Stupid high phosphate?

[Fragmented Wolf]

So my tank is brand new. Never had a fish in it but it's about to in a few days as my clown pair are two days away from completing quarantine.

I threw a raw shrimp into the water and let it stink up the place. I then threw in some Turbo-Start just last week as I still had ammonia in the water (Worked great BTW, ammonia now 0)

Today I'm just doing my final tests on the water to ensure everything is in check, and my phosphate is 0.45 and my nitrate looked to be around 10

How am I so out of whack? Am I supposed to do a gigantic water change when the tank is done cycling?

There is one more possibility and I really hope this isn't the cause, but after I completed my rock structure out of Texas Holey Rock, I then began to read that this rock can possibly leech phosphates into the water. I didn't give it an acid bath or anything after I bought it. Took it from my LFS, glued, threw in the water... Was that a mistake?

What do you guys think? Any ideas? Just seems like something must be massively wrong as I'm reading you typically don't want to be above .2 or you'll start to have coral growth / burning issues, and here I am, doubling that amount.

PS, I'm using the Hanna Phosphate checker ULR. Phosphate, not Phosphorus, meaning I don't believe I have to do any conversions. The number that pops up on the screen is PPM and it should be good...

 

[Copingwithpods]

Ehhh not too bad, when my tank finally finished its cycle I was at 12ppm P04 and 120ppm NO3. Even the month after I was way way above 1ppm PO4

 

[DeniableArc]

I wouldn’t worry about that for a while yet mate

 

[kapnkush608]

I wouldn’t worry about that for a while yet mate

I wouldn't necessarily take this stance. The rock will buffer the phosphate out of the water column and down the road it will leach back out.

 

[windemerejack]

Agree with above, you don't want phosphate now as it will cause problems later down the line, fix it now while you have hardly any stock to worry about and get the tank stable. It will be pita to sort in a few weeks or months.

 

[SPR1968]

You really need to get the phosphate level right down very low from the outset or your likely to have all sorts of unwanted issues shortly.

An ideal target is very low at less than 0.03. There are reasons for this level which you can read up on Here

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-09/rhf/

I run rhowaphos 24/7 in both my tanks and in my recently set up one, I have 1kg of it in place (it’s a big tank!) and phosphate is locked down.

 

[esther]

Currently dealing with the same issue. Just started using ROWAphos and honestly, it’s the only thing that’s worked to reduce phosphates. We were at .5 two days ago and just tested this morning and were at .3. Very happy about it.

 

[lavoisier]

If the source of your high PO4 is your rock, you will battle it for a long, long time. If you are willing to stop and treat your rock you will enjoy your tank more down the road.

 

[Fragmented Wolf]

Thanks everybody. I think I'm going to treat rock with Acid and see how that goes... Why'd I have to be attracted to such a troublesome rock! lol...

 

[kapnkush608]

Yeah I would either postpone a month and acid wash and restart or if you wanted to take the time and effort you could dose lanthanum. I prefer phosban L. I would probably just restart. If you go the lanthanum route use a pump in a side loop and drip a diluted solution into a 5 micron filter sock.

 

[ScottB]

While that is a high phosphate reading, I don't think you really need to take down the whole system. Just run some rowaphos or phosguard to knock the PO4 down. I would slow up with it though once you get around .1. Hitting zero can create adverse effects (dinos).

 

[NanoDJS]

Um thats not stupid high , its kinda great , I have had systems that got upto 3.0 and didnt loose any fish or corals SPS included. This whole nutrient thing is misunderstood by alot and not correctly implemented in most cases causing more issue. Its 2020 , not 40 years ago when we pulled the coral wild out of the red sea with no nutes in the water. People are growing these out in high nute systems with MAD light , high light /high nutes; low light /low nutes try and keep the p to n someplace around 1p:16n ratio so your .46 with 10 is about perfect , FRAG ON!!!!! Edit I think the main DT is hovering @ .67 for the last few with N @ 5 ish