High phosphates

[FreshyFresh]

Trey, what is your concern with trace amounts of phosphate? Are you able to keep your tank's pH in line with your tap water pH? Originally you said you tap water fluctuates from ~6..4 to 7.8. That large a swing would wipe out your fish. If you let a sample of tap water sit over night, does the ph change on it?

 

[dougall]

you could always cut aquarium water with distilled or RO to be able to get a reading on your test kit.

if it's at 6 now, and you cut it 50/50, you should get a reading of 3ppm, for example.

 

[Trey Turner]

Trey, what is your concern with trace amounts of phosphate? Are you able to keep your tank's pH in line with your tap water pH? Originally you said you tap water fluctuates from ~6..4 to 7.8. That large a swing would wipe out your fish. If you let a sample of tap water sit over night, does the ph change on it?

Ph has been fairly stable on tap water here last few months. No the ph does not change overnight. The only explanation i can have for the variance in tap water is multiple well sources used by the city.
My ph can shift as much as 1 point during CO2 injection and my fish seem to have no problem with this shift.

I also recently invested in a digital ph meter and am getting more accurate readings. My tank and tap seem to be stabilized at 7.78 to 7.82

My main concern for controlling the PO4 is it is a main food source for hair algae. I don't have hair algae period when the PO4 is at 1.0 ish. Also PO4 converts iron into the ferric state making it harder for my plants to utilize iron.

 

[Trey Turner]

you could always cut aquarium water with distilled or RO to be able to get a reading on your test kit.

if it's at 6 now, and you cut it 50/50, you should get a reading of 3ppm, for example.

That would be a good idea to determine how much above five it is. Wish I would have thought of that earlier.Thanks

 

[Trey Turner]

Just an update. Introduced phosguard to the canister filter and it has reduced the phosphates to .25 - .5 ppm. I know it would work better in a reactor but it is doing the job in the canister for the time being. Since the phosphates are down I am now able to maintain Iron levels in the appropriate range. Plants have made an amazing recovery. BBA is dying back on its own and is now nearly non existence in my tank. I had to add Crushed corral to bring the GH/KH back up to 8/16deg. We have had an amazing amount of rainfall this year and the ground/tap water has taken a nose dive on the GH/KH. CO2 injection is keeping the ph Stable at 6.8 - 7.2. The entire aquarium is extremely healthy now and recently we have had many baby platties and mollies come out of the lush palnts. Huge turn around from November