I've been told that our water supply is high in phosphorus making tanks
algae prone. Is there anything other than RO changes that can reduce the
phosphorus?

tnx
jtm

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I've been told that our water supply is high in phosphorus making tanks
algae prone. Is there anything other than RO changes that can reduce the
phosphorus?

I was in this situation before... are you high on N and P or just on PO4?
Anyhow, the whole trick was to run the tank below tap conditions... lets say
you have 2ppm of PO4 in the tap, you can pound the tank with CO2, K, NO3 and
trace to knock PO4 levels down in the tank... if you change 25% of water
weekly, you would be adding 0.5ppm so as long as you can get the tank to
suck up more than 0.5ppm per week plus whatever the fish food adds you
should see levels drop over time... you sorta get to turn the whole thing
upside down and look at water changes as fertilizing the tank... it
disgusted me for a while to think my tank water was cleaner than what I was
drinking. If you're high on N and P like I was, 30ppm NO3 and 2ppm PO4
expect some algae for the few weeks it takes to get a handle on things...
the way to cope with "rich" water is to change a little less weekly and keep
fish loads really light... I wouldn't go buy an RO system or anything like
that its doable, just takes some practice.

Cheers,
Jeff Ludwig

"Jim Miller" wrote in message
...
I've been told that our water supply is high in phosphorus making tanks
algae prone. Is there anything other than RO changes that can reduce the
phosphorus?


Yes. Various companies offer phosphate absorbing granules
that you can add to your filter. Phos-Zorb is one brand I've seen.
Seachem also off the stuff. You put it into a mesh back into your
filter and let it do its job until it is exhausted. The granules cannot
be regenerated once they are exhausted, which makes the entire
exercise infeasibly expensive over the long term and only suitable
if you are looking for once-or-twice short-term stop-gap solution.

Long term, RO water would be the only thing that would be
affordable, I suspect.

But, of course, with rampant plant growth, the phosphates may
never be a problem. I'd try a tank with fertilization (Duplaplant or
Tropica Mastergrow), CO2, good light, and good substrate. There
is a good chance that the plants will completely outcompete any
algae despite the high phosphate content. I'd look at removing
phosphate with chemicals or via RO water changes only if you
are sure that phosphates really are a problem.

Cheers,

Michi.

--
Michi Henning Ph: +61 4 1118-2700
Triodia Technologies http://www.triodia.com/staff/michi

My tank had very high PO4 and the algae that was being caused by it was
starting to kill my plants. LFS recommended Seachem's Phosguard, it did a
great job at removing the phosphate and now the algae getting to a
manageable level for the cleaning crew (1 Clown Pl*co and 3 Otto's) . I
don't know if its the answer for you but I hope it helps.

Timkatt

"Jim Miller" wrote in message
...
I've been told that our water supply is high in phosphorus making tanks
algae prone. Is there anything other than RO changes that can reduce the
phosphorus?

tnx
jtm

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Michi and Jeff are right. The best way to deal with phosphates in the water is
to get your plants growing well and fast. To start out, use stem plants like
Hygro, wysteria, valisneria. Get some "anchor" plants going too, such as an
amazon sword or two. They will soon get large and suck up nutrients quickly as
well.

As Jeff and Michi pointed out, you need to make all nutrients higher plants use
available to them, so that they will out compete the algae. That means getting
good lighting, CO2, good substrate (probably flourite), and a good trace mix
like Tropica Master Grow. If you have not already, take a look at
http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/. It seems to me that his ideas are all the more
relavant when you have high phosphates..

Fact is that fish food has a lot of phosphorous in it. Even if your water
supply did not have extra, you would still need to get those plants going fast
to deal with the inevitable extra phosphorous from food.

-Bruce

I found that flying foxes do excellent job of algae control. They aren't as
attractive as the ottos but they kick button algae control.

Earl

"Timkatt" wrote in message
...
My tank had very high PO4 and the algae that was being caused by it was
starting to kill my plants. LFS recommended Seachem's Phosguard, it did a
great job at removing the phosphate and now the algae getting to a
manageable level for the cleaning crew (1 Clown Pl*co and 3 Otto's) . I
don't know if its the answer for you but I hope it helps.

Timkatt

"Jim Miller" wrote in message
...
I've been told that our water supply is high in phosphorus making tanks
algae prone. Is there anything other than RO changes that can reduce the
phosphorus?

tnx
jtm

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