guppygirl
This picture just won champion in BW flowers!! YAY
- Joined
- Dec 13, 2002
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Hi all,
I have a question or two about phosphates. So here goes...
My beloved planted 55 gallon has been through some tough times recently. First, I had a phosphate problem with a new flake food. So I got rid of the flake food, and switched to Aquarian flake. Then, I had a very small outbreak of BG algae, and I learned that I could treat that with Maracyn. Big mistake. I treated for 5 days, like it says on the package, and it almost looked like my aquarium was a fluffy white cloud! So I did a 25% water change which didn't clear it up. My mom (the biologist) said that the maracyn probably killed most of my good bacteria in the tank. Which is highly probable. So I'm not really sure if it's a bacteria bloom or phosphate, or both, but now my water looks like thick green pea soup. I'm thinking about upgrading my filter from the hagen 802 powerhead with 2 quickfilters on it to the eheim 2217 classic canister filter. I really like this filter and I know some people on the forum have it on their tanks. I don't have a phosphate test kit, but it might be a good idea to get one soon! Here are my current water stats~
pH~ 7.1-7.2 (it was hard to tell)
Ammonia~0
NitrItes~0
NitrAtes~ 30 ppm
KH(carbonate hardness)~ 2 dKH or 35.8ppm
GH(general hardness)~ 4 dGH or 71.6 ppm
So do you think I should get a phosphate-removing media? And if so, which one?
My fish look pretty happy and energetic, and the plants are doing so-so. I want to add DIY Co2 eventually, but I don't have all the parts for it yet. I am filtering now temporarily with activated carbon with an old top fin HOB filter. Hopefully that will remove all the traces of maracyn and any other pollutants.
I have well water, and I'm going to go test it now, hopefully somebody has some ideas on what to do about my poor tank!
Thanks for reading, sorry bout the long post!
Robin
I have a question or two about phosphates. So here goes...
My beloved planted 55 gallon has been through some tough times recently. First, I had a phosphate problem with a new flake food. So I got rid of the flake food, and switched to Aquarian flake. Then, I had a very small outbreak of BG algae, and I learned that I could treat that with Maracyn. Big mistake. I treated for 5 days, like it says on the package, and it almost looked like my aquarium was a fluffy white cloud! So I did a 25% water change which didn't clear it up. My mom (the biologist) said that the maracyn probably killed most of my good bacteria in the tank. Which is highly probable. So I'm not really sure if it's a bacteria bloom or phosphate, or both, but now my water looks like thick green pea soup. I'm thinking about upgrading my filter from the hagen 802 powerhead with 2 quickfilters on it to the eheim 2217 classic canister filter. I really like this filter and I know some people on the forum have it on their tanks. I don't have a phosphate test kit, but it might be a good idea to get one soon! Here are my current water stats~
pH~ 7.1-7.2 (it was hard to tell)
Ammonia~0
NitrItes~0
NitrAtes~ 30 ppm
KH(carbonate hardness)~ 2 dKH or 35.8ppm
GH(general hardness)~ 4 dGH or 71.6 ppm
So do you think I should get a phosphate-removing media? And if so, which one?
My fish look pretty happy and energetic, and the plants are doing so-so. I want to add DIY Co2 eventually, but I don't have all the parts for it yet. I am filtering now temporarily with activated carbon with an old top fin HOB filter. Hopefully that will remove all the traces of maracyn and any other pollutants.
I have well water, and I'm going to go test it now, hopefully somebody has some ideas on what to do about my poor tank!
Thanks for reading, sorry bout the long post!
Robin