Where are my phosphates coming from?

[HN1]

Not as far as I know. The only possible downside would be algae / cyano growth. If you're not seeing those, then it may be a curiousity more than a "problem".

 

[neurotik]

Fair enough. Well I'm still going to pursue it until I find an answer! I'm so obsessive about the silliest things sometimes, lol.

 

[HN1]

LOL. No worries... I tend to be a tad OCD myself. Please keep this updated, I'm really curious now too!

 

[neurotik]

At least I'm not alone with the OCD around here, lol. I think a certain level of obsessive compulsiveness can actually be a good thing in this hobby though, so whatever! I'll be sure to continue updating this thread as the week goes on if anything changes or I discover anything new, and I'll continue to do so until I find an answer or I exhaust all of my theories. If anyone else happens to come up with any other crazy ideas, please do not hesitate to post them here.

 

[Purrbox]

You're only going to see phosphate coming from specific gravel and rocks, not all types. If you haven't added anything new to the aquarium and this is a new occurance, then it would be fairly safe to rule them out as the source. Have you verified that your phosphate test hasn't gone bad?

 

[neurotik]

My phosphate test kit is less than three weeks old, so I highly doubt that it has gone bad.

 

[hacket]

My phosphate test kit is less than three weeks old, so I highly doubt that it has gone bad.

Still, don't rule it out. If you've run out of ideas as to where it's coming from, I'd get another test kit, obviously from another company.

 

[An t-iasg]

I did a search on your food - on DrsFosterSmith you can view the nutrition information. The label on the Tetramin crisps says "min. phosphate 1.2%" so it may be a little higher. The Hikari pellets say "ash 17% max" which is a lot. I believe ash content refers to phosphate. If you're feeding several pellets a week and leaving them in the tank, this may be a cause for your rising phosphates throughout the week.

Tropical Aquarium Fish Staple Foods: TetraMin Tropical Crisps

Tropical Aquarium Fish Food: Hikari Sinking Carnivore

 

[neurotik]

Interesting information about the food; however, with the Hikari pellets, I just feed them to my loaches and catfish, typically one pellet per, and the catfish basically eats it all in one gulp and goes back into his little hiding place, and the loaches grab dart after them before they even finish sinking to the bottom and then race off with the pellet in their mouth and munch away on it for about two or three minutes until it is completely gone. I've never had any of the pellets in my tank more than two or three minutes at the very most. Would the little particles that break off from the loaches chewing them up be causing my phosphate levels to increase that much each day?

 

[neurotik]

Just a little update on my situation as of this evening. I've still been feeding my fish the same way I normally do, with the exception of not giving them the occasional treat of freeze-dried blood worms a couple times per week any more, and I am not dosing any PO4 this week either. My PO4 levels went up to 3-4 ppm yesterday as I already posted, which really surprised me, but now I checked a few minutes ago and they are back down to barely 2.0 ppm, which makes me wonder if it actually was just the freeze-dried food that was making such a big difference. I will check again late tonight or tomorrow morning to see if it continues to drop or if it just keeps hovering around 2.0 ppm. In the past it has been hovering at around 2.0 ppm at the end of each week when I would do my water tests before I did a 50% PWC for the week, but that was back when I was still feeding them freeze-dried food 2-3 times per week and also dosing PO4, although the amount of PO4 I was dosing should not have given me that high of an amount by the end of the week. So until tomorrow!