Best way to lower phosphates?

My tank has been up for almost 3 months now, and things are going well for the most part. It's pretty much stocked at this point, and my levels are all in the normal ranges, with the exception of phosphates (and nitrates hold steady at 20, but I realize that isn't too high and they should drop in time). Phosphates are at ~0.3ppm. I had a bloom of diatoms, as I should have. They're gone now, and I'm getting some green algae growing on my rock now. It's not green hair, you really can't even see it except for the color, and it's relatively slow growing and is only going strong in areas of intense light. I have a 120gal DT w/ a 30gal sump, running an aqua medic skimmer and a 15W UV sterilizer. I feed PE mysis twice daily, and a high quality pellet once daily (barlett anthias, I can't reduce feeding). I mix my own water w/ RO and IO salt, and do water changes every 7-10 days. My actinics are on 14hrs/day, and the MH are on 8hrs/day.

So my 2 part question is, first should I even worry about it, and second, if so, what's the preferred reduction method? Chaeto or a phosphate reactor (w/ ROWA)?

 

Phosphate reactor will do you wonders.. Also are you draining off your food before feeding it?

 

A phosphate reactor is a great idea.

 

+1 what he said

 

I try to drain as best as I can, more recently I've been blotting with a paper towel. I figured this is the direction I'd be pointed.

Sidenote - I really need to get some current pics of my tank up. I recently cleaned out coral morphologic's stock of zoa morphs.

 

I agree 100%

 

is it holding or climbing? the phosphates i mean.

when i first setup, I had a very low phosphate reading that went away a month after my ammonia/nitrites 0'd out... and it's never been back since.

It's something that you *might* be able to ignore and it go away, but it's also one of those things that might bite you if you do that. Definitely keep monitoring it. If it goes up at all at this point, I would take reduction steps. If it holds, I'd wait it out for a few weeks and see what happens. If nothing, then I'd take reduction steps...

 

mangroves will suck up a ton of phosphates too

 

Ammonia and nitrites have been zeroed for weeks. Highest I ever saw phosphates was at 0.5ppm (end of the cycle before I turned the skimmer on). It does seem like they've been very very slowly receding since then, but I question if they'll always be up there having to feed often.

 

I agree that many commercial foodsmay contain undesirable things like nphosphates etc and overfeeding the tank is also another factor. I like to rinse my frozen food in RO water before feeding. Also, using only RO/DI water in your tank with a high quality salt little or no NO3, phosphates etc like Tropic Marin or similar good quality salt along with a phosphate remover should really help too. You may also want to have your LFS retest your water to be sure that you are getting accurate results.