Phosphates way up?

deuce_bigalo

deuce_bigalo

Member
150 gal acrylic tank w/ overflow
3 - 175 w metal hylides
2- u/v 40
wet/dry
protien skimmer
1800 gph pump
chiller
150 lb live rock
arc-eye hawkfish
2-maroon clowns
brownbarred goby
snow erchant
white ribbon eel
naso tang
yellow tang
pacific blue tang
3-blue chrmis
banded coral shrimp
hoseshoe crab
green brittle star
button polyps
2 feather dusters
many stripped/plain/spotted mushrooms
1 giant cup mushroom
3 anemones
ph 8.4 nitrate o nitrite 0.1ppm
calcium 420ppm alk 3.2 :(Phos. 1.0ppm
ammonia 0 temp 76 spec. grav. 1.0243
I change 15 gal 1 week then 10 gal the next
I tried phosogaurd to drop phosphate but it did not work what else can i do?????
 
nm reef

nm reef

Active Member
Sounds like a very nice system....well set up and stocked. Not sure what to tell ya about the high phosphates...my levels stay under .05...do you add kalkwasser? The info I have indicates that extended use will assist in precipitating phosphates out of the system so that the skimmer can remove it. I assume you use only ro/di so top-off/water change should not be adding phosphates. Possible to add phosphates with some foods especially flakes....may look into the source. I've seen folks comment on high phosphates from Instant ocean salt...but its never been a problem in my system.Only suggestions I could make would be to identify the source(and control it)...consider addition of kalkwasser to all top-off...and increase regularity of water changes(until the levels drop).........I'm no expert but thats my take on your question....and I'll watch to see how others respond.....
and welcome to the board....*_^
 
kelly

kelly

Member
waterman,
Welcome to the board. I would try testing your water before adding salt, then after adding salt before putting it into the tank to see if there are phosphates.
I recently changed where I get my water, only to find that the new water had phosphates. Just a place to start, then we can go from there.
Do you use any substrate, like a DSB, noticed that nitrites are up a little.
 
deuce_bigalo

deuce_bigalo

Member
I use kalkwsser with my ro/di top off water
If I increase and or do more water changes
I would worry about stressing my livestock.
my phos level was at 2.0 before I used the phosogaurd.
 
biggdriver

biggdriver

Member
I agree test your water before and after the salt is added you problably should be using a ro/di unit anyway if you aren't already.. With that much invested in the set-up they are well worth the money..It saves many headaches in the longrun.
 
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