phosphates too high

[djpj001]

hello again-

Well my 90 gallon predator/reef tank has been up in running for about 7 months. Everything is running smoothly so far- water parameters are nitrate > 20 ppm, nitrite 0ppm, ammonia 0 ppm, pH 8.2, salinity 1.025, but phosphates are way to high it's about 50ppm. For the past two weeks i've been using a liquid phosaphate eliminator and last week I added a mesh bag with phosban in my sump. As of today it's still at 50 ppm ; tested by me and my LFS. How can i reduce my phosphates almost to zero -so I can have coral line algae grow properly.

Thanks,
DJPJ

 

[bkv1997]

The only way to get it down if it is that hi is to do waterchanges with RO/DI water and a salt that is phosphate free.

Once it gets to about 2-3 ppm products like phosgaurd, etc can help remove the rest, but are simply to costly to get it down from 50ppm.

Brandon

 

[djpj001]

sorry I meant 5 ppm.

 

[bkv1997]

I would still recommend a large WC... then follow it by slowly adding something like phosgaurd in something like a phosban reactor.

Are you running a skimmer? If not that will also help.

 

[sailfin]

A large water change is a good way to lower those as bkv mentioned. How often do you perform water changes? I imagine with a predator tank the poop builds up fairly quickly.