Guess the Phosphate level
- Thread starter Thales
- Start date
swk
New member
Such a great talk. I'm very interested to see where this informal research and observation leads us in the future.
I've seen some dismiss the importance of the redfield ratio. In your opinion, does this have a real impact on the tank conditions especially where algae growth is concerned?
I've seen some dismiss the importance of the redfield ratio. In your opinion, does this have a real impact on the tank conditions especially where algae growth is concerned?
swk
New member
Thales
Active member
AWT test results
Home Display - 11 of 12
04-15-2015 Ammonia (NH3-4) Good 0 0.000 - 0.050 mg/L
04-15-2015 Nitrite (NO2) Good 0.075 0.000 - 0.100 mg/L
04-15-2015 Phosphate (PO4) High 2.73 0.000 - 0.250 mg/L
04-15-2015 Nitrate (NO3) Good 15.6 0.000 - 25.000 mg/L
04-15-2015 Silica (Sio2-3) Good 0.1 0.000 - 0.500 mg/L
04-15-2015 Potassium (K) Low 334 350.000 - 450.000 mg/L
04-15-2015 Ionic Calcium (Ca) Good 165 100.000 - 300.000 mg/L
04-15-2015 Boron (B) NA NA 3.000 - 6.000 mg/L
04-15-2015 Molybdenum (Mo) Good 0.2 0.000 - 0.300 mg/L
04-15-2015 Strontium (Sr) Good 7.2 5.000 - 12.000 mg/L
04-15-2015 Magnesium (Mg) High 1460 1100.000 - 1400.000 mg/L
04-15-2015 Iodine (I) Good 0.09 0.030 - 0.090 mg/L
04-15-2015 Copper (Cu) Good 0.07 0.000 - 0.100 mg/L
04-15-2015 Alkalinity (meq/L) Good 4.8 2.500 - 5.000 meq/L
04-15-2015 Total Calcium (Ca) High 465 350.000 - 450.000 mg/L
04-15-2015 Iron (Fe) NA NA 0.000 - 0.010 mg/L
And the results from January to compare:
AWT results from the same day as the last results
Home Display - 1 of 12
01-21-2015 Ammonia (NH3-4) Good 0 0.000 - 0.050 mg/L
01-21-2015 Nitrite (NO2) Good 0.026 0.000 - 0.100 mg/L
01-21-2015 Phosphate (PO4) High 2.75 0.000 - 0.250 mg/L
01-21-2015 Nitrate (NO3) Good 9.9 0.000 - 25.000 mg/L
01-21-2015 Silica (Sio2-3) High 1.2 0.000 - 0.500 mg/L
01-21-2015 Potassium (K) Low 317 350.000 - 450.000 mg/L
01-21-2015 Ionic Calcium (Ca) Good 169 100.000 - 300.000 mg/L
01-21-2015 Boron (B) NA NA 3.000 - 6.000 mg/L
01-21-2015 Molybdenum (Mo) Good 0.3 0.000 - 0.300 mg/L
01-21-2015 Strontium (Sr) Good 7.4 5.000 - 12.000 mg/L
01-21-2015 Magnesium (Mg) High 1430 1100.000 - 1400.000 mg/L
01-21-2015 Iodine (I) Good 0.06 0.030 - 0.090 mg/L
01-21-2015 Copper (Cu) Good 0.07 0.000 - 0.100 mg/L
01-21-2015 Alkalinity (meq/L) Good 3.5 2.500 - 5.000 meq/L
01-21-2015 Total Calcium (Ca) Good 445 350.000 - 450.000 mg/L
01-21-2015 Iron (Fe) NA NA 0.000 - 0.010 mg/L
Remember to multiply Nitrate by 4.4 to get the units everyone uses.
I have started a few changes in they system. A PO4 reading of three made even me nervous. I have made some flow changes and my bulbs got changed in April. I have also experiencing some STN/RTN which is annoying but not devastating and seems to happen every year around this time (flow change impact? PO4 impact? Old bulb impact? Pollen? African Dust? Bacterial flux? Demons? Who knows).
So I got a Apex DOS and am starting constant small water changes. 5 l/day. This may have a couple of benefits - once it gets going, perhaps levels will become more even. I have a 180 and a 240 that I can use for salt mixing or NSW holding (with the drought, I like the idea of using NSW rather than mixing water). The old water from the reef is pumped into my breeding system, so both systems get regular water changes. Most importantly, I don't have to do much at all - just get the holding tanks full of salt water. I am interested to see if the PO4 comes down and if I will see an increase in growth rates.
Home Display - 11 of 12
04-15-2015 Ammonia (NH3-4) Good 0 0.000 - 0.050 mg/L
04-15-2015 Nitrite (NO2) Good 0.075 0.000 - 0.100 mg/L
04-15-2015 Phosphate (PO4) High 2.73 0.000 - 0.250 mg/L
04-15-2015 Nitrate (NO3) Good 15.6 0.000 - 25.000 mg/L
04-15-2015 Silica (Sio2-3) Good 0.1 0.000 - 0.500 mg/L
04-15-2015 Potassium (K) Low 334 350.000 - 450.000 mg/L
04-15-2015 Ionic Calcium (Ca) Good 165 100.000 - 300.000 mg/L
04-15-2015 Boron (B) NA NA 3.000 - 6.000 mg/L
04-15-2015 Molybdenum (Mo) Good 0.2 0.000 - 0.300 mg/L
04-15-2015 Strontium (Sr) Good 7.2 5.000 - 12.000 mg/L
04-15-2015 Magnesium (Mg) High 1460 1100.000 - 1400.000 mg/L
04-15-2015 Iodine (I) Good 0.09 0.030 - 0.090 mg/L
04-15-2015 Copper (Cu) Good 0.07 0.000 - 0.100 mg/L
04-15-2015 Alkalinity (meq/L) Good 4.8 2.500 - 5.000 meq/L
04-15-2015 Total Calcium (Ca) High 465 350.000 - 450.000 mg/L
04-15-2015 Iron (Fe) NA NA 0.000 - 0.010 mg/L
And the results from January to compare:
AWT results from the same day as the last results
Home Display - 1 of 12
01-21-2015 Ammonia (NH3-4) Good 0 0.000 - 0.050 mg/L
01-21-2015 Nitrite (NO2) Good 0.026 0.000 - 0.100 mg/L
01-21-2015 Phosphate (PO4) High 2.75 0.000 - 0.250 mg/L
01-21-2015 Nitrate (NO3) Good 9.9 0.000 - 25.000 mg/L
01-21-2015 Silica (Sio2-3) High 1.2 0.000 - 0.500 mg/L
01-21-2015 Potassium (K) Low 317 350.000 - 450.000 mg/L
01-21-2015 Ionic Calcium (Ca) Good 169 100.000 - 300.000 mg/L
01-21-2015 Boron (B) NA NA 3.000 - 6.000 mg/L
01-21-2015 Molybdenum (Mo) Good 0.3 0.000 - 0.300 mg/L
01-21-2015 Strontium (Sr) Good 7.4 5.000 - 12.000 mg/L
01-21-2015 Magnesium (Mg) High 1430 1100.000 - 1400.000 mg/L
01-21-2015 Iodine (I) Good 0.06 0.030 - 0.090 mg/L
01-21-2015 Copper (Cu) Good 0.07 0.000 - 0.100 mg/L
01-21-2015 Alkalinity (meq/L) Good 3.5 2.500 - 5.000 meq/L
01-21-2015 Total Calcium (Ca) Good 445 350.000 - 450.000 mg/L
01-21-2015 Iron (Fe) NA NA 0.000 - 0.010 mg/L
Remember to multiply Nitrate by 4.4 to get the units everyone uses.
I have started a few changes in they system. A PO4 reading of three made even me nervous. I have made some flow changes and my bulbs got changed in April. I have also experiencing some STN/RTN which is annoying but not devastating and seems to happen every year around this time (flow change impact? PO4 impact? Old bulb impact? Pollen? African Dust? Bacterial flux? Demons? Who knows).
So I got a Apex DOS and am starting constant small water changes. 5 l/day. This may have a couple of benefits - once it gets going, perhaps levels will become more even. I have a 180 and a 240 that I can use for salt mixing or NSW holding (with the drought, I like the idea of using NSW rather than mixing water). The old water from the reef is pumped into my breeding system, so both systems get regular water changes. Most importantly, I don't have to do much at all - just get the holding tanks full of salt water. I am interested to see if the PO4 comes down and if I will see an increase in growth rates.
swk
New member
Hi rich. Thanks for sharing. 2 things-
I threw my salifert kit away because it read nitrate as 2.5. My awt result was .6 and I thought the salifert kit was a hunk of junk so I tossed it.... Chemistry noob right here...
What changed in regards to your silica number dropping? I too, came back with a high result on my last test. I changed my DI stage to a spectrapure silica buster in hopes to get the number down.
Thanks!
Sean
I threw my salifert kit away because it read nitrate as 2.5. My awt result was .6 and I thought the salifert kit was a hunk of junk so I tossed it.... Chemistry noob right here...
What changed in regards to your silica number dropping? I too, came back with a high result on my last test. I changed my DI stage to a spectrapure silica buster in hopes to get the number down.
Thanks!
Sean
slavetonet
New member
I love this thread - Awesome talks and sharing of what others deemed as a big NO NO for sps keeping.
Personally I have strive for 2.5 to 5ppm NO3 and 0.1ppm PO4 at all times.
Dosing daily PO4 (potassium phosphate) into my tank at 0.1ppm as it somehow magically is consumed by the corals and organism. NO3 drops 2.5 ppm weekly but I just top up with potassium nitrate to bring it back in line to the value set.
Personally I have strive for 2.5 to 5ppm NO3 and 0.1ppm PO4 at all times.
Dosing daily PO4 (potassium phosphate) into my tank at 0.1ppm as it somehow magically is consumed by the corals and organism. NO3 drops 2.5 ppm weekly but I just top up with potassium nitrate to bring it back in line to the value set.
Thales
Active member
I had a bad round of RTN in the last year after changing in tank water pumps, and after it cleared up (august) and things started growing well, I dosed Amquel to the display (late night decision), and the next morning all the acros were dead. The LPS were fine. Funny the top half of the tank, gone, the bottom half fine.
Since then, I have changed to LED's (radion gen 3) because what with no acros why not. I have changed the flow even more, replacing the loc line manifold with 2 gyres, again, why not what with no acros. I am also doing automated daily water changes with NSW. I was doing about 5 liters a day, but did some math and upped it to 20 liters a day for a while at least to see if that has any effect on nitrate/phosphate. The system is now connected to my experimental system on the other side of the house, so the volume has gone from approx 250 to 500 gallons. I replaced my DIY CaRx with one of Bill Wann's beauties. I am also dosing vinegar, 50 ml/day currently. In July I cleaned a bunch of detritus out of the pre sump. I have also switched foods - no RN products and am feeding LRS and cyclopeeze, along with various pellets in the auto feeder.
Thinks seems mostly dialed in and the acros seem to be growing quickly again - frags seem to do better than maricultured mini colonies. I got a bunch of frags in September from various people including ReefGen - I love their plugs! - and will be getting some frags from UniqueCorals this week.
After about 5 months of the above, not much has changed water quality wise:
Here are the recent pic and AWT numbers
Date (mm-dd-yyyy) - Source - Test ID:
02-17-2016 - Home Display - 7 of 12 *
Home Display - 7 of 12 *
02-17-2016 Ammonia (NH3-4) Good 0.03 0.000 - 0.050 mg/L
02-17-2016 Nitrite (NO2) Good 0.003 0.000 - 0.100 mg/L
02-17-2016 Phosphate (PO4) High 1.88 0.000 - 0.250 mg/L
02-17-2016 Nitrate (NO3) High 62 0.000 - 25.000 mg/L
02-17-2016 Silica (Sio2-3) High 0.8 0.000 - 0.500 mg/L
02-17-2016 Potassium (K) Good 369 350.000 - 450.000 mg/L
02-17-2016 Ionic Calcium (Ca) Good 184 100.000 - 400.000 mg/L
02-17-2016 Boron (B) NA NA 3.000 - 6.000 mg/L
02-17-2016 Molybdenum (Mo) Good 0.2 0.000 - 0.300 mg/L
02-17-2016 Strontium (Sr) Good 8.5 5.000 - 12.000 mg/L
02-17-2016 Magnesium (Mg) Good 1400 1100.000 - 1400.000 mg/L
02-17-2016 Iodine (I) Good 0.03 0.030 - 0.090 mg/L
02-17-2016 Copper (Cu) Good 0.01 0.000 - 0.100 mg/L
02-17-2016 Alkalinity (meq/L) Good 3.2 2.500 - 5.000 meq/L
02-17-2016 Total Calcium (Ca) Good 380 350.000 - 450.000 mg/L
02-17-2016 Iron (Fe) NA NA 0.000 - 0.010 mg/L
Since then, I have changed to LED's (radion gen 3) because what with no acros why not. I have changed the flow even more, replacing the loc line manifold with 2 gyres, again, why not what with no acros. I am also doing automated daily water changes with NSW. I was doing about 5 liters a day, but did some math and upped it to 20 liters a day for a while at least to see if that has any effect on nitrate/phosphate. The system is now connected to my experimental system on the other side of the house, so the volume has gone from approx 250 to 500 gallons. I replaced my DIY CaRx with one of Bill Wann's beauties. I am also dosing vinegar, 50 ml/day currently. In July I cleaned a bunch of detritus out of the pre sump. I have also switched foods - no RN products and am feeding LRS and cyclopeeze, along with various pellets in the auto feeder.
Thinks seems mostly dialed in and the acros seem to be growing quickly again - frags seem to do better than maricultured mini colonies. I got a bunch of frags in September from various people including ReefGen - I love their plugs! - and will be getting some frags from UniqueCorals this week.
After about 5 months of the above, not much has changed water quality wise:
Here are the recent pic and AWT numbers
Date (mm-dd-yyyy) - Source - Test ID:
02-17-2016 - Home Display - 7 of 12 *
Home Display - 7 of 12 *
02-17-2016 Ammonia (NH3-4) Good 0.03 0.000 - 0.050 mg/L
02-17-2016 Nitrite (NO2) Good 0.003 0.000 - 0.100 mg/L
02-17-2016 Phosphate (PO4) High 1.88 0.000 - 0.250 mg/L
02-17-2016 Nitrate (NO3) High 62 0.000 - 25.000 mg/L
02-17-2016 Silica (Sio2-3) High 0.8 0.000 - 0.500 mg/L
02-17-2016 Potassium (K) Good 369 350.000 - 450.000 mg/L
02-17-2016 Ionic Calcium (Ca) Good 184 100.000 - 400.000 mg/L
02-17-2016 Boron (B) NA NA 3.000 - 6.000 mg/L
02-17-2016 Molybdenum (Mo) Good 0.2 0.000 - 0.300 mg/L
02-17-2016 Strontium (Sr) Good 8.5 5.000 - 12.000 mg/L
02-17-2016 Magnesium (Mg) Good 1400 1100.000 - 1400.000 mg/L
02-17-2016 Iodine (I) Good 0.03 0.030 - 0.090 mg/L
02-17-2016 Copper (Cu) Good 0.01 0.000 - 0.100 mg/L
02-17-2016 Alkalinity (meq/L) Good 3.2 2.500 - 5.000 meq/L
02-17-2016 Total Calcium (Ca) Good 380 350.000 - 450.000 mg/L
02-17-2016 Iron (Fe) NA NA 0.000 - 0.010 mg/L
