One pesky phosphate...

Tuscaquatics

Active member
I've had my 75-gallon reef set up now for about 6 weeks. I moved everything over from my previous 55 into this tank and added about another 30 or so pounds of dead rock that I had bleached, rinsed and dried and then cured in the new tank for a couple weeks before I moved the other stuff over.

I never had any sort of cycle whatsoever after I moved the 55 over and I was able to get my nitrates down to 0 in just a couple weeks. But my phosphates have stayed at 1 on an API test kit the whole time. You can see all my equipment info in my sig below. I have a fuge with tons of cheato that grows well. I have no nuisance algae in the DT, and my coralline is already taking off. All of my corals seem to be doing fine.

I know that if I'm not having algae problems, and everything is doing well, then I should be happy, but 1 phosphate can't be good. I know that it inhibits calcification and coralline growth.

Should I be patient and see if it goes down on its own with time? Or am I gonna have to run a Phosban reactor or something? I thought chaeto would take care of it. Do bacteria break down phosphates, or are there any other means of exporting them aside from macro, chemical means or water changes? After battling hair algae for a while in my 55 I've been trying to learn all I can about phosphates.
 
me three on the test kit . get a new one that has a good degree of accuracy ,you will find that most are not very accurate or very difficult to reaf the change .
 
I would take it to your LFS and ask them to test it for you. Then if you would like you can purchase a new test kit. Running GFO is always helpful to lower phosphate.
 
i like my salifert but as i said they are not extremely accurate so you just can record the ups and downs of each level
 
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