Phosphates?

Balthamos · Post by **Balthamos** » Fri Dec 01, 2006 10:21 pm

I've been devouring a couple of books on aquarium plants but recently I spoke with someone who runs a business in it and he was insistent that phosphates are an important consideration in raising healthy plants. He considered 3ppm a goal amount. I haven't read anything about that elsewhere, but found a test kit at Scales (amazing it's so difficult to find) and tested. My levels were about 10! OMG! Should I run around the house in shock? Actually I don't understand why my phosphates level would be so incredibly high because even my untreated tap water contains only a trace amount. I do use a buffering agent produced by Seachem, but the package specifically says it contains no phosphates. Should I be worried? Even a 50% water change doesn't bring the levels down.

Post by **krisw** » Fri Dec 01, 2006 11:08 pm

Well... Generally speaking, a lot of folks don't bother with test kits after awhile. The 10ppm reading aside, how does your tank look? Are you getting a lot of algae? Are you dosing phosphates? Do you know what your tap water phosphate level is? (If you're on public water, you should be able to get a water breakdown table from your public utility.) If your tank looks okay, it's quite possible that the test kit is off...

Unless you're dealing with very unusual tap/well water, most folks just assume that the ppm of N and P are around 0ppm at every water change. Then, they dose the amount of KNO3/Nitrogen (Seachem/Kent/dry chems) and KH2PO4 (phosphate) that their tank needs. Of course, before you even think to start dosing, make sure that you have adequate light and CO2 injection in your tank. And excellent calculator for figuring out how much of each chemical to dose is APC's fertilator:

http://aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/fertilator.php

Does this help?

Cristy Keister · Post by **Cristy Keister** » Sat Dec 02, 2006 6:26 am

Phosphates have been a problem in tap water at least around the DC and surrounding Metro areas recently. In DC they've been using phosphates to treat the pipes (argh!). In Silver Spring we've found the tap has sometimes had elevated levels as well. I've heard that a heavy rain can cause run-off from local farms and add phosphate to the water, but I'm not sure that is what has been the problem recently. But it does come and go.

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » Sat Dec 02, 2006 10:14 am

What types of plants are you keeping? Stem plants are the ones that mostly need phosphates.

Balthamos · Post by **Balthamos** » Sat Dec 02, 2006 4:34 pm

Here's what I know about my water chemistry. Out of the tap phosphates are only trace, almost zero. I run off well water, fed by deep artesian source. pH is high, between 7.5 and 8 so I use Seachem non-phosphate buffer to bring it down to 7. I always prepare my water before adding it to the tank, meaning I add AmQuel and Seachem buffer then heat the water using an extra tank heater to 78 degrees. I always test my water chemistry--GH is about 120, N is zero. The water in the tank looks clear. I've tested for water phosphates both from untreated tap and tank water and tank always comes out high. I remember reading somewhere that charcoal filtration can add to phosphates level. Is this true? Aaron asked what kind of plants I'm keeping. Well right now all I have are 3 Java ferns. The reason I started taking phosphate levels is that I've ordered plants and substrate and the dealer suggested phosphates be at about 3-5 ppm. I'll appreciate any suggestions you can give.

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » Sat Dec 02, 2006 8:52 pm

Java ferns won't really use up a lot of phoshpate so as long as you're doing water changes here and there you shouldn't ever need to dose them.

Having 10 ppm of phoshpate also shouldn't hurt anything.

SCMurphy · Post by **SCMurphy** » Sat Dec 02, 2006 9:40 pm

Do you have any rocks in the tank?

Balthamos · Post by **Balthamos** » Sun Dec 03, 2006 4:44 pm

I don't have any rocks in the tank, but I am going to add a couple. I'm getting ready to add several plants and a couple of rocks this week. Will they effect the phosphate levels?

Ltrepeter2000 · Post by **Ltrepeter2000** » Sun Dec 03, 2006 4:47 pm

You may want to place the rocks in a separate container and test for all your levels to see if there is anything leaching from them. It could affect your levels but its more just a safety precaution. Make sure you test your tap water before so that you can notice any differences.

Rob

Post by **krisw** » Sun Dec 03, 2006 5:58 pm

Will they effect the phosphate levels?

Most likely not, depending on where you got them from, though. Follow Rob's advice to be extra sure.

Now, the plants, however, will start using that phosphate, so you might be able to solve your problem that way.

Phosphates?

Phosphates?

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