Phos-Feed

[drawman]

FWIW I'm still dosing this by hand and it has been doing exactly what I need it to. Elevating phosphate and not ticking off any acros.

 

[Hans-Werner]

@Hans-Werner or @Lou Ekus can you clarify? Is this recommendation specifically for a dosing pump scenario? It’s considerably different than the listed instructions:

Half fill a container with approximately 200ml of RO water and add the calculated amount of Phos-Feed. Stir well to mix the powder and water. Pour the mixture into a high flow area of the aquarium and rinse the cup with aquarium water.



Dosage: Start with a daily dosage of 1 ml (small measuring spoon) Tropic Marin Phos-Feed per 50 US gallons of aquarium water. If after four weeks a phosphate concentration between 0.05 ppm and 0.15 ppm is not reached in the aquarium, double the dosage to 2 ml (larger measuring spoon) per 50 US gallons.



I would like to just make a stock solution I can dose a given amount daily by hand. I can shake before dosing manually.

It is not different.

1 ml of Phos-Feed is 1.2 g. 50 g of Phos-Feed would be 41.7 ml or 21 of the larger measuring spoons (2 ml) and 42 of the smaller measuring spoons (1 ml).

25 ml of the solution is 1/40 of 1 l solution. 25 ml solution per 53 US-gallons = 1.04 ml Phos-Feed powder per 53 US-gallon = 1 small measuring scoop (1 ml) Phos-Feed powder per 51 US-gallon.

I think this is close enough.

 

[spsick]

It is not different.

1 ml of Phos-Feed is 1.2 g. 50 g of Phos-Feed would be 41.7 ml or 21 of the larger measuring spoons (2 ml) and 42 of the smaller measuring spoons (1 ml).

25 ml of the solution is 1/40 of 1 l solution. 25 ml solution per 53 US-gallons = 1.04 ml Phos-Feed powder per 53 US-gallon = 1 small measuring scoop (1 ml) Phos-Feed powder per 51 US-gallon.

I think this is close enough.

Thank you Hans. I think the confusing part was the reference to 1ml but it was referring to the powder not the mixed solution.

 

[spsick]

FWIW I'm still dosing this by hand and it has been doing exactly what I need it to. Elevating phosphate and not ticking off any acros.

Is it making a predictable/measurable phosphate increase? Or is it a delayed thing like AFR?

 

[Hans-Werner]

Is it making a predictable/measurable phosphate increase? Or is it a delayed thing like AFR?

Phos-Feed are microparticles that are insoluble under normal saltwater pH. This means it will not be measured by any test kits or analysis after the microparticles are out of the water and until the phosphate is brought into the nutrient cycles by bacteria, uptake and digestion etc..

For me the indicator are the corals, everything else is more or less "chasing numbers". The signs of phosphate starvation in scleractinians are quite clear.

If you are using a product for phosphate supply you likely have low phosphate concentration in the water and/or signs of phosphate deficiency in corals. Now you start dosing Phos-Feed and observing the changes in the corals. This should be sufficient. Measuring and controlling the phosphate concentration makes sense nevertheless to not exceed target concentrations.

While dosing Phos-Feed it is very unlikely or even impossible that corals suffer from phosphate deficiency.

 

[drawman]

Is it making a predictable/measurable phosphate increase? Or is it a delayed thing like AFR?

IIRC when I first started dosing it may have taken 1-3 days to start to notice a measurable difference when dosing 1mL/day to a 60 gallon tank.

I've been dosing every day and at some point in the last month my tank went past the point of equilibrium and now I'm getting a pretty high reading. So I think it has been doing exactly what it was intended to do I just need to back off of it, let PO4 drop, then find a good daily or semi-daily dose.