[bristlenose72]

Hi. I am planning a 240 litre, 63 gallon planted tank.

My water has 2 ppm phosphate which is high, so I am thinking of using a phosphate remover like seachem phosguard.

I know aquarium plants need phosphate so I was just wondering how to get it to them when seachem phosguard is extracting phosphate from the aquarium?

I have heard that by fertilising the plants in the aquarium regularly, the growth of the plants will encourage them to take up the phosphate from the tank. Is this enough to keep levels lower?

Any advice you have would be gladly welcomed.

Dom

 

[DJRansome]

You would let the plants take up the phosphate and then measure. Chances are the plants will take up all the phosphate.

The problem is you are going low tech and low light. You may need some faster growing plants and higher lights to take up all the phosphate.

 

[bristlenose72]

Thanks for your advice.
The problem is that my tap water is high in phosphates which obviously enter the aquarium every water change.

I contacted seachem who recommended using phosguard for like one day after a water change and then removing it just to get the phosphates a little bit lower. Aquarium plants will then remove the rest of the phosphate naturally.

Does this sound like a good idea to you?

Many thanks for your advice.

Dominic

 

[DJRansome]

Every time you change the water it will be like fertilizing your plants. I would just try the plants.

We have heard from others with phosguard that say it does not help them with similar issues.

Are you able to get your water authority to fix the problem?

 

[willyg1631]

Phosphate and nitrate seem to be similar in that they are both plant nutrient. Should I be testing for both? Thanks Bill

 

[DJRansome]

Test your tap one time for phosphate. You may wish to do this only if you have too much algae, or if you want to grow plants in the tank. It is not produced by the beneficial bacteria like nitrate, so as long as it is not coming from your tap, you should not have phosphate.