Lowering phosphate

[Coral reefer]

So here is the link to the video that @Thales presented to MACNA on 2014 on phosphate.

And after watching it I do wonder if I am arbitrarily trying to push down phosphates for what reason. Should I leave them as is at .8, or push it down to .1-.5. I also have a lot of SPS and they seem fine although I have lost a few corals (both softies/SPS) of late which I think is due to some unstable parameters (N had hit 0) and my iodine/strontium are/were pretty high.

What I want to know is what @Thales keeping his PO4 these days and after 10 years, does he still stand by the presentation of letting PO4 be what it is -or.. new evidence in that time shifts the thinking.. also if he is dosing LC-to suppress PO4. Be curious on that too.

Phosphate is not the boogie man

 

[Coral reefer]

Might be weird to have it “very” high and nitrate “very” low like you do tho @L/B Block

 

[L/B Block]

Might be weird to have it “very” high and nitrate “very” low like you do tho @L/B Block

At the moment nitrates not so low!
Shot up like a rocket to 22!

But yes for a bit my nitrates had bottomed out and my PO4 was coasting around .6 -I think the byproduct of my sump acting as a faux algae scrubber.

 

[L/B Block]

Phosphate is not the boogie man

It’s not..but as a professional @Coral reefer who takes care of a lot of tanks -do you see any impact of higher PO4 (maybe above .5) vs. “mid range” (.15 to .49) to “low” at .1-1.49 and ultra low (under .1)

The ranges are arbitrary-correct as necessary.

 

[Ayman]

I grow mostly SPS, including some challenging ones, and they are all pretty happy at .15 - in fact they were pretty happy at .75 too. Doubt that is your issue

At the moment nitrates not so low!
Shot up like a rocket to 22!

But yes for a bit my nitrates had bottomed out and my PO4 was coasting around .6 -I think the byproduct of my sump acting as a faux algae scrubber.

Would all for reef lower nitrate like that. This is one of the things i have seen and mentioned in the past. What do you think? Or it has nothing to do with that!

 

[L/B Block]

Would all for reef lower nitrate like that. This is one of the things i have seen and mentioned in the past. What do you think? Or it has nothing to do with that!

I use AFR-does not impact nitrates in the least.
What I have see impact nitrate reduction is use of carbon dosing products such as nopox or bacto balance. Also microalgae such as ulva that really reduced nitrates and not phosphate much at all.

In greater explanation of what knocked nitrates down to zero was that over the summer I was gone a lot and didn’t have time to deal with a low PH problem (like 7.5-7.7) so I essentially kept the refugium light going 24/7 and my sump was entirely covered in algae. So it sucked up all the nitrates but kept the PH up at least until I got a kalk set up going.

Algae completely gone in sump and nitrates back to its regularly scheduled numbers..

 

[JVU]

AFR carbo-calcium is metabolized by bacteria to produce the Alk and Ca components, acting as a carbon source. So there is a mild carbon dosing component. Of course if you are continuously dosing it you may not notice, just like if you were continuously dosing a trickle of other carbon dosing products.

 

[Alexander1312]

Is the ‘natural way’, which was the actual question, to lower phosphate, not to add more corals? Or add less that contains phosphate?

 

[Coral reefer]

It’s not..but as a professional @Coral reefer who takes care of a lot of tanks -do you see any impact of higher PO4 (maybe above .5) vs. “mid range” (.15 to .49) to “low” at .1-1.49 and ultra low (under .1)

The ranges are arbitrary-correct as necessary.

Honestly I don’t often test. It takes too much time. I change water and often use some gfo that I try to keep on a similar amount and change out schedule and stick to it.
When I had a tank I liked to keep it between .1-.2 if I could. I was using a lot of rowaphos to accomplish that.