Help! Phosphate high

[Thumper1701]

need members' advice...

Just tested water yesterday. All ok except phosphate. it's kind of on the high side. so the question is:

1)what causes high phosphate and

2)any ways to reduce it?

[allantang]

ya.. don't over feed n u can try goodbye PO4

[kaganesti]

more frequent water change helps too

[Thumper1701]

oh, so if i have to change water more frequently, is it better to change water that is mixed with the synthetic sea salt or the water that can be bought from farms? any difference actually?

[comycus]

You will have to check NSW for their parameters, Synthetic salt mix offers more constant parameters.

Of course mixing the saltwater yourself also requires more effort.

Feed less, add phosphate removing media like goodby po4 or rowaphos to control po4.

[sherman]

What is your phosphate level?

Tell us then we can decide which is a better solution to resolve your problem

[Thumper1701]

it's around 1.

[comycus]

it's around 1.

Bro care to elaborate what do you mean by 1? Normally anything more than 0.1ppm is considered very high and undesirable in our reef tanks. 1ppm!!?? It will be uninhabitable to anything u keep!

[fishiee]

top up your tank water with DI water. another source of high phosphate levels.

i personally use salt water bought from the marine. cheaper overall, accounting for the costs of the salt mix and costs to DI tap water. less troublesome. i am now trying a system where i store 3 week's worth of salt water for changes

[kaganesti]

Is it a new tank ? I suspect the phosphate might be due to the die offs

[Terryz_]

1 is quite high leh... Do water change with DI water and run Rowaphos... And if you find rowaphos to expensive to run, can change to Goodbye P04 after the initial run of the rowaphos...

[Thumper1701]

ok. will try the Rowaphos. thanks!