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RAISE PHOSPHATE

Potassium phosphate to bring phosphate up off zero, in the very small quantities this actually needs.

Water volume, net
Net water, not tank rating. Use the Tank Volume calculator if you have not measured it.
Current phosphate, ppm PO₄
Target phosphate, ppm PO₄
Source
Stock solution volume, mL
The dry dose is far too small to weigh. Make a stock and dose by volume.
Dose+0.060 ppm PO₄
24.4milligrams
Make a stock
2.44g in 1,000 mL
Dissolve in RO water. Ten millilitres of this then delivers the full correction.
Dose from stock
10mL
As phosphorus
19.6ppb P
What a Hanna HI736 ultra low range checker would show the change as.
Potassium added
0.025ppm K
Negligible against the 400 ppm already in seawater.

Raises 284 L by 0.060 ppm phosphate. The dry mass is milligrams, which no kitchen scale can weigh. Make the stock solution and dose by volume.

MethodFormula and sources

grams = (0.060 − 0.000 ppm) × 283.9 L ÷ 697.9 = 24.4 mg

Monopotassium phosphate KH₂PO₄ has a molar mass of 136.084 g/mol carrying one phosphate ion at 94.970, a mass fraction of 0.6979. One gram in one litre gives 697.9 ppm phosphate.

The numbers here are tiny because reef phosphate targets are tiny. Taking 400 litres from 0.00 to 0.06 ppm needs 34 milligrams. That is why every practical version of this uses a stock solution.

Rock absorbs phosphate and gives it back slowly. A tank that reads zero often has a lot bound up in the rock, and dosing chases a moving target for weeks. Dose small, test often, and expect the number to drift back down at first.

Phosphate at true zero is associated with tissue loss in SPS, with cyanobacteria, and with dinoflagellates. Most reefers aim for 0.03 to 0.10 ppm rather than the lowest reading they can get.

Commercial versions of this exist and cost far more than the salt does. They are the same compound in water, which is worth knowing before buying a bottle.

Sources: Dieck, Reef Chemistry Calculator

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