Cause of High Phosphate

[drew2005]

Here are my readings...
June 26 - this was 24 hours after adding 2 percula clowns
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0
PH - 8.4
SG - 1.023
Ca - 320
kh - 10.2
Phos - 0.03
ALK - 3.66
Mg - 1290
June 30
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0
PH - 8.4
SG - 1.024 (im slowly increasing my SG to 1.025)
Ca - 360
kh - 9.6
Phos - 0.25 (too high)
ALK - 3.43
Mg - 1320
Can someone tell me what could be the increase in phosphate? Ive been feeding the clowns every other day and only giving them 1 cube of Prime Reef. kh, phos, alk, mg are all taken with Salifert tests. Whats goin on with the phosphates and what do i need to do? Im about 4 days away from another 10% water change. Any help is much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[weberian]

You probably already know this but two sources of phosphates are tap water and lower grade carbon.

 

[drew2005]

Originally Posted by Weberian
You probably already know this but two sources of phosphates are tap water and lower grade carbon.
I use RO water for top offs and changes and i use Kent Reef Carbon. Only time i used tap water was my initial fillup which was over 3 months ago.

 

[weberian]

I was reading that frozen fish foods can contain a lot. It said to rinse them after thawing using a sieve or net.

 

[drew2005]

Originally Posted by Weberian
I was reading that frozen fish foods can contain a lot. It said to rinse them after thawing using a sieve or net.
Good call! I didnt even think of that. Ill try rinsing and seeif that has any effect. Thanks.