Water Chemistry Questions

[Openbrain]

70 gallon cylindrical tank
2 clowns
2 goby's
1 med yellow tang

Live rock
Sump by my reef creations
Protein skimmer


Problem:

Ammonia 0
Nitrates 0
Nitrites 0
Calcium HIGH off the charts
Phosphates 143.2 also HIGH


I have taken out 15 gallons every two weeks using RO water. I do not add trace elements, only the salt mix. Lights are turned off and on each day by hand because the timer that they have never works right and was always on. Its in a dental office and they are not there on weekends so they fend for themselves.

Question:

Is it ok for the calcium to be high?

How does one lower phosphates?

 

[Mrc8858]

Calcium is ok high but can begin to precipitate once you reach 600+ ppm but for phosphates the reccomended level for a reef tank is .02 or lower. I don't know if you have any corals but a level as high as yours and I imagine you are having one Hell of a battle with algae. The best way to remove phosphates is through water changes and/or a reactor with gfo or some type of phosphate remover like phosban or phosguard.

 

[Openbrain]

Calcium is ok high but can begin to precipitate once you reach 600+ ppm but for phosphates the reccomended level for a reef tank is .02 or lower. I don't know if you have any corals but a level as high as yours and I imagine you are having one Hell of a battle with algae. The best way to remove phosphates is through water changes and/or a reactor with gfo or some type of phosphate remover like phosban or phosguard.

Just live rock with **** loads of coralline algae. No bad algae problems. I noticed they had a bottle of CA so I believe they were dosing the tank.

I will try the phosphate remover.

 

[MikeYQM]

Just a wild guess, but I would assume your po4 test is faulty.

 

[Openbrain]

Just a wild guess, but I would assume your po4 test is faulty.

I followed the directions to a T

 

[uh.oh...]

Test kits do go bad. The chemicals expire, and depending on how long they've sat on the shelf in the lfs sometimes they start off bad

 

[uh.oh...]

And what test kit did you use?

 

[ganiel]

How long have u been having phosphates at 143?

 

[Schism]

143ppm? Im confused, first off most test kits dont go over 5ppm. Please if you could clarify this reading it would be great. That much phosphate seems detrimental to a reef tank. Running GFO immediately would be a good idea.

 

[Openbrain]

Test kits do go bad. The chemicals expire, and depending on how long they've sat on the shelf in the lfs sometimes they start off bad

Brand new kit, API master, they have been this high for 2 weeks

 

[ganiel]

Brand new kit, API master, they have been this high for 2 weeks

How's you fish doing and do you have cyano?

 

[Openbrain]

How's you fish doing and do you have cyano?

Fish great cyano yes. Battling it for 5 months. Weekly ro changes help.

I have lots of algae plants growing luscious

 

[ccCapt]

Brand new kit, API master, they have been this high for 2 weeks

Very curious as to how you are coming up with this reading of 143.
From API's website....
Phosphate Test Kit - API
This kit tests phosphate levels from 0 to 10 ppm in fresh and saltwater aquariums.

 

[Openbrain]

Very curious as to how you are coming up with this reading of 143.
From API's website....
Phosphate Test Kit - API
This kit tests phosphate levels from 0 to 10 ppm in fresh and saltwater aquariums.

Omg!! Ok I just realized what I did.....the 143.2 was the carbonate hardness test. I wrote the wrong number. Sorry

 

[Openbrain]

Very curious as to how you are coming up with this reading of 143.
From API's website....
Phosphate Test Kit - API
This kit tests phosphate levels from 0 to 10 ppm in fresh and saltwater aquariums.

Phosphates are 0.25

 

[ccCapt]

143.2ppm is not high. That's pretty much perfect. You want your alk between 7-11dKH.
143.2ppm = 8.01dKH = 2.86meq/l

 

[Schism]

Well that clears up the confusion lol. .25 is still 'elevated' and can cause issues so good idea to work on getting it down.

 

[Openbrain]

Well that clears up the confusion lol. .25 is still 'elevated' and can cause issues so good idea to work on getting it down.

Thanks!!