? on Phos and adding coral

[sadie]

I have been working on getting my Phos and nitrates up from 0; also working on getting rid of dinos.  I was dosing to raise my levels and got them right where I wanted them, then they started rising WITH OUT dosing. I use a Hannah checker here is a list of my levels before my WC

Temp-79.7

Salinity- 1.025

KH 10.9

Mag 1260

Calcium 490

Nitrates 5

The last time I dosed NeoPhos was on 11/9 my phos was .05 and I dosed 5 ml. I had been dosing 5 ml 2-3 x a week to keep it between .05 and .10.

11/12  was .07

11/14 was .14

11/16 was .20

11/18 was .20

11/26 was .34  My dinos was totally gone at this point so I did a 2 gal WC.

This morning my Phos was .26

Here are my questions:

Should I do another WC today?

Is it okay to add coral, or is my Phos too high or not stable enough yet.

 

 

[paulsz]

you should be okay to add corals. No need for water changes. Algae will grow and it'll bring it down. You'll be dosing it again soon enough i can tell you that. 

 

High phosphate may make SPS have more brittle growth (that's what i've read, but never experimented). Phosphates swings don't hurt coral, from my experience. Just keep making sure it doesn't drop back to 0 😉 dropping it down to 0 even for a day and you'll see dinos slightly come back. 

 

Note: the dinos are still in the tank. They will always be. They are part of a natural environment. You just don't want them to take over. And when phosphates and 0, that's their call!

[sadie]

1 hour ago, paulsz said:

you should be okay to add corals. No need for water changes. Algae will grow and it'll bring it down. You'll be dosing it again soon enough i can tell you that. 

 

High phosphate may make SPS have more brittle growth (that's what i've read, but never experimented). Phosphates swings don't hurt coral, from my experience. Just keep making sure it doesn't drop back to 0 😉 dropping it down to 0 even for a day and you'll see dinos slightly come back. 

 

Note: the dinos are still in the tank. They will always be. They are part of a natural environment. You just don't want them to take over. And when phosphates and 0, that's their call!

okay, everyone is having great sales right now and my tank looks great, but didn't want to rush it.  

[Clown79]

If the dino's are gone your fine to add corals.

 

 

[sadie]

should I keep running the carbon, or was that just during the dinos?

[Clown79]

39 minutes ago, sadie said:

should I keep running the carbon, or was that just during the dinos?

Personal choice.

 

I always run small amounts of carbon to reduce chemical warfare in the tank

[mcarroll]

I agree.  Should be good for corals now.  Carbon should be optional.

 

How is your cleanup crew?  They tend to be "the canary in the coal mine" so to speak for dino toxins.

[sadie]

I have some mushrooms coming today and my Phosphates were .40!!  They were .30 yesterday so I added 1 tsp PhosBan in a nylon and put it between 2 FF in my tower. I just added 3 more tsp of PhosBan to my tower.

 

Should I do a 2 gal WC to bring them down?  It has only been 5 days since my last 2 gal WC.  I usually do 2 gal weekly.  Are they so high it will hurt my new coral coming in?  

[Clown79]

It won't effect your coral

[paulsz]

i've had spikes that must have been easy 1ppm and nothing got hurt. So you're good!

[Tired]

Stop trying to get rid of phosphates. If they drop too low, the dinos will come back. 

 

Phosphates are not toxic to coral. High levels may encourage algae, and there's a few reports of more brittle growth in SPS, but that's about it. Some tanks run 1-2ppm phosphates just fine. LOW phosphates, on the other hand, will rapidly kill corals and helpful algae, and will encourage dinos due to the lack of competition. If you've recently had dinos, you really want your phosphates to be on the higher end, to keep the little blighters away. It won't hurt your corals at all. Some corals may appreciate the high phosphates.

[sadie]

thanks, I was so nervous.  Anyone know how fast the PhosBan works?  I just don't want my phos back to 0.  I think I would cry.  I was checking every other day, but with it going up, I have been checking daily.  I am hoping it works slowly and as my phos goes down, I can just take out the PhosBan.  I don't want to wake up tomorrow and have 0 Phos

[Tired]

Take the PhosBan out. Your phosphates are fine, so you shouldn't be trying to lower them. 

 

Are you still dosing phosphates? If so, you may want to slow down on that, to help keep the numbers stable. You should rely on water changes, and water changes only, to lower phosphates. It's predictable. If you remove 30% of the water, you know you've removed 30% of the phosphates. 

[paulsz]

Just now, sadie said:

thanks, I was so nervous.  Anyone know how fast the PhosBan works?  I just don't want my phos back to 0.  I think I would cry.  I was checking every other day, but with it going up, I have been checking daily.  I am hoping it works slowly and as my phos goes down, I can just take out the PhosBan.  I don't want to wake up tomorrow and have 0 Phos

Honestly just take it out. The phosphate won't hurt your corals. Especially not your mushrooms.  

[sadie]

1 minute ago, Tired said:

Stop trying to get rid of phosphates. If they drop too low, the dinos will come back. 

 

Phosphates are not toxic to coral. High levels may encourage algae, and there's a few reports of more brittle growth in SPS, but that's about it. Some tanks run 1-2ppm phosphates just fine. LOW phosphates, on the other hand, will rapidly kill corals and helpful algae, and will encourage dinos due to the lack of competition. If you've recently had dinos, you really want your phosphates to be on the higher end, to keep the little blighters away. It won't hurt your corals at all. Some corals may appreciate the high phosphates.

hmmm, will this is good.  I thought I wanted it around .10 no lower then .05.  Maybe I will just take out the phosban and see where it goes.  I haven't been back to my regular WC since I got rid of the dinos.  I did one WC 5 days ago and really wanted to wait the full week.  I just made up 2 gal of water to do a change if I had to, but now I think I will wait.

 

thanks

[sadie]

LOL you guys were answering as I was writing this.  😄  I will take out the PhosBan, NOT do the WC, and NO I haven't dosed since it started going up on the 11/9.  

 

thanks, you guys are great!!

[Tired]

No lower than 0,05 is a good guideline, but there isn't really an upper limit. If you dosed a ton of phosphates a day, you'd probably eventually hit a harmful number, but you'd have to actively try. The worst that phosphate will do is encourage algae, which you want to help get rid of dinos! If you wind up with too much algae, wait a bit and do some manual removal to see if it settles out, and add a few more snails if it doesn't. 

 

Phosphate going up on its own is a normal thing to see with regular feeding. You should continue testing it, to make sure it stays up, but should ignore it unless it's low. You should focus on if nitrates are getting too high (though for soft corals, "too high" takes a lot), or if other elements are getting too low, to figure out if you should do water changes. 

[sadie]

33 minutes ago, Tired said:

No lower than 0,05 is a good guideline, but there isn't really an upper limit. If you dosed a ton of phosphates a day, you'd probably eventually hit a harmful number, but you'd have to actively try. The worst that phosphate will do is encourage algae, which you want to help get rid of dinos! If you wind up with too much algae, wait a bit and do some manual removal to see if it settles out, and add a few more snails if it doesn't. 

 

Phosphate going up on its own is a normal thing to see with regular feeding. You should continue testing it, to make sure it stays up, but should ignore it unless it's low. You should focus on if nitrates are getting too high (though for soft corals, "too high" takes a lot), or if other elements are getting too low, to figure out if you should do water changes. 

I always did about 10% weekly, but then went to every 2 weeks, I don't have a ton in my tank yet.  I think I will do every other week and just keep testing everything.  I test my big 5 every week.  I am getting a little hair algae here and there, but I have been able to remove it manually and I did just get a snail order before it got too cold to ship (I live in New England).

[Tired]

Sounds like things are going pretty well. Hair algae is typical in a tank that's still settling in, and is nothing to worry about. Keep doing what you're doing.