Fleet Enema

[tamccain]

I am working on getting stuff lined up to start doing some water column fertilization. I read that Fleet Enema's provide phosphates through KH2PO4. I bought a fleet enema and the ingredients say that it is monobasic sodium phosphate and dibasic sodium phosphate, which I believe whould be NaPO4 and Na2PO4 - or something close to that. My question is, is this safe to use, or should I be looking for something else. I don't want to hurt my fish with anything I put in it.

Thanks

[midiamin]

What is the reason for doing this?

[reiverix]

This thread talked a bit about using Fleet

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=41400&highlight=fleet

It seems like it is something you will have to use carefully and add a few drops then test then add a few drops again, etc, until you reach the desired level.

Another option is to order K2SO4 from gregwatson.com (http://www.gregwatson.com) and then you can calculate the exact dosage.

[Jay]

That is the correct stuff. Although KH2PO4, as a dry ingredient, is easier to manage in terms of determining the amount needed.

[djlen]

It's the right stuff. Completely safe to use.
And I can't imagine anything easier to dose and manage than Fleet's. It's a simple matter of counting drops to bring P to the desired level.
Check the level every couple of days for content and add back if necessary.

Len

[SnakeIce]

Yes fleet is the right stuff, but I would caution that only 1 ppm is the max that you should try to have in the tank at one time. Only 3-4 drops brings my 20 gallon with about 16 actual gallons in it up to that level from 0 registering.

[Blinky]

I use Fleet, it works well and is super easy to use. I use a set number of drops each day - it only takes a little while to sort out how much PO4 your tank needs each time you dose.
The only thing I dislike about using Fleet is having to purchase it ;)

Midi, the reason some of us dose PO4 is because our tanks are heavily planted and need more than is contained in tap water or produced by fish.

[djlen]

Phosphates should be kept at a level which will reflect a 10:1(N=10/P=1) ratio between them and N.
Therefore, there is no set level to keep a particular tank at. For instance, you might have tap water which naturally contains an excess of N, or a lot of fish which produce extra N, and need to dose extra Phosphates to compensate and balance with the N level.
I keep my Phospate levels at 1.5ppm - 2.0 in many of my tanks at all times because I like to keep my N levels high and need to balance it.

Len