PowderBlue Posted October 16, 2016 Share Posted October 16, 2016 I've run my temp at 78.8 for the past 6 months. Most corset seems to be happy, fish are good also, but recently my phosphates will NOT come down, water change, phosphate out etc they just chill at the same level. I was wondering if I was to lower my temp to 77 if it might help, I know bacteria likes warmer water, and it seems that a lot of people run their reefs at 76 to 77. I can gradually bring it down with my apex over a couple of days so it won't be a quick change, anyone think it might help? Hurt? Probably not make much of a difference at all? I've lost 2 sps pieces in the past 2 weeks so I'm game to try anything. Levels as of tonight DKH 10 Cal 500 phisphates 0.08 (this kills me) ammonia 0 nitrites 0 nitrates like 10 ish ppm Sent from my SM-G928V using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paratore Posted October 16, 2016 Share Posted October 16, 2016 I think you'll be fine I run my tank at 77. My dad recently brought his tank down from 82 to 78. It had been at 82 for as long as he could remember. I've also heard that lower tank temps slow down coral metabolism so it may help control that crazy zoa growth Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AcanLord Posted October 16, 2016 Share Posted October 16, 2016 I run mine at 75 and they love it. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PowderBlue Posted October 16, 2016 Author Share Posted October 16, 2016 Sweet so I'll slowly drop it down to like 76.8 I just noticed my mag is through the [language filter] roof like 1750 so I'm going to do a water change soon. No clue how it would be that high?! Sent from my SM-G928V using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pledosophy Posted October 16, 2016 Share Posted October 16, 2016 Phosphate is not a bacteria, it is actually consumed by bacteria. So to follow the reasoning a lower temp would slow the metabolism of the anaerobic bacteria and they would consume less phosphate leaving your system with more residual phosphate. The actual rate of reproduction of those bacteria's at a degree or two difference until you reach 73F is negligible. So basically if your doing it for phosphate, then it's not gonna do a damm thing. Sorry. It does make the heat bills and the reef fog a little less in the Winter. I ran my system at 76F for years and never had a problem. Over the summer I tried bumping it up for awhile to 82F, but really didn't see any difference so I dropped it back down. I leave my heaters set for 76F but the tank can get up to 81F or so during the day/week before any of the cascading measures kick in. For me I think most of this is based in the electronics being kept in the stand. Lucky for us in the world today there is a ton of information on how temperatures affect coral and basically to sum a few hundred pages I have read up, if your always the same, it is less forgiving, but if your tank has regular swings the corals will tolerate the regular swings. When diving on reefs you will often get a cold current or warm current come through a reef with a several degree difference pretty quickly. (Yes when it is warm I look to make sure there is not another diver next to me dosing ammino acids on the reef) A Mg level of 1750 is nothing to worry about. It is high, but number of Mg that high have not shown an affect on corals. High Mg is actually used to treat some forms of algae in SPS tanks and has been for years. Nothing to worry about there. Since your using a reactor I would be curious where that number is coming from. If you are doing frequent water changes it could be your salt mix is above NSW in Mg so your water changes could actually be dosing mg. Werid huh. Did you ever start Carbon Dosing? If you did then the phosphate binders would inhibit the productivity of carbon dosing. It might be better to skip those and just to up your daily dose by a mil or 3 to see if you can kick start those anaerobes into consuming some phosphate for ya. That is what I would do myself. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Higher Thinking Posted October 16, 2016 Share Posted October 16, 2016 Phosphate is not a bacteria, it is actually consumed by bacteria. So to follow the reasoning a lower temp would slow the metabolism of the anaerobic bacteria and they would consume less phosphate leaving your system with more residual phosphate. The actual rate of reproduction of those bacteria's at a degree or two difference until you reach 73F is negligible. So basically if your doing it for phosphate, then it's not gonna do a damm thing. Sorry. It does make the heat bills and the reef fog a little less in the Winter. I ran my system at 76F for years and never had a problem. Over the summer I tried bumping it up for awhile to 82F, but really didn't see any difference so I dropped it back down. I leave my heaters set for 76F but the tank can get up to 81F or so during the day/week before any of the cascading measures kick in. For me I think most of this is based in the electronics being kept in the stand. Lucky for us in the world today there is a ton of information on how temperatures affect coral and basically to sum a few hundred pages I have read up, if your always the same, it is less forgiving, but if your tank has regular swings the corals will tolerate the regular swings. When diving on reefs you will often get a cold current or warm current come through a reef with a several degree difference pretty quickly. (Yes when it is warm I look to make sure there is not another diver next to me dosing ammino acids on the reef) A Mg level of 1750 is nothing to worry about. It is high, but number of Mg that high have not shown an affect on corals. High Mg is actually used to treat some forms of algae in SPS tanks and has been for years. Nothing to worry about there. Since your using a reactor I would be curious where that number is coming from. If you are doing frequent water changes it could be your salt mix is above NSW in Mg so your water changes could actually be dosing mg. Werid huh. Did you ever start Carbon Dosing? If you did then the phosphate binders would inhibit the productivity of carbon dosing. It might be better to skip those and just to up your daily dose by a mil or 3 to see if you can kick start those anaerobes into consuming some phosphate for ya. That is what I would do myself. Good logic there, my friend! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The ReefBox Posted October 16, 2016 Share Posted October 16, 2016 So Randall, bringing the temp down is not gonna change ur phosphate levels at all. It may actually increase them slightly do to slowed coral consumption (metabolism). I don't think your number of .08 is bad at all. I think if you talk to some people, that number is great. The problem I see with your numbers is everything is relatively high. I would take a stab at it and say that your PO4 is actually lower than you might think. With your Big 3 so high I would attribute your sps loss to that. In a UNLS system. Alk can not really get much higher than 7-.5-8 without seing burnt tips ofs stn/rtn. Recheck your po4 that volume be the nature of ur beast! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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