Phosphates Better

[TonyN]

Hi,
To Len & Starry and several others who helped me with the phosphate problem. Just want to let you know I got the phosphates down to 1.0 mg/L. Yea!!
Been doing a lot of water changes, I'm now going to set a regular schedule for 50% change weekly.
My kH & pH went back to normal (3.5 and 6.8) all by itself - go figure.
Got my new Eheim Ecco. This thing is great. Sooooo easy to get going and lots of room for all kind of stuff if I need it.
So thanks a lot to everybody who helped. I am now a happy camper.......................(until the next crisis)

Later,

 

[djlen]

Good job!!
Regular water changes and a few SMALL feedings a day will keep it that way.
Keep the ferts. in the desired parameters and keep testing to find out exactly what your tank needs each week to keep them there.

Len

 

[TonyN]

Yeah, I'm definitely going to do that. Forgot to tell you, bought a couple of little Ottos. They're awfully small - I dont know if their tummys can hold much algae
I also bought a couple SAE's, which of course turned out to be the false kind when I looked them up on the web. They're kind of neat though, and they seem to be working very hard eating up the algae.
The Ottos are eating the algae too, but it's kind of like cleaning out a stable with a teaspoon. Could take a while, but they're happy so thats OK.
See Ya Later,

 

[Starry]

Sounds good Tony! Glad it worked out. Good luck with the little Otos, and keep up those water changes! But don't starve the fish!

 

[TonyN]

Hi Starry,
Yeah, I'm gonna be paranoid about starving the fish. I mean its not like a fish can tell you he's hungry, and every time I go near the tank they practically jump out at me.
I'm feeding them two or three times a day a very little each time and I watch them eat, so I can tell if its too much or what.
so far go good.

Later,

 

[TonyN]

Hey,
I just found out something interesting. The Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Stress Coat that I've been using has an ingredient called Tetrasodium, which contains phosphates. I've been using this stuff all along, and I wonder if it was adding to the phosphate problem??
Hmmmm.............

 

[scottracy]

That is interesting! I have had a similar problem with high phosphate levels and I also use Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Stress Coat. Did you change brands?

Scott

 

[TonyN]

Well, I only found out about this yesterday. After my next water change I'm going to check phosphates, then add some Stress Coat and check again. Should be easy enough to find out if it really adds to phosphates or not.
I haven't looked into any other kinds of slime coating yet, so I dont know if they all contains phosphates or not.
I dont know if this is really a problem or not. I may be barking up the wrong tree. But we'll see.

Later

 

[Starry]

Originally posted by TonyN
Hey,
I just found out something interesting. The Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Stress Coat that I've been using has an ingredient called Tetrasodium, which contains phosphates. I've been using this stuff all along, and I wonder if it was adding to the phosphate problem??
Hmmmm.............

Not sure what you mean. By tetrasodium, I'm guessing you mean tetrasodium EDTA (ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid - no phosphate in there at all). It's a chelating agent, they put it in to bind heavy metals, like copper and zinc, which can be toxic if too high. I don't think that's it, but if you want to test the stresscoat for phosphate, just put a drop of it into some tap water and test that water. It would turn up very dark if it does contain phosphate. It would give you a more noticeable result than if you just added the normal amount into your tank, and then tested that.

 

[TonyN]

Good Idea. I'll try that and let you know.