What to add to increase P04

[brad65ford]

Yes I know this sounds like a odd question to ask in the SPS forum but its my reality at the moment.

Recently I've broke down a 20g system running BB with the lowest nutrients possible (1 clown and 1 blue gobie) I only feed just a few pellets a day and every two weeks I do a 20 percent of the water (removing any detritus on the bottom). Needless to say my P04 levels where extremely low with the RedSeaMax kits and all the corals seems to be pall in color and not much growth.

As of last week I move all my corals over to a new 40g breeder tank with some newly fresh (almost cured) live rock. Though I was nervous to move the SPS corals in new tank because the P04 and N03 where much higher readings, the results of color and growth are amazing in just 1 week!

What I'm now believing is I've been running a two much stripped P04 BB system and I'm unsure how to add P04 with out adding fish or increased algae growth.

So how does one keep a SPS system with out fish and no P04 (food) going into the system?

 

[t4zalews]

I've always found that with sps you need fish and food to achieve the best color. Just rely on your filtration to pull out the excess. Algae growth isnt bad, it just needs to be maintained. If you have hair algae and cyano thats a different story. That's why we buy clean up crews.

 

[brad65ford]

I do agree, but what would you feed? Can you get away with pellets or does the tank require meaty foods?

 

[tomservo]

If you don't want to feed your corals fish poo, why not get some coral food? Plankton or cyclopeeze or what have you, depending on your corals of course.

 

[Gills 619]

Feed some flake food too...they high in po4

 

[Rwpdunne]

Some Kz bottles would work a treat

 

[yano]

Are you sure if your problem is for low PO4 or NO3?...low nitrates sound more common for me.

 

[xcorallusx]

get some more fish and feed them daily

 

[t4zalews]

if you're worried about high po4 when you add more fish, feed them NLS pellets. These produce less po4 than flakes. But if the fish eat all the food feed what you want

 

[reefmutt]

I agree with tomservo, add some coral food and maybe some aminos..
There are plenty of Zeo additives that are obviously designed for the system you have right now..
You should be looking at no3 as well as po4- just as important..

 

[brad65ford]

Hey guys, I can't thank you enough for taking this vague question to light.

I have the RedSea Algae control test kit and will get test results tomorrow (change see the difference of shade and I use my wife' eye's). I also have

This whole subject of feeding and balancing p04 has always blown my mind and probably one of my down falls. I always end up stopping the richer foods do to algae or other blooms. I do have phytogold-m and Frozen Ocean Nutrition Cyclops which I used to use years ago.. Should I start using this when my P04 levels drop?

I owe you guys some pictures of my tank.

 

[trueblackpercula]

I know his sounds like a bad Idea but just add a little tap water once a week.

 

[acorral]

If you REALLY want to boost PO4 then use Phosphoric acid, be sure to do the math right since the PO4 you want to add is too little... And you dont want to overdose obviously.

I f you dont want to risk it then use Nori algae, it is loaded with PO4 !!!

 

[a.browning]

I would also think low nitrate is at play, perhaps in combination with low phosphate. My sps used to be super pale like you describe. I have now achieved excellent colors. I started dosing Elos amino acids every day and feeding cyclops and rotifers twice a week. This is on top of having ten fish which I feed 1-2 cubes of frozen food each day. The key is high nutrient import, high nutrient export. I run gfo/carbon, skim well, and run a refugium to keep nutrients in check. Nitrate always tests zero on Salifert and phosphate tests 0-6ppb on Hanna low range. Sounds like you are starving your corals. I would feed more, both the fish and corals, and look into adding more livestock perhaps. It's not about raising nitrate/phosphate levels, it's about providing enough food for the system. Providing enough food will have an end result of higher nitrate/phosphate. Correlation does not always equal causation.

 

[Felixc395]

You could give some coral food a try. Reef Chilli, KZ coral vitalizer, KZ Pohls xtra special, KZ amino acids. All products I've used with success.

 

[brad65ford]

Test results

Test results

Ok guys I owe you guys some RedSea Test results and photos. Looks like I've feed to much and I need to get the No3 and P04 down. :-(

78 temp
35 Salinity
8.1 ph
8.4 DHK
500 CAL
1420 MAG
.12 P04
3.0 No3

 

[brad65ford]

Tried to get some better close up of the sps's.

My favorite is the mili which is starting to come back, I know it doesn't look great but its a lot better then it was two weeks ago.

 

[brad65ford]

side shot

side shot

You can see from these pictures the polyp or lack of polyp extension from the slimmer and mili

 

[brad65ford]

I would also think low nitrate is at play, perhaps in combination with low phosphate. My sps used to be super pale like you describe. I have now achieved excellent colors. I started dosing Elos amino acids every day and feeding cyclops and rotifers twice a week. This is on top of having ten fish which I feed 1-2 cubes of frozen food each day. The key is high nutrient import, high nutrient export. I run gfo/carbon, skim well, and run a refugium to keep nutrients in check. Nitrate always tests zero on Salifert and phosphate tests 0-6ppb on Hanna low range. Sounds like you are starving your corals. I would feed more, both the fish and corals, and look into adding more livestock perhaps. It's not about raising nitrate/phosphate levels, it's about providing enough food for the system. Providing enough food will have an end result of higher nitrate/phosphate. Correlation does not always equal causation.

What you wrote "High nutrient import, high nutrient export" make a lot of sense and I believe this is one of the keys to SPS success.