# Phosphate issue..



## artemism3 (May 21, 2005)

Got a question that is puzzling me...

In my 75g, I have had an elevated phosphate level...consistently above 4ppm. This is without any additional phosphate added by me.

My tap has 0 phosphates.

My question is, could of rocks that I added back in April be causing this? The rocks were granite, but maybe they are leeching?

BTW, along with this increased and constant phosphate level, I have developed green water too...

Any advice?

Thanks!

Jeremy


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## Glouglou (Feb 21, 2006)

Take a small chunk of anything you add recently, crushed it , if possible, put in some clean test tube with distill water wait and test the water for trace of phosphates.

Phospates containing minerals are relatively rare:

From Wikipedia:

Minerals containing phosphates :


> triphylite Li(Fe,Mn)PO4
> monazite (Ce,La,Y,Th)PO4
> Apatite group Ca5(PO4)3(F,Cl,OH)
> hydroxylapatite Ca5(PO4)3OH
> ...


• I will recheck your tap water (can change overtime)
• Check the fish food
• Ph adjuster and other stuff we add to aquarium can contain phosphates


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## mistergreen (Mar 3, 2007)

Do a 50% water change. Cut down on the feedings. See if that helps.

And how are your plants? the plants aren't taking up the PO4 properly.


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## Laith (Sep 4, 2004)

Before you start doing anything, check your test kit by calibrating it with a known concentration of PO4.


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## artemism3 (May 21, 2005)

Laith,

I have tested it...everytime I test the 75g tank, i test it against my RO water. I have since posting this removed out all my rocks and scrubbed down all my manzanita wood. I even stirred up my sand substrate....still reading about 2.5-3ppm of phosphate.

As a test, I put a rock that was in the tank along with a manzanita branch in a seperate tank filled completely with RO water....no phosphates in there...

I am confused still...maybe I need to keep stirring up the substrate..


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## Edward (May 25, 2004)

Feeding? What is your fish load? Any pH buffers? What chemicals do you add?


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## artemism3 (May 21, 2005)

Fish load...moderate. I have a bunch of endlers ( maybe 50 or so ), 3 dojo loaches, 7 corys, 6 tetras, 5 otos, 1 kuhli loach, and 5 platies.

Chems added:

.25ml of Prime at water change
7ml of the PPS Pro per day
8ml of tropica TMG daily as well

No PH buffers. CO2 is at 2-3 bubbles per second.


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## MrSanders (Mar 5, 2006)

rather than testing your test kit against RO water to see if it gives you a false reading for phosphates.... it would be a better idea to test it against a known standard. If you think your tank water is testing around 4ppm or so, then mix a known solution... then test that known solution side by side with your tank water.

Will tell you real fast weither or not your tank is actually in that range. Im willing to bet the color scale is off and or hard to read.... its much better to test side by side with a known solution like that. At least if your using cheaper hobby grade kits


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## Edward (May 25, 2004)

*APC FAQ*

*PO4*
KH2PO4 - 6 gram in 1 litre (or #1 Solution by PPS-Pro)

5 drops in 10 litre = 0.1 ppm
10 drops in 10 litre = 0.2 ppm
25 drops in 10 litre = 0.5 ppm
50 drops or 2 ml and 10 drops in 10 litre = 1 ppm
5 ml in 10 litre = 2 ppm


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## artemism3 (May 21, 2005)

Edward,

The elevated phosphate level existed for a 1 month period of time prior to my starting the PPS system. During that time I dosed no phosphates...hoping that the tank would use the excess that was present. 

MrSanders,

I have tested my kit and the sample against known quantities to establish the accuracy of the test. I just used the RO as an example.


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## Edward (May 25, 2004)

Maybe you need just a good substrate cleaning job?


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## artemism3 (May 21, 2005)

I think that is what I am going to do...nothing else has helped to any significant degree thus far...

Thanks to everyone who replied!


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## Loyal to the Oil (Mar 22, 2007)

Fish food breaking down in the substrate will add phosphates to your water. I dont dose any phosphates and have consistent levels of about 3 ppm in my 33 gallon.

Loyal


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## artemism3 (May 21, 2005)

Did a thorough cleaning of the sand the last 4 days. This has fixed the problem!!!

Thanks for all the help!!


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## Newt (Apr 1, 2004)

I had some gravel/substrate that leached phosphate at really high levels. Test your gravel.

Also, do you use carbon? Check all additives for PO4.


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## artemism3 (May 21, 2005)

My PO4 has been perfect after "fluffing" the sand. It was just really dirty and full of decaying plants and other stuff. 

Things are good now!


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