annoying phosphate

1795 Views 17 Replies 7 Participants Last post by Hoppy, Apr 7, 2014

dfish2077

Discussion Starter · Apr 5, 2014

Hello yall i tested my tank water for phosphat . It came out ridiculous off the charts. What can i do to getrid it or most of it.
Thanks,dfish

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Darkblade48

· #2 · Apr 5, 2014

How much phosphates do you actually have?

Have you measured your tap water to see if that is the source of your phosphates?

In general, as long as nutrient levels are balanced, you will not have any issues with algae. Phosphates are required for good plant growth, so eliminating them completely will generally lead to problems.

dfish2077

Discussion Starter · #3 · Apr 5, 2014

Oh i have lots of plants phosphate levels as high as the chart would go

Darkblade48

· #4 · Apr 5, 2014

Again, what are your actual phosphate levels? Also, have you measured your tap water to see where the phosphates are coming from?

Zorfox

· #5 · Apr 5, 2014

As Darkblade said, test your tap water. If that's acceptable do a large water change. This is assuming you're using the test kit correctly and it's accurate. Calibrating the test kit will ensure both of those variables are eliminated.

Avoid phosphate removers. Phosphate is a macro nutrient required by plants.

laconic

· #6 · Apr 5, 2014

Do you have rocks in your aquarium? Some have high phosphate levels.

Diana

· #7 · Apr 5, 2014

If you are dosing fertilizers that contain phosphates stop. Just dose the other nutrients and the plants can take care of the phosphates.

Definitely test the tap water, though. Find out where the phosphates are coming from.

Hoppy

· #8 · Apr 5, 2014

What problems are you seeing that phosphates could be causing? If no problems, the you probably don't have too much phosphate in the water. When you see a high reading on a test kit, your first assumption should be that the test kit is bad, not used correctly, or being misinterpreted. Only after verifying that the test is likely to be correct should you think about doing something to the tank water.

dfish2077

Discussion Starter · #9 · Apr 6, 2014

My tap water has very little phophate in it. Its around .3ppm m tank tested over 1 ppmnot using any phosphate reducers should. Just let my tank filter them out or should i water changes to get rid of them?

Zorfox

· #10 · Apr 6, 2014

dfish2077 said:
My tap water has very little phophate in it. Its around .3ppm m tank tested over 1 ppmnot using any phosphate reducers should. Just let my tank filter them out or should i water changes to get rid of them?

One ppm of Phosphate is perfectly fine. The range for EI dosing is 1-3ppm. That's not a problem at all. When you said it was higher than your test I envisioned over 10 ppm. My API kit has a maximum of 10.

dfish2077

Discussion Starter · #11 · Apr 6, 2014

Oh ok thanks for the info

Darkblade48

· #12 · Apr 6, 2014

As mentioned, one ppm of phosphate is completely fine. I also had imagined that you had levels that exceeded 10 ppm, but that was apparently not the case.

The Trigger

· #13 · Apr 6, 2014

Yeah you actually have a phosphate level on the lower end of what EI dosing recommends you keep your levels at. Believe it says to keep them between 1-3ppm.

dfish2077

Discussion Starter · #14 · Apr 6, 2014 (Edited by Moderator)

Its over 10ppm what should i do

Ok so the hosphate is over ten ppm so ill do a ten gallon water change in my 55 gal.

Hoppy

· #15 · Apr 6, 2014

You need to figure out how the phosphate suddenly went from 1 ppm to 10 ppm. That is very abnormal. If it is a problem with how you used the test kit, changing water isn't necessary. Are you dosing any nitrates? How much light do you have? Do you use CO2 or Excel?

dfish2077

Discussion Starter · #16 · Apr 7, 2014 (Edited by Moderator)

Not dosing any nitrates. Changed water, also recently moved my tank and still all that crap up off the bottom.i read the test wrong i thought it said one ppm but it was ten ppm. Do i just let the plants take it out.

I use excel

Darkblade48

· #17 · Apr 7, 2014

dfish2077 said:
Not dosing any nitrates. Changed water, also recently moved my tank and still all that crap up off the bottom.i read the test wrong i thought it said one ppm but it was ten ppm. Do i just let the plants take it out.

I use excel

Are you sure your tap water is 0.3 ppm of phosphates then?

You mentioned earlier that you thought your aquarium was 1 ppm of phosphates, but it turned out to be 10 ppm. Perhaps your tap water phosphate levels are also off by a factor of 10?

It would be wise to retest everything, making sure that you are following the instructions carefully. I would also calibrate your test kit with solutions of known phosphate levels (or at the very least, test it on distilled water to ensure that you are getting 0 ppm phosphates) to ensure that your readings are indeed accurate.

If there is lots of detritus at the bottom of your aquarium, it is likely that it would be contributing to phosphates, but more likely, nitrates. I would do some water changes to bring down those levels, and also to remove the detritus that is at the bottom before retesting the water.

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Hoppy

· #18 · Apr 7, 2014

Unless you have very low light your plants can only use a tiny amount of phosphates without you also dosing nitrates, and a trace element mix. You haven't said what lighting you use, so I don't know if you need to dose the other nutrients, so the plants can use the phosphates, or if you should just ignore the phosphates.

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