What is your Phosphate at?

[Jimbo327]

I'm wondering what everyone's phosphate is at. And what do you think about high phosphates?

I'm at 0.6 ppm. I didn't realize I was this high, but I guess I feed way too much. Way too high for my liking. Going to lower it since some of my corals hate it. I'm going to try my best to get it below 0.2 ppm, ideally near 0.1 ppm.

 

[Hideyofish]

.1-.13 normally -mixed reef here

 

[itsruk]

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[joseserrano]

I try and stay under .1 with mostly sps

 

[Jimbo327]

Thanks guys. Maybe a couple more questions.

At what point are you guys thinking that phosphates are too high? And what you guys doing to control phosphates...GFO, LC, food, water changes only, etc?

I know in my tank, the growth is stunted because there hasn't been much alk/cal usage. I think that probably happened awhile back when tank was getting into the 0.3 ppm range for phosphates. Right now, I'm experimenting with LC to lower the phosphates. I might do a few water changes and GFO when I can lower the phosphates enough.

 

[cboltsd]

I prefer to be in the .08 range, but do see swings from .08 to .13. Mixed reef but mostly SPS dominant.

I’ve been running a turf scrubber and have a small fuge as well, I feed 4 times a day.


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[Hideyofish]

Generally nothing, I just have a bag of chemipure elite and do a 15% wc every month. But depending on your tank size gfo is more effective and larger wc or more frequent ones. I’ve heard LC is really scary to use because it can nuke your tank if not used properly.

gfo is nice, only thing is it drops your Alk too in some instances.

 

[Jimbo327]

You guys are on top of it! My feeding hand is too heavy.

I'm slowly making my way down from 0.60 ppm. It's 0.44 ppm today, and I'm going to keep dropping it. I want to join you guys at the <0.2 ppm club next week.

 

[jaxcarnage]

Mixed reef. Here is the data I input into Apex using Hanna testers.
2023 - 1 WC a month (tested PO4 bi weekly)
2024 - bi-weekly WC (testing PO4 weekly). Starting June 2024 I'm switching to 1 WC every 3 weeks and testing PO4 bi weekly

 

[Sold4JC]

I started raising my p04 to stay above. 06-.1. For the last few years I was stay above .03 but not going over .06.

 

[Justkeepswimming]

My 5 month old 220 gal tank seems to do best around .1

Sometimes I dose around 20 mls of nopox from red sea every 3 days or so , and the p04 can drop to .03 .

I feed mysis one to two times a day and sometimes throw in pellets .

 

[drexel]

I'm usually between 0.25 - 0.35ppm on average. I wouldn't target a number, but slowly lower the levels and see what your corals are telling you. Whatever method you choose to lower PO4, do it very slowly, which is why I don't use a lot of chemicals for this. I dose ammonium chloride (nitrogen source) and dose Tropic Marin Elimi-np. If you're going to use LC or GFO, use small amounts and lower it over the course of several weeks, if not more.

 

[Jimbo327]

My hope is that some of my faded SPS frags will come back to life when I get my phosphates down. I've already lost at least 3 SPS frags last month. And I have another 3 frags that are faded and barely holding on. If I can save these 3 frags, then at least I know I can resume stocking my tank.

 

[wishntoboutside]

.12 to .15 I have tangs and they need to eat/ my SPS does not seem to mind.

 

[tripinpn01]

around 0.2 to 0.25 for a mixed reef. I am experiencing decent sps color and growth

 

[drexel]

My hope is that some of my faded SPS frags will come back to life when I get my phosphates down. I've already lost at least 3 SPS frags last month. And I have another 3 frags that are faded and barely holding on. If I can save these 3 frags, then at least I know I can resume stocking my tank.

But how do you know it's PO4 that's causing the issue? Correlation isn't causation. I think some corals don't like PO4 that high, but most acropora will simply turn green under those conditions, especially if lighting isn't strong enough. I would slowly change things and see how your coral respond, find the sweet spot. But if you tell yourself that 0.1ppm is the goal and nothing changes, what do you do then? Raise your alk and increase your lighting and see what happens? You might be surprised.

 

[Jimbo327]

Looks to me like 0.35 ppm is that line to not cross for phosphates. And 0.05-0.2 ppm is a good zone to be in, and most corals colors/growth is good.

I've already doses LC for 4 days (0.6 ppm to 0.44 ppm). I hope to be <0.35 ppm next week, and <0.2 ppm by 2 weeks. I've heard that it'll take awhile to get phosphate stable because lots of phosphates will release from the rocks and sand, and I have tons of rocks and 120 lbs of sand in the tank. And one of the reason that water changes are not that effective.

 

[Jimbo327]

But how do you know it's PO4 that's causing the issue? Correlation isn't causation. I think some corals don't like PO4 that high, but most acropora will simply turn green under those conditions, especially if lighting isn't strong enough. I would slowly change things and see how your coral respond, find the sweet spot. But if you tell yourself that 0.1ppm is the goal and nothing changes, what do you do then? Raise your alk and increase your lighting and see what happens? You might be surprised.

I think most reefers are optimists. Heck, we are trying to maintain a piece of ocean in our homes. So my mindset is that dropping phosphates will be helpful, and I'll eliminate another possible problem. I mean, if phosphates reduction doesn't work, then it'll be more and bigger water changes. And then I'll just keep tweaking (lights, ICP, etc.) until I find the sweet spot. haha.

I will keep an eye on alk consumption. If it goes up, then I know I'm onto something. Right now, my alk consumption is stagnant for weeks.

 

[drexel]

Sorry for the blue only pics, but these acropora grow perfectly fine in >0.35ppm of PO4. My point here is, don’t get fixated on a number, but coral health. You might be surprised by what those parameters are in your system.


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[Jimbo327]

I think for established reefs like yours with big SPS colonies, you can get away with a lot more. The SPS is already used to your system. Even if a few spots of your SPS colony reacts, you can recover once you fix the issue...it's more forgiving.

But for my 6 month old reef, the tiny little 1/2" SPS frags hasn't even encrusted yet, they don't tolerate as much. Once those little nubs react, it's done. I don't think they are recovering. Plus I probably have other problems, and not just phosphate. I also have sand, which probably keeps a lot more gunk. It takes a lot longer for me to fix a phosphate problem.