need advice on phosphates, zoas bleaching

[rizon25]

I need some help with my tank. I am currently using no3 po4 x to remove nitrates and phosphates. I tested my nitrates and it is at zero right now. However, the phosphates in my system per my hanna checker shows 0.25-0.32 phosphates in the water. I have no cyano and hardly any hair algae. I have ramped up the feeding of my tank with rod's food daily and formula one pellets because my zoas' colors are bleaching which means nutrient deprived, right?

I have some sps which are are doing well. I read that I need to have phosphates low though like less than 0.05, right? So, my question is how do I get rid of the extra phosphates in my system? I know if there are zero nitrates, i'm not going to be getting rid of any more phosphates with carbon. I have looked at chaeto and gfo. I hate how the chaeto strands get into my tank, and I really don't want to spend so much money on gfo media all the time. I would like to know what would everyone do in this situation about phosphates and about the zoa colors?

My parameters:
dKH: 12.3
mag 1520
calcium 400
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 0
pH 8.04
temp 77.2
phosphate 0.32

Thanks in advance, I'll post pics of what i'm talking about in a bit.

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-pMXN1syE8SM/TsvSjEroorI/AAAAAAAAAgo/uvN0vzOB854/s800/IMG_6376.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Lt9MPOGgHhc/TsvSepGF2OI/AAAAAAAAAgg/p7tyfQsOHdc/s800/IMG_6382.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-qe7N0mgj_C4/TsvSaHC7tlI/AAAAAAAAAgY/Zi1SbDodRos/s800/IMG_6388.jpg

[sponger0]

Well first you said your ramping up feeding? What do you mean by ramping up? Feeding more?

And bleaching doesnt mean food deprived. It means they are stressing out. You also have SPS I see. You will prolly need gfo.

What kind of skimmer do you have? Other livestock? How often are you feeding?

What kind of test are you using?

The phosphates for SPS should be around .04-.05. But softies tend to like a system with higher phosphates. But .32 is way too high for SPS.

And dosing another chemical to remove phos is not something Im very keen on. I tried it and it did nothing but casue more problems.

And another thing I notice is your system looks very new. How long has it been up?

[rizon25]

Well first you said your ramping up feeding? What do you mean by ramping up? Feeding more?

I started feeding more cause I read on this forum that the zoas bleaching colors probably meant they needed more nutrients so I started feeding rod's food 3x a week. I feed my fish (2 clowns, 2 gobies) pellets twice a day).

And bleaching doesnt mean food deprived. It means they are stressing out. You also have SPS I see. You will prolly need gfo.
Only one of my zoas are bleaching which is the closest to my metal halide so I also moved it away in hopes it will color back up. Maybe that is what is stressing them out?

What kind of skimmer do you have? Other livestock? How often are you feeding?
I have a bubble magus nac6.

What kind of test are you using?
Red sea test kit and hanna for phosphates

The phosphates for SPS should be around .04-.05. But softies tend to like a system with higher phosphates. But .32 is way too high for SPS.
I will probably need to get a gfo then

And dosing another chemical to remove phos is not something Im very keen on. I tried it and it did nothing but casue more problems.

And another thing I notice is your system looks very new. How long has it been up?
It has been up for 3 months now. I have a green slimer and an orange monitpora digitata for sps, the more hardy species. I would not try something more difficult. I also have zoas, meteor shower, xenias, and frogspawn. They are all doing well except for the bleaching montipora digitata which always has good polyp extension and the happy people eaters which I just moved away from the metal halide lighting. I'm thinking the orange montipora digitata is bleaching because I had it under my metal halide day 1. I also moved it away to acclimate it. Hopefully it will color up again.

Thanks for the help again.

[sponger0]

Ok from the sounds of it, they arent bleaching from water but from too much light. Move then down low and give them some time to recover. Dont feed so much. Your adding more phos to your system.

GFO sounds the way to go. Do some water changes to bring it down. I use extra phosx. I liked it better than GFO.

[rizon25]

Ok from the sounds of it, they arent bleaching from water but from too much light. Move then down low and give them some time to recover. Dont feed so much. Your adding more phos to your system.

GFO sounds the way to go. Do some water changes to bring it down. I use extra phosx. I liked it better than GFO.

Thanks for the advice. I will look into extra phosx.