Po4 References

[plantbrain]

Someone claimed PO4 caused algae and wanted a reference from a peer review article that it , in fact does not correlate with algae in planted systems. something I've sated for well over 15 years now.
I would also suggest simply trying ti and seeing for yourself.
Prove it to yourself that excess PO4 alone does not cause algae blooms.
I do not need convincing

I already know.

Here's their research based on 319 lakes, quite a few more than any other study and in similar conditions to our tropical tanks.

http/fishweb.ifas.ufl.edu/Faculty%20Pubs...atics2004LR.pdf

And

http/fishweb.ifas.ufl.edu/Faculty%20Pubs.../macrophyte.pdf

If you look at Figure 3, bottom row, there's no correlation in that figure for PO4.

You wanted proof, well you have it.
Here's a tank with 2.6 ppm of PO4 and I've been adding pure KH2PO4 at 1-2 ppm 3x a week:

I have been adding it at this rate for over 3 years with a high bioload of fish.

Now if you accept that "excess" PO4 alone causes algae, then where is it?
Luck alone cannot explain it.
Thousands of folks have been dosing KH2PO4 for many years, ADA uses it, Kent, SeaChem all make PO4 dosing solutions.
Soil sediment, ADA aqua soil has plenty of PO4 as well.

Thus the burden of "proof" is to show that PO4 = algae (even a newbie can falsify this, plenty of them have) is upon those who claim it it to be true.
Note: this does not state what causes algae, only what it cannot be caused by, PO4.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[john starkey]

Hi Tom, i have very high po4 in my tap water and i still dose three times a week according to ei,resulting algae issuses? NONE,regards john

 

[SuperColey1]

Well stated Tom,

When I was trying to Lean dose P was the main problem really because the concentration is lower than N and K. I think many other lean dosers have the same problem with P.

Andy

 

[plantbrain]

Yes, this was common in the mid 1990's in the US, many where using PMDD and going very lean with PO4.
So when they started adding PO4, the results where astounding and dramatic.

Most had good control over N, K, Traces, water changes, filter cleaning, knew how to prune and had good observation skills, they where not a bunch of newbies.
So adding the last piece really drove the growth much faster and many species colored up, became very healthy and grew well(Eustralis was considered a hard plant back then, not today.........).

And then there was no algae,............

All this information has been on the web for over a decade now.
So it's not an issue of the information not being available or out there or the research, rather, the myths that will never die seem to get encrusted and hard to scrape away

Hobbyists can set up rather simple test and there are good research articles that also address it.

I believe very much in the Socratic method.
So you must ask these questions of yourself.
You must test and prove it to yourself.
This is not really a debate, it's just using common sense.

If you assume that PO4 excess = algae, then how can it be so many folks add PO4 , have high residual levels of PO4, and yet no algae?
We can safely assume that it cannot be due to high PO4.

We can also measure plant growth, you can use dry weight over time or measure O2 ppms before/during/after treatment of adding PO4.
This will show a large increasing in pearling /O2 levels due to the addition of PO4.

So PO4 does not cause algae and it increases plant growth rates.

Now if you cannot set up a simple reference tank, or cannot set up a tank without algae to start with, nor say much.
You have to be able to set up a decent tank and have the control to begin with

Regards,
Tom barr