phosphates

[salisbury a d]

What should they be at? I just got a kit today and my tank is a little below 1.
Adam

 

[bobber]

1.0 or 0.1--Which one? If it is 1.0, then that is WAY too high. Check your water that you use for topoff and changes. 0.1 is very acceptable. HTH--Bob

 

[sonny]

You want phosphates as low as possible. Zero is the goal. RO DI water is your best bet. Kent makes an RO DI unit called "hi-s" that is supposed to remove 99 percent of silicates and phosphates. Phosphates help problem algae like hair algae and cyanobacteria (red slime) to grow.
Sonny

 

[salisbury a d]

Sorry I am not used to the set up of the scale. It is 0.1 .
Adam

 

[ironreef]

po4 you only can measure inorganic and not organic or the other way around? FWIW it doesn't matter your alga ,cyano ect can use it up and it won't even be detectable but algae is growing everywhere. You can't test for it all even if its undetectable but you have alga growth you still have too much po4. get it?

 

[total]

Besides the water what else can raise your phosphates?
TTFN

 

[tonka]

Settled debris, not cleaning your mechanical filter sponges,anything that had a chance to build up waste and hasn't been broken down. The spots in your tank that don't get enough water motion(dead spots).

 

[tonka]

Forgot one, any food and some additives also can ad phosphates.

 

[salisbury a d]

What is cyano and what is po4? I was given a web site about it but the server could not find the page.
Adam

 

[nacl-h2o]

PO4 = phosphates and cyano = cyanobacter or red slime