CRAP -- Should it stay or should it go?!?

[harry63]

I have 10 gallon medium-to-heavily planted tank with 1 betta. I try to vacuum/pwc once a week because the phosphate and fish/snail poop really build up. My problem is that I never have any nitrates in the tank, but my phosphate level seems to hang around .2-.5 ppm. My theory is that the plants are using all of the nitrates but aren't using the phosphates to the same degree. When I vacuum I do my best to get all of the extra poop, dead leaves, etc. so there is nothing dead in my aquarium. Do you think I am keeping my tank too clean. What are your thoughts on pwc w/o using a gravel vac?

Info on tank:

Nitrates: 0
Nitrites: 0
Ammonia: 0
Phosphate: .5 ppm
pH Level: 7.4
kH: 6.0 (or 107.4 ppm)
Habitants: 1 Betta, 15 "sprigs" of anachris, 1 sword plant, 7 java ferns
DIY CO2 injection

 

[TCTFish]

There are different sources of phosphate and sometimes a tank can have more phosphate than what the system can utilize. Fish food and additives all seem to have some level of phosphates. Tap water is also a source of phosphate. I don't know how common it is for cities to treat tap water with phosphate, but I do know like here in So. California, it's a common use as an anti rusting agent to protect water pipes. This is why it's common to have a whitish cloudiness overrun the tank shortly after a water change. That cloudiness is the algae bloom created from excessive phosphates.

How often do you feed your betta and how much food per feed?
How much water do you change out per week?
What type of filter do you have?

 

[dskidmore]

You could dose KNO3 to suppliment your plants. If your plants are growing fine, and you don't have an algae problem, I'd leave it alone.

 

[MarcoDaVinci]

You may want to add 1 ppm of K (potassium). The first 3 nutrients that plants need are N, P and K. The chepeast and easiest way is to buy one of these "salt replacement", which is KCl.

Now, I dont see what's wrong with having 0.5 ppm of phosphates. Do you have algae problems ? As long as your plants are growing, you are ok !

Also, the test kits for P are not very accurate. have you tried to do a measurement on DI-water to see if it really indicates zero ?

 

[BlazerFRS]

If you're going to add K I would add more then 1ppm... dosing 10-20ppm is not harmful, even at once IME.

Overdosing K will eventually inhibit Fe or Ca uptake (can't remember which), but this only occurs with hundreds of ppm of K.

 

[Simpte]

Just use KNo3 and leave it be. Dskidmore has it right.

 

[malkore]

fish waste doesn't create as much phosphate as fish food does. food is often loaded with it.

.5ppm isn't much to worry about. 5ppm of nitrate would balance that out if you felt the need to fertilize Nitrogen.

 

[dskidmore]

fish waste doesn't create as much phosphate as fish food does. food is often loaded with it.

Oh really? What happens to the excess phosphate in the food then? I had assumed that it would be excreted in the waste. "What goes in must come out."

 

[Simpte]

Animals (not all) Use Phosphate for many reasons some being..........
The transfer of energy;
The synthetic of amino acids and proteins;
The contribution to the generation of vitamins;
The maintenance of bones and teeth.

 

[dskidmore]

I've heard that flake food has more phosphate than required though, wouldn't the excess be excreted?

 

[dskidmore]

Sorry, I may not be speaking correctly.

Phosphate goes in, gets metabolized, then some other phosphorous compound comes out. Some amount does stay in the body, but unless your fish are growing rapidly, the majority of it is metabolized and then released back into the water. Phosphorous is a plant/algae fertilizer by itself, the O4 compound is just handy for dosing.