S O S--phosphate

[greenmaji]

AP makes a tapwater "purifier" that has DI fiter media in it for this purpose.. Im sorry I didnt find this post to follow up with your progress.. Im not sure what online pet stores are based in Australia, we have some members from there that might be able to help if you cant find one.. but I will post a link to what this product looks like.. HTH
http://bigalsonline.com/catalog/product.xml?product_id=22577;category_id=1755;pcid1=;pcid2=

 

[greenmaji]

the food markets over here sell filtered water.. they use distilation, reverse osmosis (origanily envented to remove salt form water), and deioniztion (this one is though to understand unless you took chemistry in high school.. it uses ionic charge, natural electrical charge from the presense or absance of an electron in the outer field of the molcule, of molcules to bind and remove, kindof like a magnet, disolved solids from the water)..

distilled and DI methods work to remove PO4 (RO works up to 95 percent or so effecency).. so if you have a local goser that sells filtered water it is also an option.. most likely a more expensive option then purchasing a DI or RO/DI system if you are going to have to use it on a constant basis, usually.

 

[fastfly48]

ok...here's an update.
I've black-out my tank. Been going for a week and a half tday. I checked it today and the water has cleared...not perfect, but much better.
I did some water tests and everything is mostly fine...even phosphate which is a huge relief. I guess the phosgaurd must have helped there.
Ammonia was a little high, but I'm told that's from the plant debris (a few bit more vallis died from the black-out)...so I cleaned that all up and did a pwc.

I think I'll keep this black-out going a little longer just to be safe. Then I plan on bying some hardy plants that are good with low lighting...maybe even some floaters. I've read that some plants can help fight green water so it seems to be a good idea to get some!
Thought with only 9 fish (3 danios, 3 neons, 1 cory, 2 bristlenose p) I fear there might not be enough nutient in the water for a lush planted tank at the moment.
Or, with the right plants, could it still work?
hope to hear from someone soon!
cheers.
Ry.

 

[greenmaji]

PO4 in a planted tank is a diffent story.. you want zero in a FO tank

NO3 to PO4..

NO3 should be kept around 15ppm and PO4 around 1.5ppm (10:1)

you will likely need to dose nutrients such as NO3 and PO4 in a planted tank..
and you willl need at least 1 watt per gallon of light for low light needs plants.
reading the stickys in the planted tank section will help alot.
more questions would better answered in that section.. HTH

 

[fastfly48]

cheers big ears!

 

[dskidmore]

ok. That all went over my head :?
What the?

Sorry. Let's see if I can make it simpler.

Is your drinking water filter under the sink or in your basement? Wherever you change the filters, there should be a large, probably 5 gallon cylinder. This stores water after filtering so that you can get a full gallon at a time out of the very slow filter. Without the cylinder, the water filter would only drip at the tap.

The downside is that when this cylinder is full, the water filter shuts off. There is a workaround for this, but I won't bother with the details if you are not inclined to doing your own plumbing.