What are your PO4 levels ????

[TandN]

lol Not a prob I thought you meant me Jay yeah the glass thing is insane I never had a tank that required so little cleaning. I had the tank for a week and cleaned it 3x then I added the Dialyseas and phosban and just once since I am praying it stays that way lol

 

[Justin/TiV]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8742609#post8742609 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SDguy
Sorry, my comment was for Justin/TiV, not you, Tanya Should've used the "quote" feature I guess...

I knew you were talking to me...thanx...LOL

I don't have much else it could be. And if phosphates proves not to be it...I'll do more thinking...but phosphate is my guess for now. I have corals that start to color up...and then don't finish. I just got rid of red bugs...so that could be part of it as well...we'll see

 

[jackson6745]

IMO Salifert PO4 testkit is useless for lower levels. Last time I checked I was .03 on a Hanna meter. Salifert always reads "0" If you have brown corals or green algae growing on the glass, it's a good chance your phosphates are too high eventhough you get a reading of "0"

 

[RichConley]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8747762#post8747762 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jackson6745
If you have brown corals or green algae growing on the glass, it's a good chance your phosphates are too high eventhough you get a reading of "0"

Exactly. I dont see all the need for these expensive phosphate testers when its so easy to tell when its too high (although I've had times of measurable phosphate and no algae). Just look at your acros. If theyre brown, you have phosphates. If theyre not, you dont.

 

[rleechb]

I'm running a 4 watt incandescent bulb over my 300 gallon reef. My acros are brown.

I'm a smarta**

:smokin:

 

[MCsaxmaster]

I'm not sure phosphate is necessarily to blame for causing corals to be abnormally brown (i.e. abnormally high density of zoox.). The many nutrient enrichment studies done with corals usually demonstrate that while nitrogen (nitrate + ammonium) causes increased densities of zoox. phosphate usually does not. Elevated orthophosphate and some organic P compounds do definitely seem to stress/harm most corals though, so perhaps if a coral does lose color when phosphate is elevated it is a stress response in the coral itself and not due to any sort of change in zoox. density??? Hmmm

Also, there are so many factors that go into determining which algae grow in a tank and at what rate (as in nature too) I'm not sure one could say that because there is algae growth of whatever type P is elevated. Macroalgae and other types of algae grow very fast on coral reefs if herbivores are removed, afterall. The presense and growth of algae does not necessarily mean that any sort of nutrient is necessarily overabundant as compared to a real reef, though certainly the overabundance of one or several nutrients is certainly possible.

Some interesting work done here (UNCW) recently found that some species of macroalgae (Dictyota in the Florida Keys) actually grew slower due to nutrient enrichment, not faster.

Chris