High Phosphates

Mflores888 · Jan 18, 2021

Hello fellow reefers, so today I was doing my regular check up on my water level and I noticed that my Hanna reader was showing 2.18 phosphates. I'm not entirely sure what the long run effects are of having that high levels. A little info on my tank

110 G
Calcium 480
Mag 1450
Alk 8.7
Salinity 1.022
Nitrates 15
Phosphates 2.18

Tank has being running for about a year and a half. I have the following fish: blue tang, fox face, pair of clowns, midus blenny, yellow corris wrasse, Cardinal, 2x firefish, citron goby, and psychedelic mandarin. I feed 2 times a day, and give corals food 2 times a week. I have a lot of coral as you can see in the pictures and I haven't really noticed any problems but I also can't find an answer to what happens if the phosphates remain high in the tank.

Spare time · Jan 18, 2021

From my understanding, it can slow down the growth of stony corals. However, your tank looks very happy.

gentlefish · Jan 18, 2021

Congratulations to your beautiful tank!
I fail to see any tale tell signs of high phosphate. No significant algae. Gather your top up water is 0 TDS. Gather the skimmer functions. Any chance you could get a second phosphate reading by the local fish store? Your reading just does not seem right.

vetteguy53081 · Jan 18, 2021

As a piece of mind and even a partial resolution, Add a large pouch of chemipure Elite which will keep toxicity down and keep Phos and Nitrate in check. It reall works.
My tank is constant at
PO4 - .028-.029
NO3 - .024 - .031

Spieg · Jan 18, 2021

What Hanna Checker are you using? Not sure if mine will even read that high (I never really let mine get above 0.1 ppm). There is a fair amount of debate on how much affect high PO4 levels have on corals... In my experience increased nuisance algae growth is what happens at higher levels.

xabo · Jan 18, 2021

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Mflores888 · Jan 18, 2021

gentlefish said:
Congratulations to your beautiful tank!
I fail to see any tale tell signs of high phosphate. No significant algae. Gather your top up water is 0 TDS. Gather the skimmer functions. Any chance you could get a second phosphate reading by the local fish store? Your reading just does not seem right.

I haven't had algae in this tank, in my previous one I had red slime and green hair but this one has had none at all. Not sure if it's my fish eating it or something else. I am going to the store tomorrow I'll get them to test it. I did buy hanna checker second hand not sure if they could be the issue

Mflores888 · Jan 18, 2021

vetteguy53081 said:
As a piece ogf mind and even a partial resolution, Add a large pouch of chemipure Elite which will keep toxicity down and keep Phos and Nitrate in check. It reall works.
My tank is constant at
PO4 - .028-.029
NO3 - .024 - .031

I've used the other brand of chemipure and it works well. Definitely helped out but right now I haven't had the chance to get it replaced. Could that be the issue?

Mflores888 · Jan 18, 2021

Spieg said:
What Hanna Checker are you using? Not sure if mine will even read that high (I never really let mine get above 0.1 ppm). There is a fair amount of debate on how much affect high PO4 levels have on corals... In my experience increased nuisance algae growth is what happens at higher levels.

It's the High Range checker. I did buy it second hand, not sure if that could be the problem? I also have very little if any algae growth on the rocks or on my corals, just the regular small build up on the glass. I think my fox face might be eating it all

IslandLifeReef · Jan 18, 2021

Mflores888 said:
It's the High Range checker. I did buy it second hand, not sure if that could be the problem? I also have very little if any algae growth on the rocks or on my corals, just the regular small build up on the glass. I think my fox face might be eating it all

My guess is that the checker is bad or the reagents is bad or there is another testing error. PO4 that high doesn’t seem reasonable with your NO3 levels. What was the level the last time you tested and how long ago was that. You could always get you test confirmed at your LFS.

Mflores888 · Jan 18, 2021

IslandLifeReef said:
My guess is that the checker is bad or the reagents is bad or there is another testing error. PO4 that high doesn’t seem reasonable with your NO3 levels. What was the level the last time you tested and how long ago was that. You could always get you test confirmed at your LFS.

The last time I tested was maybe 2 months ago and it was 0.09. I am going tomorrow and see what they say. I am probably going to go to a couple of the stores nearby to get more verification

vetteguy53081 · Jan 18, 2021

Mflores888 said:
I've used the other brand of chemipure and it works well. Definitely helped out but right now I haven't had the chance to get it replaced. Could that be the issue?

I could be expired leaching phos back into the tank, Yes

xxkenny90xx · Jan 18, 2021

High phosphate isn't as bad as people make it out to be. I've seen many beautiful reefs with higher numbers then yours. If you do want to lower po4 just slowly dose some lanthanum chloride, it's by far the most effective method

IslandLifeReef · Jan 19, 2021

Mflores888 said:
The last time I tested was maybe 2 months ago and it was 0.09. I am going tomorrow and see what they say. I am probably going to go to a couple of the stores nearby to get more verification

Yeah, then I think that is a bad test. If your PO4 was at that level 2 months ago and you tank is about a year and a half old, I find it hard to believe that your PO4 rose 2.09ppm in two months unless you dosed PO4.