Krish what you must keep in mind is that LR and/or LS dont do anything, its the bacteria that does everything. So in a nitrogen cycle you have nitrogen reducing bacteria involved. With Phosphate you have most bacteria along with a whole host of other things that love to fix it to their matrix.
ac7av one thing to keep in mind when it comes to P and that is that pretty much everything wants it and everything needs it. Also their are different types so your going to have to stay with me on this it might be a bit long. So here are the main types of P:
Particulate inorganic phoshorus
Is mostly not biologically available. It is phosphate associated with phosphate minerals and adsorbed on metal hydroxides and other solids in the aquarium. It enters the aquarium mostly in fish food and animal feces and it can be removed by siphoning out detritus and cleaning filter media. It also enters our tanks by adding argonite sand and LR.It is formed within an aquarium by sorption and precipitation of dissolved inorganic phosphorus.
Dissolved organic phosphorus
Is biologically available to bacteria and possibly to algae. It enters the aquarium from animal waste. Bacterial and algal phosphatase activity convert dissolved organic phosphorus to phosphates.
Particulate organic phosphorus
Isn't available to plants and algae, but is available to animals. It enters the aquarium as plant detritus, fish food and feces. It can be removed by siphoning and filter cleaning. It is converted to dissolved phosphates by phosphatase activity. The phosphatase activity is partly due to detritivores but also to bacteria and possibly algae.
OK so when available P enters the tank, bacteria are the first inline, they immediatly go after it. Now bacteria just cant eat it they have to create a liquid soup (for lack of a better word) with in this soup they can disovle and store P and use it. When they do this they allow for the growth of more bacteria and thus more of this bacterial bile. It just keeps growing and growing. Now these bacteria and thier bile are covering all surfaces of our reef tanks, from rocks to sand to power heads. Anything that maybe percipated out of the water column (say such as kalk and P) will not make it past this biofilm of bacteria and bile. they need it and want it and not much will stop them. So even if its percipatated as a solid it will be broken down with in hours.
Ok so this is happening everywhere in our tanks constantly. In the rocks this is also the case. the bacteria continue to mass and to create more of this biomass with in the rock, as it masses it begins to move to the outer surfaces of the rock, we call this bacterial tugur. Once it reaches the surface of the rock it begins to shed off, most folks call it detritus, it is actual bacterial flock (died bacteria, bacterial shells, unused organics, particulate dust, and bacteria fuilds) it is also heavier then water so it will sink once blown free on the surface, if not blown of it will become food for algae (usually). This process is a constant 24/7/365 type of thing.
Now a big one we must also remember is that when we add LS and LR to our tanks we a basically adding something that is already super saturated with Phosphate. In the case of sand most folks use argonite either mined from above ground or collected from below the water. This sand is completely saturated with P from biological processes or run off from the above water sources. This P is bound up in the sand and not available, so no worries at the begining. With LR it is the same concept but the binding of P is more of a biologcal process from when it was a coral and/or after it died. The concept however is the same, the argonite is super saturated with P if it is in either a rock form or a sand from. matures you will begin to have a large population of bacteria that will use thier enzynes to free up the bound P and use it as a food source, also the PH of the water will lower, causing the sand to also melt (the so called buffer capability of the sand) as this happens the P that was once bound now becomes free. As the populations of the bacteria begin to increase so does the byproducts they use in order to eat. Now the combined action of the bacteria population increase along with the biofilm and fuilds they use will drive out wards and upwards (basically amass) in the case of LR it will cause detritus to shed, in the case of sand substraights it causes the mass to move upwards as the sides and bottom of the tank force it into that direction. Eventually (based on bioload/feeding/maintence) this mass will reach the surface, it is at that point it becomes available to algae and so on.
So in other words your LR and?or sand will become a source for Phosphates in your system. As always it is better to do some simple testing for P on the surface of the sand and/or rock to see if that is the case in your tank. Also rememebr that because P is so highly desired that if you get a reading its telling you that even though its so prized their is so much available the biologicals can not keep up with it.
Anyway a long one. Let me know if I muddied it to much.
Mojo
ac7av one thing to keep in mind when it comes to P and that is that pretty much everything wants it and everything needs it. Also their are different types so your going to have to stay with me on this it might be a bit long. So here are the main types of P:
Particulate inorganic phoshorus
Is mostly not biologically available. It is phosphate associated with phosphate minerals and adsorbed on metal hydroxides and other solids in the aquarium. It enters the aquarium mostly in fish food and animal feces and it can be removed by siphoning out detritus and cleaning filter media. It also enters our tanks by adding argonite sand and LR.It is formed within an aquarium by sorption and precipitation of dissolved inorganic phosphorus.
Dissolved organic phosphorus
Is biologically available to bacteria and possibly to algae. It enters the aquarium from animal waste. Bacterial and algal phosphatase activity convert dissolved organic phosphorus to phosphates.
Particulate organic phosphorus
Isn't available to plants and algae, but is available to animals. It enters the aquarium as plant detritus, fish food and feces. It can be removed by siphoning and filter cleaning. It is converted to dissolved phosphates by phosphatase activity. The phosphatase activity is partly due to detritivores but also to bacteria and possibly algae.
OK so when available P enters the tank, bacteria are the first inline, they immediatly go after it. Now bacteria just cant eat it they have to create a liquid soup (for lack of a better word) with in this soup they can disovle and store P and use it. When they do this they allow for the growth of more bacteria and thus more of this bacterial bile. It just keeps growing and growing. Now these bacteria and thier bile are covering all surfaces of our reef tanks, from rocks to sand to power heads. Anything that maybe percipated out of the water column (say such as kalk and P) will not make it past this biofilm of bacteria and bile. they need it and want it and not much will stop them. So even if its percipatated as a solid it will be broken down with in hours.
Ok so this is happening everywhere in our tanks constantly. In the rocks this is also the case. the bacteria continue to mass and to create more of this biomass with in the rock, as it masses it begins to move to the outer surfaces of the rock, we call this bacterial tugur. Once it reaches the surface of the rock it begins to shed off, most folks call it detritus, it is actual bacterial flock (died bacteria, bacterial shells, unused organics, particulate dust, and bacteria fuilds) it is also heavier then water so it will sink once blown free on the surface, if not blown of it will become food for algae (usually). This process is a constant 24/7/365 type of thing.
Now a big one we must also remember is that when we add LS and LR to our tanks we a basically adding something that is already super saturated with Phosphate. In the case of sand most folks use argonite either mined from above ground or collected from below the water. This sand is completely saturated with P from biological processes or run off from the above water sources. This P is bound up in the sand and not available, so no worries at the begining. With LR it is the same concept but the binding of P is more of a biologcal process from when it was a coral and/or after it died. The concept however is the same, the argonite is super saturated with P if it is in either a rock form or a sand from. matures you will begin to have a large population of bacteria that will use thier enzynes to free up the bound P and use it as a food source, also the PH of the water will lower, causing the sand to also melt (the so called buffer capability of the sand) as this happens the P that was once bound now becomes free. As the populations of the bacteria begin to increase so does the byproducts they use in order to eat. Now the combined action of the bacteria population increase along with the biofilm and fuilds they use will drive out wards and upwards (basically amass) in the case of LR it will cause detritus to shed, in the case of sand substraights it causes the mass to move upwards as the sides and bottom of the tank force it into that direction. Eventually (based on bioload/feeding/maintence) this mass will reach the surface, it is at that point it becomes available to algae and so on.
So in other words your LR and?or sand will become a source for Phosphates in your system. As always it is better to do some simple testing for P on the surface of the sand and/or rock to see if that is the case in your tank. Also rememebr that because P is so highly desired that if you get a reading its telling you that even though its so prized their is so much available the biologicals can not keep up with it.
Anyway a long one. Let me know if I muddied it to much.
Mojo
