Quote:
Originally Posted by nvladik
Question for guys who've done it: My Nitrates are at 25ppm. My phosphates are still undetectable, Salifert test for both. I am dosing Aquavitro Activate daily at this point. 5ml per 180g increases Phosphate by .15mg/l (or .15ppm?). I am estimating my water volume of 120g, and aiming for consistent phosphate level of .01 - 0.02 ppm, so I should be dosing .3ml. I am dosing .6ml, and I still can't get a phosphate reading. At first I thought test kit might not pick up inorganic phosphate, so I added a drop to test tube and it turned blue instantly. Do I continue daily dose? Is it the corals eating it up? Thanks guys!
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K. First, even Hannah Ultra low has an uncertainty of in the ballpark of .012 so I don't know that your target is consistently measurable.
But that's likely not what's going on...
If you have plenty of available N and normal conditions, light, etc then small amounts of P will be gobbled up quickly.
In my tank I threw a bunch of food in, and exported nothing for weeks and watched P go up while N stayed undetectable. So I dosed N plus food, then of course P went to undetectable.
It took heavy feeding + large doses of N & P to get detectable levels of both.
So what you're seeing is not that strange.
All systems are different. So my results may not follow in your tank.