test results

I have a 300 litre tank that has been cycling for a couple of months now,just taken some tests and need some advice as some results have dropped but some have just stayed the same,I have 60kg of live rock with 4inch live sand bed,external filter and a protein skimmer with 2 t5 lights and of course heater.

ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate stayed at about 70ppm despite doing water changes and new filter media.
phosphate 5ppm up from 3ppm last weekend
calcium 540 and stayed at 540 for a couple of weeks
carbonate hardness 400

any idea as i would like to start adding some fish or corals soon but dont want to kill them off if i cant get my levels right

thanks

 

Are you dosing Calcium? I would stop and let the numbers fall to 400.
I would say you could add fish now and work on getting your Nitrates down. how did you cycle your tank?

 

What is your salinity at? Are you able to test magnesium? What are you using for test kits? What is the external filter, a simple HOB?

 

havent done any calcium dosing at all,i cycled my tank with live rock and live sand with the urine way.
salinity at 1.024,using a reef test kit with test tubes,cant test for magnesium till i buy atest kit for it,yes a simple hob external filter

 

I guess I am just confused why your calcium and alkalinity (carbonate hardness) are so high. I am guessing you are using the API Reef Master test kit. I would see if a LFS could test your water for you to confirm your results. What salt are you using?