .05 isn't high.

.1 is about the most you'd want.. not .5

I start to squirm when I near .1 and relax at .08- .04

 

[Lavey29]

,5 is high. Maybe your thinking .05 isn't high.

.1 is about the most you'd want.. not .5

I start to squirm when I near .1 and relax at .08- .04

Mines .22 right now and tank thrives. Ideal phosphate is .05 to .1 but lots of tanks run fine with elevated phosphate levels.

Edit: I saw OP post .25. Now I see his rose to .5. Yes that is elevated but still not coral killing in my opinion. Mine was .45 for a period of time. Just walk it down slowly OP with phosguard or half dose of phosphate rx.

 

[Lavey29]

,5 is high. Maybe your thinking .05 isn't high.

.1 is about the most you'd want.. not .5

I start to squirm when I near .1 and relax at .08- .04

Sorry didn't see the second part of his post with the .5 number.

 

[Salty_Northerner]

Sorry didn't see the second part of his post with the .5 number.

I kind of figured you missed it and it's all good. I know for me I get yelled at if my phosphate is below .020 and higher than .150

 

[Uncle99]

Hello reefers,

I was at vacation for 7 days and I left my tank with auto feeder and I made mistake with over dosing with food.

When I came back my tank was over taken with brown algae and high phosphate

2 torches and 1 hammer coral closed 90%. Other corals like GSP, candy cone, SPS's are fine.

Alk 7.7
Nitrate 5ppm
Amonia 0
Salinity 1.025
Temp 78.5f
Phosphate 0.25

48 hours ago phosphates were 0.50 so I managed to lower it to 0.25 with phosguard product and 20% water change.

So my question is, when I lower back phosphates so desired levels, will corals recover and how long does it take?

Thanks!

It’s been 24hrs…..any change?
.25ppm phosphate is fine.

 

[Lavey29]

I kind of figured you missed it and it's all good. I know for me I get yelled at if my phosphate is below .020 and higher than .150

I'm kind of experimenting now and letting the tank do its thing with phosphate with no absorbing chemicals. I'm curious to see if it just continues to climb or stays within a range. I used phosphate rx for couple months and I think everything that was built up in rocks and sand is gone so I'm hoping my phosphate will stay in a reasonable range again for another 2 years without chemical assistance.

 

[Pntbll687]

,5 is high. Maybe your thinking .05 isn't high.

.1 is about the most you'd want.. not .5

I start to squirm when I near .1 and relax at .08- .04

Go to the 11:00 min mark of this video. If .1 phosphate makes you squirm, you'll probably need a puke bucket when you hear these numbers

 

[Pntbll687]

Hello reefers,

I was at vacation for 7 days and I left my tank with auto feeder and I made mistake with over dosing with food.

When I came back my tank was over taken with brown algae and high phosphate

2 torches and 1 hammer coral closed 90%. Other corals like GSP, candy cone, SPS's are fine.

Alk 7.7
Nitrate 5ppm
Amonia 0
Salinity 1.025
Temp 78.5f
Phosphate 0.25

48 hours ago phosphates were 0.50 so I managed to lower it to 0.25 with phosguard product and 20% water change.

So my question is, when I lower back phosphates so desired levels, will corals recover and how long does it take?

Thanks!

It really depends on your system. If it was super stable before and it was just a blip in the phosphate, they'll recover pretty quickly. If phosphate has been fluctuating regularly, it will probably take a few month for colors to get back where they were, but with a couple water changes they should be open in no time.

For reference, my frag system was running pretty low on phosphate .03-.01 range in the early spring. I was dosing nitrates as well. Mixed up the nitrate and phosphate bottle one day, and spiked phosphate from .02 to .8 in one dose. Corals were NOT HAPPY, acros turned brown most of them died. I have some dragon soul favia frags that turned so brown it looked like someone glued poop to the frag tiles. It's been about 6 months, and they are about 80% back.

 

[Salty_Northerner]

Go to the 11:00 min mark of this video. If .1 phosphate makes you squirm, you'll probably need a puke bucket when you hear these numbers

Please no more frag box videos!

They certainly do have a good balance going on at that farm. But I'm pretty sure most home aquarium owners would never shoot for levels like that.

 

[Pntbll687]

Please no more frag box videos!

They certainly do have a good balance going on at that farm. But I'm pretty sure most home aquarium owners would never shoot for levels like that.

I don't think Cherry Corals shoots for those numbers either. It just happens to be what it is.

I have the same thing on my 180g tank. I feed and everything is healthy and growing, but the hanna checker flashes 200 when I test, so it's .5 or over. But I have ZERO algae issues so I'm not gonna chase a number and mess that up.

 

[kevgib67]

IMO your corals will recover. I don’t think it was the level of phosphate but the large quick swing that ticked them off. Stability is what makes them happy as you have read people on here run drastically different levels of nitrate and phosphate with success which is attained by keeping those numbers stable

 

[jmichaelh7]

Don’t chase numbers ! I think you should know where your tank is healthiest by looking at it

 

[marcosnano]

Here is the update, coral not looking good.

Before and after.

 

[Propane]

Check magnesium. How is the flow on the torch?

And alkalinity*

 

[caddnima]

Any update on your torches?

 

[marcosnano]

Any update on your torches?

2 torches doing well,
1 torch and one hammer so-so. Not too closed but they were never big and extended as they use to be.