How do I get my phosphates down?

[c2rn]

I've been over run by hair algae and my phosphates are at 1ppm. Our rio was about to start sucking air in our wet dry and once it's stopped there is no telling if it will restart. So in a moment of desperation I added half a gallon of tap water. Big mistake. So I was wondering if the phosphate filter pads do a good job or if there was anything else I could use. It's a 50gFOWLRLS 11 turbos and 22 blue leg hermits but they don't seem to be helping w/ the hair algae. I've also started to add some caulerpa but it's hard to come upon a good amt. of it around here. For some reason the stores don't carry it. Rest of the water parameters are ok 0-0-10 pH 8.2, temp 80 SG 1.023.

 

[c2rn]

I was also wondering what the ideal level of phosphates should be. Is it good to remove it all or does coraline algae use it to grow like micro algae does.

 

[amphiprion]

Any amount of Phosphate is a drag- all it does is feed the algae. There is a product on the market called Phosguard. I think Seachem makes it - put some in a mesh bag and put it in a high flow area of your tank . Follow the instructions on the jar and you should eventually get it out.

 

[goldfish]

I too battle high phosphates, but they are getting better. I used the phosguard stuff in the mesh bag and it helped some.
I have switched over to using ro water which is making a difference, but I still have PO readings of 2 or 5. My algae problem has seemed to die down a bit--my biggest problem was still getting diatom blooms even after 21 months of being set up!! Now the algae that is growing is mainly green which is much easier to control. Good luck!

 

[03]

buy some phosphate remover it comes in a bag drop it in the water flowing thru the system and sit back!!