Po4 sps

[rogergolf66]

What do u keep ur sps tanks at. What the goal? I hear / read .00 is to low. I know .03 is max but how low is ideal for color and max growth?

 

[sonnus]

I don't think my tank is the norm but mine is always between .05 - .10 with a Hanna tester. My corals definitely look bad when the PO4 goes above .10.

I personally think that intense lighting can make up for higher than normal nutrients and maybe even be a good combination.

 

[tmz]

I don't know abut lighitng helping high nutrients but high alk carbonate alk will offset some PO4 issues.FWIW I run mine in the .02to .05ppm PO4 range and am happy with that.

 

[rogergolf66]

Thanks I have started running a recirculating bio pellet reactor. I can control how much water is filtered with a valve so I am tring to figure out at what po4 everyone has seen the best color and growth. The more people to respond the better.

I was at .03 10 days ago. Today at .02

 

[dvanacker]

I don't think my tank is the norm but mine is always between .05 - .10 with a Hanna tester. My corals definitely look bad when the PO4 goes above .10.

I personally think that intense lighting can make up for higher than normal nutrients and maybe even be a good combination.

My theory agrees with this. I believe there is a balance between nutrients and lighting intensity to a degree. If you have low nutrients/food you might have to implement less light intensity or duration to achieve the same coloration that someone with higher nutrients with more intense lighting or duration.

 

[tmz]

Why would less light correlate with more food/nutrients( organic carbon,nitrogen and phosphorous) and vice versa? Less light means the coral makes less of it's own food via photosynthesis and would have more heterotrophic needs? More photosynthesis means less external food is needed.

 

[kissman]

mine stays between .015-.03

 

[rogergolf66]

What results do u see if u start getting closer to zero? Better of worse color? I am thinking from say .03 to .01 do u see a difference in corals?

 

[Allmost]

I keep mine as close to zero as I can. counting in the error tolerance, its probably about 0.03

 

[tmz]

I do not notice any difference in sps color related to a difference btween .01ppm and .05 PPM PO4. I would suspect the availability of zooplankton would have more to do with it than inorganic phosphate higher than nsw levels. In any case the testing equipment we use is not going to tell us much abut actual levels at very low ranges given th accuracy ratings.

 

[Mortie31]

Whilst not directly a paper on PO4 but interesting anyway, make sure your not pushed for time it's heavy and long, but looks at ratios rather than just nutrient levels.
http://www.nature.com/nclimate/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nclimate1661.html