# cant seem to lower phosphate levels



## naegling23 (Jan 4, 2008)

So, I've been battling algae in my planted tank for a few months, and I believe that my problem lies in my high phosphate levels (~5ppm). The problem is, they always seem to be around 5. I've increased my water changes over the past couple of weeks from 1 ~20% change to 2-3 ~20% changes, but the phosphate levels remain around 5. I've tested my water, and its reading 0ppm, so thats not the cause, there is something going on in my tank. I have not fertilized in about a month (although I did use some of those substrate tablets). One other thing of note, is that I use peat in my filter to lower the pH and provide some tannins to keep the fish happy (its pure peat moss, no fertilizer). Could the peat moss be the culprit?

Any help/suggestions? Im trying to get this algae situation under control.


----------



## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

> Could the peat moss be the culprit?


I've not found anything that indicates that peat moss would add phosphates to the water.

Here's an article in the forum library that may help Phosphates in the aquarium


----------



## PsYcHoTiC_MaDmAn (Dec 26, 2005)

are you feeding frozen foods?? as the "juices" tend to be high on phosphates, so worth rinsing them before feeding.

how new is the test kit? as I would suspect there to be pretty high levels of phosphate in the tap water.

it may well be worth using a phosphate removal resin to lower the levels. though IMO the best way to get rid of algae is to get the plants to out compete it. so ferts, co2 and lots of light.


----------



## RyanR (Apr 29, 2008)

Does the fertilizer put nitrates into the water?

Otherwise, you might try less fish food and bigger water changes.

-Ryan


----------



## naegling23 (Jan 4, 2008)

test kit is fairly new (a couple of months, id have to check the expiration date, but its not an old kit by any means).

occasionally feed frozen foods, so there is a possibility.

I started using phosphate removers a month or so ago, and am yet to see a change, thats why im looking at what can be adding it.

the water I add is ~3/4 RO (actually, its molecular biology grade water) to 1/4 tap, but the tap measures out at ~0phosphates.

I tried co2 (well, diy with bottles) and ferts, but had trouble with the balancing of everything. Besides, all of my plants are considered easy, and I just dont want to bother with all of the extra trouble to grow amazon swords and val....its just....overkill imho. The problem is a beard algae that grows over the plants, so right now the algae seems to be outcompeting the plants. Without removing the phosphates, im not going to gain the upper hand, I fear.


----------



## hollyfish2000 (Aug 23, 2007)

I've had good luck with Phosguard and polypads in removing phosphates. In addition to water changes and time. I'd been using a pH balancer with phosphate and had algae-city until I figured out what was causing it.

Once established, bba is very difficult to get rid of. I had to resort to pressurized c02 to bring the balance back in favor of my plants even after the phosphate was regulated. I also have 3 WPG and heavily planted tanks. If you only have a few low-light plants you might want to either add more plants and co2 or cut back on lighting WPG or length of time left on. Excel also is good to augment carbon in the tank and because of its algae-fighting properties. You can use more than recommended but you do have to be careful. Supposed Excel kills vals, but my vals, which are taking over my tank, didn't get that memo . . . ;-)


----------



## naegling23 (Jan 4, 2008)

well, *** been systematically trying to reduce the algae, and thats why im not at the phosphates as the likely cause (and since they are high, if they are not the cause, at lease I can eliminate a cause).

Im at ~2wpg for...I think 8hours for a 55gal tank. One corner of the tank gets some partial sun during the day though. The light is low, so I dont think reducing it anymore will help. In addition, with the reduced light, I have seen a general decrease in overall plant growth rate, so reducing it further would really scare me. In the other direction, I can go as high as 3wpg, and of course increase the time, but I've got to get the phosphates under control first.

The tank is fairly heavily planted, so I think once I can get the upper hand on the algae, my plants can out compete it.

I was always hesitant to use excel because of the val situation, maybe ill try a small amount of it to see if it can help. I still think ill stay away from co2, I used to do a 2l diy yeast reactor, but stopped when it didnt really seem to be doing anything. I could return to that, but as far as pressurized injection and everything...im trying to stay away from all of that.


----------

