Way too much phosphates

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jan4scuba

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May 7, 2014
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I have a 9 gallon eheim aquastyle nano that has pressurized CO2 as well as lighting from BMLED. The tank is VERY HEAVILY PLANTED. I'm trying to do a cross between a Dutch Style and a Jungle Style. Occupants are 3 Harlequin Rasboras and 5 CPD'S
Along with some mixed shrimp.

My water parameters are perfect except for my phosphates which are approximately 5-10 ppm. I've done 30% water changes every 2 or 3 days and it doesn't go down. I know there is plant deterius on the bottom but i can't vacuum the substrate because there are too many plants to get through to the bottom. I'm careful what I feed the fish so I don't think I'm over feeding them. The only algae I see is on the sides and back glass and some on the leaves of my Anubias, although I think I see some brown developing on the leaves of my Bacopa and Rotella. I'm afraid of having an algae explosion on my plants and in the water

Any suggestions on how to remove the phosphates without adding chemicals to the tank? The last time I cleaned my filters, I overdid it and had to go through a mini cycle again.


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Try using a turkey baster or a pipette to suck out some of the troubled areas and I agree on the oto suggestion, they will quickly take care of most types of algae on plant leaves, amano shrimp work very well too

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That is a lot of phosphates. What ferts are you using? I recently stepped up the phosphate in my PPS-Pro macro mix because I was seeing green spot algae. The GSA went away but then I was inundated with BBA and stag horn algae. The nitrates were high as well and the Downoi was melting. After several water changes and reduction in the macro dosage, plus the addition of excel (I have pressurized Co2 as well) the BBA and stag horn have disappeared. At one point the phosphates were 10+ ppm. My target is the 3-5 ppm range.
My tank is heavily planted and I don't touch the substrate. I will use a pipette (think tiny turkey baster) to shoot jets of water at the substrate prior to WCs to stir up the debris.


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What fresh said! Also.. not second guessing your tanking skills but most phosphate issues are food related, i know you said you're careful. Do you mind sharing your choice in fish fare?

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What fresh said! Also.. not second guessing your tanking skills but most phosphate issues are food related, i know you said you're careful. Do you mind sharing your choice in fish fare?

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I'm using GLA ferts and doing PPS PRO routine. 1 ml daily. How much Excel did you dose and was it directly on the plants or in the water?
Can you tell me how you get the water to shoot out of the pipettes? That sounds like a great idea. My choice in food is Omega One flakes.
0.05% phosphorus on the label. View attachment 250339. I've attached a pic of my Bacopa and Rotella for example. ImageUploadedByAquarium Advice1411062666.264054.jpg
As usual thanks for the help. You guys are lifesavers. Nothing beats experience.


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Here's another pic of Bacopa



ATTACH]250341[/ATTAC


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Picture not uploading. But I'm sure you see what I mean. So not to make you repeat yourselves can you lay out a specific plan that I should follow? I'm doing a major trimming and WC change this weekend and I'd like to implement these changes.
Thanks again
Jan


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I mix 3 bottles of PPS-Pro:
KNO3 in one bottle
Other Macros in one bottle
Micros in one bottle
I mixed the nitrates separately so that I can dose them as needed. Otherwise the nitrates would read in the 40-80 ppm range. I'm using the standard dosage of 1mL/10 gallons but for a while there I was triple dosing the macros to bump up the phosphates. On top of that, there was extra phosphate salts added in the macro bottle.
I just noticed one of the Downoi melting. It will be completely gone in a day of two. Last time this happened the phosphates were very high. I just now checked the phosphate level and it is between 5 and 10 ppm. The solution turned blue the moment the drops from bottle #2 was added. I will try to do a water change tonight or tomorrow to bring it down. I am near the bottom of the macros so I will mix a new batch using the standard amounts. Hopefully I can keep the phosphates between 3-5 ppm.
The pipettes are the translucent plastic pipettes graduated to 3 mL with 0.5 mL increments. I just squeeze the bulb portion to withdraw and expel a jet of water toward the substrate. It stirs up the debris.



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Thanks for the suggestion. Where did you get the downoi. I've been looking for it and have yet to find it. I was also thinking if you buy a small power head you could point the nozzle at the detritus and get it up in the water column that way as well.


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Thanks for the suggestion. Where did you get the downoi. I've been looking for it and have yet to find it. I was also thinking if you buy a small power head you could point the nozzle at the detritus and get it up in the water column that way as well.


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I forgot to answer your excel question. I dose Glutaraldehyde (which is diluted 1:1 with DI water) at the rate of 1mL/1 gallon daily. I just add it to the filter current for distribution.
I got the Downoi from PlantedAquariimsCentral. I have also seen it occasionally in the TopFin gel packs at PetSmart.
I already have a lot of flow in my tank. Two AquaClear50 HOB filters in a 20g long. Any detritus gets pushed into the carpets and toward the back of the tank


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Could your source water have phosphates? I feed the same food as you in a heavily planted tank and struggle to keep phosphate levels up. I have to double dose it in my PPS.


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Thanks for your response MK. I tested the tap water and it's literally 0. Nada. I'm doing a massive water change tomorrow and will clean out as much of the deterius as I can. My plants grow so fast that they need to be trimmed 2x per week. I literally can't find all my fish or my shrimps anymore. They could have died and decayed on the bottom. Could that have caused the rise in phosphates?
 
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