aquaticadmirer
Fish Fanatic
I've been having this problem in my 55g tank for a while and I just can't seem to figure out how to lower my phosphates. It started a long time ago as my tank was neglected for a while (I was away at school and my brother was caring for it). I was trying to get the tank back in order and used a whole bunch of phosphate buffer to bring the pH up. Since then I've learned it's better to just bring it up with water changes, but unfortunately I was ignorant at the time.
Anyway I started having an algae problem and just treated the symptoms (frequent scrapings..). Then I decided to change the tank a little and replaced the green colored gravel with natural brown gravel. Then all of a sudden my problem switched from algae to diatoms, which I've read is probably due to the extra minerals that were added with the new gravel. The tank only takes about a week to go from crystal clear with clean decorations to brown and murky with decorations covered in diatoms.
After I changed the gravel I bought a phosphate tester and it's off the charts. The tap consistently tests at about 2ppm while my tank has consistently tested at 10ppm, which is as high as the tester goes, so who knows how high it actually is!
So far, I've used 500ml of Seachem Phosguard on the tank to try and remove the phosphates, and the level hasn't dropped at all. I do about 35% water changes once a week, and it's been about 3 months since I stopped adding buffer and 2 months since I changed the gravel (so about 12 water changes have been done since I added the buffer, which you would think would have diluted it somewhat). The only chemicals I use are Prime, AcurelF (a water clarifier that works amazingly well to clear the brown murkiness), and the PhosGuard.
These are my water readings, as of about 5 minutes ago:
pH: 6.8
ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: 10
phosphate: 10+
The fish are all very healthy and I haven't had any other problems, but the tank just looks so nasty! Any help or advice on what else I might be able to try to get the phosphates down would be greatly appreciated!!
Anyway I started having an algae problem and just treated the symptoms (frequent scrapings..). Then I decided to change the tank a little and replaced the green colored gravel with natural brown gravel. Then all of a sudden my problem switched from algae to diatoms, which I've read is probably due to the extra minerals that were added with the new gravel. The tank only takes about a week to go from crystal clear with clean decorations to brown and murky with decorations covered in diatoms.
After I changed the gravel I bought a phosphate tester and it's off the charts. The tap consistently tests at about 2ppm while my tank has consistently tested at 10ppm, which is as high as the tester goes, so who knows how high it actually is!
So far, I've used 500ml of Seachem Phosguard on the tank to try and remove the phosphates, and the level hasn't dropped at all. I do about 35% water changes once a week, and it's been about 3 months since I stopped adding buffer and 2 months since I changed the gravel (so about 12 water changes have been done since I added the buffer, which you would think would have diluted it somewhat). The only chemicals I use are Prime, AcurelF (a water clarifier that works amazingly well to clear the brown murkiness), and the PhosGuard.
These are my water readings, as of about 5 minutes ago:
pH: 6.8
ammonia: 0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: 10
phosphate: 10+
The fish are all very healthy and I haven't had any other problems, but the tank just looks so nasty! Any help or advice on what else I might be able to try to get the phosphates down would be greatly appreciated!!