High Phosphate with no Nitrate

[lecroj]

I have Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate all at zero but phosphate between 0.5 and 0.75ppm. Is this possible? Shouldn't Nitrate and Phosphate go up in tandem?

I assume the phosphate is mostly from reef snow and coral frenzy i feed on alternating days.

I still need to test my tap water for phos and I guess it is possible my test kit is not good but my guess is that the water and the kit are fine. I added a phosphate remover three days ago but so far, no real change.

[maushrooms]

You need to use RO water instead of tap

[theaquareef]

You need to use RO water instead of tap

+1

[Austin]

+FOREVER

 

Coral Frenzy and Marine Snow or whatever aren't helping. 1x a week is more than enough.

[lecroj]

I use RO water but figured I would test the tap since that is what the RO system is hooked to. The tap tested zero. Its probably the marine snow.

How often do I need to feed coral? Once a week seems pretty infrequent.

Right now I only have Zoa, ricordea a mushroom and some type of purple gorgonian.

[lecroj]

I just read an old post about plastic trash cans leaching phosphate into the water. My RO system dumps into a big gray trash can that sits in an enclosed porch that stays around 90 degrees. The water has been in the can about three weeks and I top off and make salt water out of the water in this can. I guess I need to test the can water now. Anyone else heard of this?

[amnestia]

Nitrate and phosphate DO NOT go hand in hand. Denitrifying bacteria in live rock/sand will remove nitrate by turning it into nitrogen gas. There is no such process for phosphate. Phosphate is only removed through biological processes such as algae growth or uptake from coral hence it is A LOT slower to remove.

 

Run phosguard at all times or rowaphos to keep phosphates low.

 

It's not that it's leaching into your water from an unknown source, it's getting in there via the food you're feeding the fish. The only thing is it doesn't get removed in the same processes that removes nitrate, so it stays in there!

 

Feeding corals once a week is fine, just keep an eye on them. Water quality is more important in keeping corals healthy than keeping them well fed. Just make sure your lights are up to date and change them on schedule and you should be good.

[Shaggy420]

As state po4 and no3 are completely seperate things. I have had great success with phosban in the past. I still run it 24/7 just to make sure things don't get out of hand. In my old tank I was testing at .5 po4. After one day with phosban it was undetectable.

[lecroj]

Thanks, that makes sense. I didn't realize the nitrate was getting removed by the rock and sand bacteria. I thought only water changes or plants would get rid of nitrates.

 

I added a small bag of phos guard last friday from the LFS and it looks like today the phosphate started dropping. I also ordered some rowaphos for when the phos guard runs out.

 

I tested the garbage can water and it had no phosphates, so it is the coral food. I will trim to once or twice per week.

 

Thanks again.

[Amphiprion1]

You could also consider running a refugium or increasing the light over the refugium, if you already have one. That would increase photosynthesis and should help in long term control of N and P.