lovemyguppies
Aquarium Advice Freak
I ordered a phosphate test kit on Amazon and got it today. I tested my 55 planted tank and got 1-2 ppm (couldn't tell for sure) I'm just wondering what the recommended level is?
Mine doesn't have quite as many plants, but i do have a lot, and I'm working on getting more. So would you say that my phosphate level is pretty good then?
I ordered a phosphate test kit on Amazon and got it today. I tested my 55 planted tank and got 1-2 ppm (couldn't tell for sure) I'm just wondering what the recommended level is?
Hello love...
From the reading I've done, phosphate readings in excess of 1 ppm isn't very good. At 1 ppm, you can get the beginnings of algae growth and higher levels will create a real algae problem.
There are many flaked fish foods with high levels of phosphate, it's some kind of additive that extends the shelf life of the product. Maybe you're using one. If you use these flaked foods you can just reduce the amount you feed and make sure when you do your water changes, that you remove a good percentage of the tank water.
There is filter media available that removes phosphate. I've never used them, but I understand that type of thing is out there.
B
You want to run higher phosphates if you have alot of non-green plants as Convict has. High phosphates does not mean your going to have algae problems. I run a 220g 100% planted high light tank with 2/3 of the plants being colored and I purposely run my phosphates between 5-10ppm without algae issues because of all the colored plants. If you have alot of plant but most or all are green then you only need about .5-1ppm phosphates and alittle higher nitrate of around 15ppm.
Colored plants get better color with high light, low nitrates (I keep mine at 10ppm and no higher), higher phosphates (which you only need about 1ppm right now and as you increase the number of colored plants you can slowly increase phosphates up to 2ppm. Since you do have Macrandra I would keep nitrates at 10ppm.
I just wanted add one thing. Don't let the phosphates scare ya too much. I've had phosphates off the color charts for weeks with no ill effects so... To say you want your phosphates to be 1.0 or under I'd say that sounds like more of an opinion then fact.
Again I'm new to plants so if I'm wrong then so be it.
If you plan on more reds and other colors your gonna want your phosphates 2.0ppm and nitrates 10ppm.
Have you guys ever seen Tom Barr's tanks? He doses 5 ppm phosphate at a time. That can accumulate as high as 17 ppm. I've run as high as 10 ppm before without blowback. EI can easily get above 5 ppm. Generally speaking, high levels of just about anything don't matter all that much until they're really, really high, at least with respect to algae.
What I'm trying to say is: the best recommended value that we can tell you is "enough". Don't run out, don't run it too low, and you'll be fine.