Figuring out these numbers

[drakebuffie]

I posted in a different thread about my hammer not doing well and 2 zoas dieing while another zoa is growing candy cane is growing and leathers are doing just fine as well as 2 different montiporia.

I have a skimmer and filter socks. Typically did weekly water changes of 5 gallons in a 65 gal tank.

Just got new haanna checkers and numbers are as follows.
Cal 508
Nitrates 0
ALK 9.5
Ph 7.8
ULR phosphate checkker won't check it...errors as too high to read.

Fish in tank are a one spot fox a file fish a dart fish and a. Pink skunk clown



I know trates are too low and I plan to retest everything this weekend. What do I do if phosphates are still off the charts? Was told to feed more to get trates up but is po4 is that high that will increase as well no?

It is possible I screwed up the phosphate test as I lost some of the solution before testing....not alot but maybe enough to alter testt.

 

[Timfish]

You might try getting some distilled water, test it with the hanna to be sure it does't have any PO4, dilute your aquarium sample by 1/2 or one third with some distilled water, test with the Hanna then multiply by 2 or by 3 depending on how much you reduced the sample by. FWIW high PO4 will cause growth abnormalities but should not outright kill corals and I wouldn't consider it hte main problem if you have other corals that apper ot be thriving. If possible I would look into the environmental conditions your hammer and zoas grew in befor you got them. Some corals can be very selective about changing environmental conditions and may tak longer the adjust than others. (Some of the examples I've seen and and read extremes may be years to start growing and thriving.)