.28 phopshate new tann

[Jrswish]

I just set up a new tank, its 1.5 months old its a 20 gallon nuvo, it has 2 clowns and 1 yasha goby, yesterday hanna checker said .24 and today .28. What can be causing such high phopshate already? and should I do anything or leave it alone. I also have 20 nitrates. I've done two 40% water changes already

 

[Formulator]

That’s not super high. It is a small tank so you will always need biweekly or even weekly water changes to manage your nutrients unless you have other means of export such as GFO and/or a refugium. What are you feeding? Certain foods, especially coral foods often contain high phosphate.

 

[eliaslikesfish]

I have a 40G nuvo and when I first started the tank (first 6 months or so) mine was hovering around .8 at one point. I run gfo in my filter sock chamber and it brings it down within a couple days. I have since also gotten a protein skimmer. has helped tremendously. other than that, weekly water changes. mine still runs at about .1-.2. my soft corals and duncan coral love the higher nutrients, they grow like crazy and my BTA and LPS are growing as well. (given not as fast)