how do i lower phosphates?

esva

New member
I am having trouble lower my phosphates in my tank. it is reading at 1.0 and i use the red sea test kit. i do weekly 20 percent water changes with RO water as the replacement water. i dose kalkwasser and i also dose iodine and magnesium on occasion. i am now using phos-ban 150g of it and it hasen't really touched the phosphate level. it's only a 55gal. could the kalkwasser be reacting with something to produce PO4 or what else could be wrong i can't figure it out? oh i also use instant ocean salt.
 
i also have the remora skimmer with an upgraded larger pump on it. i skim quite a bit it just doesn't seem to want to budge
 
i also don't feed my fish cause there are only 2 fish in the reef, a kole tang and a devil damsel.
 
could the potassium iodide in the iodine be reacting with the calcium hydroxide in the kalkwasser?
 
i added the phosban last friday and i am just wondering how long does it take phosban to start working. if it is put in a medium flow area in my refugium?
 
Can you describe the tank a little more? How long has the tank been up? Amount of live rock? Sandbed? What kind of circulation?
 
esva:

It starts binding phosphate immediately, but how long it takes to see a difference depends on how fast you are flowing water over it, and the amount used. You should see a difference in a day or two, typically, but maybe much slower if you just hanging it in a bag rather than force water through it. How are you using it?
 
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