Phosphates?????

[pitchblack]

hey there discus lovers Ive come across a recent problem in my tank. Yep phosphates. Their quite high and are causing a serious alge problems in my tank. Took a sample to my lfs and it went throught the roof. I think from the test its at 10ppm. I have just put some phostphate remover in my filter. My question is what causes this to happen and how do you get rid of the phosphates from the water.

[Dee]

Hi pitchblack,

From my understanding phosphate problems can be caused from a few things, or a few things combined ...

1. Overfeeding, some discus granules contain phosphates. I think rotting food also releases phosphate .. I may be wrong though.

2. Some plant ferts often contain phosphates.

3. Some Ph buffers are high in phosphates.

4. There sometimes can be phosphates in tap water

If you combine all three I would assume you would have phosphate issues and problems with algae. HTH

Cheers,

Dee
:)

[Merrilyn]

Decaying plants can also contribute to phosphates.

[pitchblack]

I dont tend to over feed my discus, the tank it kept regularly clean. Ie no dead leaves rotting. Im not adding any ph buffers. But just using fertilizer. Could this cause the levels to be at 10ppm?????

[duck]

The chance's are that it is from your fert's.
If you what to keep plants and discus you have to have a happy medium.

[B-rad]

make sure you change your water too...a dirty tank can cause phosphates to rise

[pitchblack]

its kinda wierd why the phosphate rise.... but I do a 25% water change weekly plus a gravel clean. The system is preety good. I add geo liquid and my tank takes about 2 hrs to clear up crystal clear. So my filter is running effectively but still have phostphate. I always cut the dead leaves off and the tank is my kindom. I might go to bell st and ask them for some help with this I was reading a few of their catelogues and they might have something that helps

[Merrilyn]

I'd be increasing your water changes, rather than adding anything to remove the phosphates. One 25% water change pre week is not quite enough. Try doing three 25% waterchanges per week and see if that helps.

[pitchblack]

cool will try 2-3 water changes per week. and see what happens in a week or two when I get the water tested again at my lfs...