Phosphate Questions

[LHARTWICK]

1) Our tap water contains a high amount of phosphates, hence, algae problems, so I added some Phospure to my canister filter 5 days ago. The levels are gradually dropping. How long will it take before the levels reach 0.0 ppm?

2) Are there better phosphate control media that I should be using? Others I've seen are Purigen, PhosGuard, SeaGel, PhosBond and PhosNet.

 

[gemach7]

1) Our tap water contains a high amount of phosphates, hence, algae problems, so I added some Phospure to my canister filter 5 days ago. The levels are gradually dropping. How long will it take before the levels reach 0.0 ppm?

2) Are there better phosphate control media that I should be using? Others I've seen are Purigen, PhosGuard, SeaGel, PhosBond and PhosNet.

There's phosphate in fish food so getting to 0ppm maybe impossible. On top of the the phosphate absorbing material I would recommend 1 day a week of no feeding and being careful of not over feeding.

There are also standalone phosphate reactors. Not sure if more effective than the chemical media in a filter tbh though.


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[LHARTWICK]

Thanks, gemach7. I actually only feed every other day or so. After a little research I see that optimum phosphate levels should be 0.05 ppm or less to discourage algae growth. Like I said, I'm currently using Phospure to lower the levels, and I'm pleased to see them slowly coming down. I may add another phosphate lowering media to my canister filter to help the process. My tank was doing well until we went on vacation in May and I used a feeder block (which I've done before) while we were gone. OMG! I came back to a mess! Apparently there was very little food in the block, and there was a huge pile of white crap where the block had dissolved. It took a few water changes to get all of that gunk out of there. I expect that block was FULL of phosphates - lesson learned! I think I'm getting it back on track now. Fingers crossed!