Phosphate
 

Here's a puzzle. In the morning my tank phosphates are around 0.60 mg/l.
In the evening they shoot up to 2.20 mg/l. I feed once a day and very
little. I even have Rowaphos in my canister filter. The tank is planted.
I can only presume that the algae eaters excrete pure phosphate from the
algae they eat which then gets adsorbed by Rowaphos overnight.


Nikki

Try your cheap test kit.
Your fish food and fish could not add that much PO4 if they wanted to.
Why do you have Rowphos in your filter?
It's possible it's expended and leeched it out back into the tank.

That will not have any bearing on algae nor is a solution to any algae
problem with a planted tank.

Do you realize plants remove PO4 very rapidly?
I dose 3ppm of PO4 per week to my tanks.

I have no algae. I've dose PO4 for over a decade, no algae.
I'd reconsider your entire approach to algae.

Focus on plant growth, not algae.
Healthy plants = no algae.
So give the plants what they need.

Regards,
Tom Barr

wrote:

Try your cheap test kit.

Good idea. I'll try a different brand test kit at the same time to
double check. But I had that low/high cycle 3 days in a row now.

Your fish food and fish could not add that much PO4 if they wanted to.

Yes, that's what I thought. I'm glad this is the case.

Why do you have Rowphos in your filter?

I'm curious as to the effect very low phosphates have on algae and plant
growth, first hand and in my own aquarium and setup. You can only know
if you try. I can then eliminate that from the equation, if need be.

It's possible it's expended and leeched it out back into the tank.


The marketing on Rowaphos says that it doesn't leech.

That will not have any bearing on algae nor is a solution to any algae
problem with a planted tank.

Do you realize plants remove PO4 very rapidly?

Not fast enough in my tank, apparently. My amazon swords and
cryptocorynes are pretty slow growers.

I dose 3ppm of PO4 per week to my tanks.


My tap water could probably be sufficient as it already contains copious
amounts.

I have no algae. I've dose PO4 for over a decade, no algae.
I'd reconsider your entire approach to algae.

I think fast growing plants could be an answer. I've been searching for
hornwort, for example, over the last few weeks without any success.
Seems to be hard to get at the moment. What would you suggest? What
plants do you have?


Focus on plant growth, not algae.

I do that too. I've just started experimentally dosing with potassium.
I've upped CO2 levels.

Healthy plants = no algae.
So give the plants what they need.

I can hear them say "Feed me, Seymour!"

It's all a big experiment at the moment.

There is just so much conjecture and opinion about algae. What seems
best in one aquarium setup does not follow for another. I can only try
everything until I find that which suits my tank best.

Finally, I'm just very suspicious about a huge dose of pH adjuster I
gave to the tank 4 months ago. That was an experiment that went wrong. I
believe this could be the cause of the current high PO4 levels, if not
bad test kits. Yes, could be leeching from the sand substrate and much
could lay buried too and awaiting the gravel clean for exposure.

Thanks for your opinion. Gives me some hope.

Nikki

wrote:

[snip]

Do you realize plants remove PO4 very rapidly?
I dose 3ppm of PO4 per week to my tanks.

I have no algae. I've dose PO4 for over a decade, no algae.
I'd reconsider your entire approach to algae.

Focus on plant growth, not algae.
Healthy plants = no algae.
So give the plants what they need.

Regards,
Tom Barr

I'll second what Tom says here.

I dose P weekly, it comes automatically with my tapwater. I just
calculate my change volume according to how much P I need.

I've had no problems with algae over the short life of my tank since
keeping P and N up.

--Trapper

There is no conjecture nor opinion from nice aqauscapes and nice
healthy growing plants.

I have both.

Careful whom you take advice from and listen to, a universal truth is
that healthy plant growth = no algae growth/issues.

So focus on the plant growth.
More CO2, more nutrients

Algae do better at lower nutrients than plants, not higher.
Algae are also in a different niche than pklants due to their much
smaller size and requirements.

Regards,
Tom Barr

There is no conjecture nor opinion from nice aqauscapes and nice
healthy growing plants.

I have both.

Careful whom you take advice from and listen to, a universal truth is
that healthy plant growth = no algae growth/issues.

So focus on the plant growth.
More CO2, more nutrients

Algae do better at lower nutrients than plants, not higher.
Algae are also in a different niche than plants due to their much
smaller size and requirements.

Regards,
Tom Barr

There is no conjecture nor opinion from nice aqauscapes and nice
healthy growing plants.

I have both.

Careful whom you take advice from and listen to, a universal truth is
that healthy plant growth = no algae growth/issues.

So focus on the plant growth.
More CO2, more nutrients

Algae do better at lower nutrients than plants, not higher.
Algae are also in a different niche than plants due to their much
smaller size and requirements.

Regards,
Tom Barr

There is no conjecture nor opinion from nice aqauscapes and nice
healthy growing plants.

I have both.

Careful whom you take advice from and listen to, a universal truth is
that healthy plant growth = no algae growth/issues.

So focus on the plant growth.
More CO2, more nutrients

Algae do better at lower nutrients than plants, not higher.
Algae are also in a different niche than plants due to their much
smaller size and requirements.

Regards,
Tom Barr

There is no conjecture nor opinion from nice aqauscapes and nice
healthy growing plants.

I have both.

Careful whom you take advice from and listen to, a universal truth is
that healthy plant growth = no algae growth/issues.

So focus on the plant growth.
More CO2, more nutrients

Algae do better at lower nutrients than plants, not higher.
Algae are also in a different niche than plants due to their much
smaller size and requirements.

Regards,
Tom Barr

There is no conjecture nor opinion from nice aqauscapes and nice
healthy growing plants.

I have both.

Careful whom you take advice from and listen to, a universal truth is
that healthy plant growth = no algae growth/issues.

So focus on the plant growth.
More CO2, more nutrients

Algae do better at lower nutrients than plants, not higher.
Algae are also in a different niche than plants due to their much
smaller size and requirements.

Regards,
Tom Barr

There is no conjecture nor opinion from nice aqauscapes and nice
healthy growing plants.

I have both.

Careful whom you take advice from and listen to, a universal truth is
that healthy plant growth = no algae growth/issues.

So focus on the plant growth.
More CO2, more nutrients

Algae do better at lower nutrients than plants, not higher.
Algae are also in a different niche than plants due to their much
smaller size and requirements.

Regards,
Tom Barr

There is no conjecture nor opinion from nice aqauscapes and nice
healthy growing plants.

I have both.

Careful whom you take advice from and listen to, a universal truth is
that healthy plant growth = no algae growth/issues.

So focus on the plant growth.
More CO2, more nutrients

Algae do better at lower nutrients than plants, not higher.
Algae are also in a different niche than plants due to their much
smaller size and requirements.

Regards,
Tom Barr

There is no conjecture nor opinion from nice aqauscapes and nice
healthy growing plants.

I have both.

Careful whom you take advice from and listen to, a universal truth is
that healthy plant growth = no algae growth/issues.

So focus on the plant growth.
More CO2, more nutrients

Algae do better at lower nutrients than plants, not higher.
Algae are also in a different niche than plants due to their much
smaller size and requirements.

Regards,
Tom Barr

There is no conjecture nor opinion from nice aqauscapes and nice
healthy growing plants.

I have both.

Careful whom you take advice from and listen to, a universal truth is
that healthy plant growth = no algae growth/issues.

So focus on the plant growth.
More CO2, more nutrients

Algae do better at lower nutrients than plants, not higher.
Algae are also in a different niche than plants due to their much
smaller size and requirements.

Regards,
Tom Barr

wrote:
There is no conjecture nor opinion from nice aqauscapes and nice
healthy growing plants.

I have both.

Careful whom you take advice from and listen to, a universal truth is
that healthy plant growth = no algae growth/issues.

I used to have some brownish slime on the surface of my gravel and
plants. It was choking my plants to death. Since I have started
adding fertilizer to my tank, my plants started growing and I noticed
the most of that disgusting brown slime have disappeared. What you
wrote would explain why the brownish slime which I assume to be algae
have receded.

So focus on the plant growth.
More CO2, more nutrients

Algae do better at lower nutrients than plants, not higher.
Algae are also in a different niche than pklants due to their much
smaller size and requirements.

Regards,
Tom Barr