Guess the Phosphate level

Thanks!
The gyres are great. One on each side at the top, controlled by the Apex. Pretty much maintainence free for me. I keep an extra one to swap out if something happens and an extra motor for repairs.
 
Thales said:
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

12711310_10205770207638355_7664524798857004646_o.jpg


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
Click to expand...

Beautiful tank and thanks for sharing!

Just a side note, FWIW, I have a hard time trusting AWT results.
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=24141851
 
Thanks!

I have a hard time accepting all test results

http://packedhead.net/2014/skeptical-reefkeeping-ix-test-kits-chasing-numbers-and-phosphate/

I have a hard time accepting Triton results. :D

http://packedhead.net/2015/triton-lab-icp-oes-testing-of-a-certified-artificial-saltwater-standard/

That said jason2459, I am not sure what you actually did. Were you testing various testing methodologies with tank water? If so, how do you know anything was accurate?

In general I don't really care about the actual numbers in any test, but do care about apparent trends. I do make the assumption that AWT tests roughly the same way all the time, so the trends I get can be considered useful. I also tested samples sent to AWT with the lab at work and got similar results and trends over time which allows me to feel slightly better about that assumption.

If you are more video minded, I talk about much of this kind of thing in this talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRIKW-9d2xI, including the hanna checker which I feel is neither accurate nor precise.
 
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I think it's funny how this thread is based on phosphate numbers but you say there isn't a test you trust :) But seriously the tank is looking much more colorful in the last picture. I love that new skimmer!
 
I totally agree with being skeptical of Triton's results as well. Especially their ability to test the minor and trace elements. I've been having a very informative dialog with the owner of ENC Labs about this as well.

I also agree trend setting is useful with any testing regardless of who is testing.

However, I have gotten precise and accurate enough results from my hanna ulr phosphorus checker. But I know others have not for one reason or another. Melev has a good blog post on them which was not a positive review for it.
 
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jason2459 said:
I totally agree with being skeptical of Triton's results as well. Especially their ability to test the minor and trace elements. I've been having a very informative dialog with the owner of ENC Labs about this as well.

I also agree trend setting is useful with any testing regardless of who is testing.

However, I have gotten precise and accurate enough results from my hanna ulr phosphorus checker. But I know others have not for one reason or another. Melev has a good blog post on them which was not a positive review for it.
Click to expand...

Cool. Maybe the new version is better. How are you determining accuracy?
 
Rich, the tank is looking fantastic.
With your access to auto wcs with fresh sea water, I assume you have deliberately kept them small enough so as to maintain the high levels of N and p.
No planes to use the auto wc to drop the levels?
I guess that would be counter to the point of this thread but it must be tempting.
 
I dig thoes dendros and rhizos too I think I see. Don't see them often if At all in sps systems, how long have you had them?
 
reefmutt said:
Rich, the tank is looking fantastic.
With your access to auto wcs with fresh sea water, I assume you have deliberately kept them small enough so as to maintain the high levels of N and p.
No planes to use the auto wc to drop the levels?
I guess that would be counter to the point of this thread but it must be tempting.
Click to expand...

I am currently changing 6 gallons a day which is about 30% effective water change a month. The Phosphate has come down, now running about 1.5 before running above 2.5. Th nitrate has come down too, now running around 30, before running above 60. I actually expected both levels to drop more, so much so that I also took off the RDSB which I thought might be a source of the phosphate. I suppose the amount of food I am putting into the tank must be responsible for the levels I am seeing, but since they are 1/2 the levels I was seeing before, and I was getting good growth before, I don't feel compelled to use resources to lower them even further. When I move to the auto WC and NSW I did some big water changes but IIRC the levels didn't seem to budge.
I have no problem with dropping the levels, but I need a good reason to do it. Remember this whole thing started when I stopped being a slave to gfo!
 
I haven't gone back in this thread to find the answer to this question and if it is there, it's got to be a few pages back..
Have you experimented with carbon dosing on this tank? Before the auto wcs?
What's your opinion on carbon dosing? Especially with a system as 'nutrient challenged' as this one?
 
reefmutt said:
I haven't gone back in this thread to find the answer to this question and if it is there, it's got to be a few pages back..
Have you experimented with carbon dosing on this tank? Before the auto wcs?
What's your opinion on carbon dosing? Especially with a system as 'nutrient challenged' as this one?
Click to expand...

I was dosing vinegar for a long time before and during the awc. Didn't seem to impact my levels at all. I think carbon dosing can work great for nitrates if you dose enough - I did it in a ceph system - but never have seen it impact phosphates. I stopped for the same reason as GFO, I just got tired of doing it. :D
 
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