Noob question phosphate and phosphorus.

[zzrguy]

Well I was talking to the nice girl at the lfs today and mentioned that my brown algae is not going away she said its most likely is hi phosphates and to use a phosphate mover or neutralizer. I mention im dose NPK and she said to stop or dose less phosphorus.

So phosphates come from the phosphorus I've been adding. Should I stop all together for say a week or two or just cut my dose in half over the same time frame?

[HD Blazingwolf]

phosphates alone don't cause algae.. this is a myth...

how long has ur tank been setup?

[KH2PO4]

Try it. Easiest.

For me, one tank, high PO4, no problem. Another? BGA is so predictable.

[zzrguy]

2 1/2 to 3 month.
I'll be adding a new filter this week a aqua clear.
I feel the aqueon filter is not really I feel doing its job. Could that be causing or contributing to the algae.

[HD Blazingwolf]

brown algae is actually diatoms. its a bacteria that can photosynthesize.

likely due to lower light levels, or not enough plant growth at this point

as the tank matures diatoms usually go away on their own.. this is usually due to other bacterium growing in the tank doing their job to break things down and keep it clean

[BruceF]

Phosphorus is an essential element for all life forms. It is a
mineral nutrient. Orthophosphate is the only form of P that
autotrophs can assimilate. Extracellular enzymes hydrolyze
organic forms of P to phosphate. The effect is studied of
different phosphorous concentration on changes in growth
rate of diatom species isolated from Tones River. All
diatoms examined increasing cell division rate with
increasing phosphorous concentration in the medium.
Diatoms, however, were not able to dominate when
phosphate was deficient, although silicate and nitrate were
in excess.

http://www.ijsr.in/upload/228151688Chapter%2021.pdf

[zzrguy]

So I'm going to stop dose phosphorus for two week and see if it helps and if it helps I'll start dosing again at about half the recomended and slowly raise the dosage over time.

[rocketdude1234]

As Wolf said, phosphate alone doesn't cause algae and it very well could be a sign of the newness of the tank.

Limiting a vital nutrient for plants is counter productive. Healthy plants can out-compete algae. Also, even if this somehow did work against your diatoms, you'll just get GSA instead.

Grow plants and stop fighting algae.

[plantbrain]

Originally Posted by zzrguy

So I'm going to stop dose phosphorus for two week and see if it helps and if it helps I'll start dosing again at about half the recomended and slowly raise the dosage over time.

We really do not have enough details to help you based on the information provided.

Light?
Pic of the tank?
Plants? What type, how much, CO2?

Etc...........

Ferts are essential and perhaps the easiest thing in the hobby, but many still have long blamed them for algae and as I often tell folks....."a good myth is very hard to kill".

I dose 10-15 ppm PO4 a week to this tank:



10 ppm to this one:





Algae can be due to many things, but mostly....it's due to folks not addressing the plant needs, which light and CO2 are the dominate issues for 90%(maybe more) of folks having algae issues vs say ferts.

[fplata]

Tom, you add 15ppm per week? Does that mean that if I where to dose daily I would be dosing close to 2ppm per day?

[Sethjohnson30]

Tom,
Sorry to thread jack....but I'm just curious what that foreground plant in your Dutchish tank is

[fplata]

Originally Posted by Sethjohnson30

Tom,
Sorry to thread jack....but I'm just curious what that foreground plant in your Dutchish tank is

Looks like UG

[Sethjohnson30]

What's ug?

[fplata]

Ultricolaria graminofilia. I have no clue how to spell it

[sowNreap]

I thought brown diatoms were caused by high silicates. ??

When mine didn't appear be getting any better and in fact seemed to be getting worse even after 3-4 months I finally added PhosZorb to my filter. It made a noticeable difference rather quickly. After several weeks they were gone. I don't know if it was just a coincidence they cleared up when I added the PhosZorb or not, but when they started again after changing my substrate I put the bags back in and they started going away. Again could have been coincidence. But to me it seemed to help. I dose extra Phosphate to put back in what is removed.