Phosphate and cycling

[haywood2]

MY 75 is cycling right now and I tested a bunch of things today and here are the results. It has been cycling over a week and I added some live sand, filter, and 50lbs live rock from an existing tank. Here were the results.

Ph: 7.6 (way too low, adding B-Ionic after this post)
Ammonia: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 60 ppm
Phosphate: 1.5 ppm
Calcium: 360mg

IS this amount of phosphate too much, and should I add my Phos-Zorb pillow now? OR should I wait until the tank completely cycles?

[bertoni]

I would do some water changes, to start reducing the phosphate a bit, but waiting would probably work, as well. The cost for phosphate media might get rather high with that level of phosphate.

Low pH is common during live rock curing, and dosing B-Ionic might drive the alkalinity up and cause more problems than it solves.

[haywood2]

I think my tap water might be high in phosphates.... my rocks have already been cured, so I don't think the ph has to do with that. Won't B-Ionic help bring the PH up? And lastly, what can I do about the phosphate if it stays a problem?

[haywood2]

Anyone else? I leave for vacation tomorrow.

[Sk8r]

You should use ro/di, haywood2. The phosphate never evaporates, so the more you do your weekly water changes, the worse it will get, and it is algae fertilizer. It comes from your non ro/di water source, and from flake or pellet food, and from algae that dies or is eaten in your tank. If it is free enough to be measured, it is free enough for remover to get it.

Check your alkalinity: that may have to do with the ph problem. If your alk is low, you can buffer.

[bertoni]

B-Ionic will raise pH temporarily, but it'll be driven back down with aeration. Overdosing alkalinity can cause a lot of problems. The pH is fine for a tank with live rock still curing.

[haywood2]

The rock has already been cured...

[ljosh]

Get it out while it is in the water or you will be removing algae later

[bertoni]

Then the problem is high CO2, low alkalinity, or a bad test kit. This article might help:

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-09/rhf/index.php