help fast phosphates

[jowek7]

how to get rid of phosphates in my tank. the rest of my water test came out great but this one came out really high. so i dont know whats doing it. any info would be really helpful thanks.

 

[Catpicklesdog]

Phosphates can come from things such as your water supply and food. Do you use RO water?

To help get rid of mine I used Rowaphos which worked very well in my opinion.

 

[jowek7]

yea i use ro water

 

[Neenie]

We had the same problem.. we also use Rowaphos in a sock in the sump now.

Also rinsing the food before feeding helps....

 

[jowek7]

its weird because i used to never had them in my tank befor

 

[clown-lover]

Have you tested your RO water to make sure its not making it through your DI?

 

[vorlx]

Have you added any different chemicals/buffers recently?

 

[jowek7]

tested r/o come out clean.. no new chemicals or any thing like that. same food i cut the light back some thats really the only thing i changed

 

[gomrjoe]

Not that I am a huge fan of dumping things in a sump, but I have had to use a phosphate removal medium before, and this product has worked very well for me:

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Produ...ll&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Np=1&N=2004&Nty=1

Cut and paste that. Anyways, it has always worked for me.

A couple of questions for you to think about?
Do you overfeed by chance?
Do you dose phytoplankton or other reef suppliment?
Is the test kit good and have rinsed the test tubes well?

Sometimes it is the darn test kit and your levels are really fine. Test right before a 20% WC and right after. Also, I read somewhere that some reef suppliments, including phytoplankton can cause nitrates and phosphate issues.

 

[gomrjoe]

tested r/o come out clean.. no new chemicals or any thing like that. same food i cut the light back some thats really the only thing i changed

How long was your photo period? How long is it now?

Do you have cyano or hair algae now, or are you starting to see it grow? You know, it is quite possible that by reducing your light time period that whatever was consuming your phosphates isn't anymore, or at least isn't consuming as much and hence it is showing up on your test, just a thought... that is why I am curious about whether or not you have hair algae or cyano now.