How to give phosphates to your plants

[Blockhead]

Hi,

I am planning a 240 litre planted tank.

I live in Bristol, where the water has high phosphates of 2 ppm. I plan to use a phosphate remover like seachem phosguard.

I know plants need phosphate, so I was just wondering how they will get there dose of phosphate if there is something in the tank removing it?

I read somewhere that a planted tank should have a phosphate level between 0.1ppm and 1ppm. I don't know if this is true.

If you have any ideas about phosphate and it's dosage for aquarium plants in a tank with phosphate remover, I would be extremely grateful to hear them.
Thanks,
Dom

[Stephen]

Hi Dom

I also have phosphates in my tap water at a similar level as yourself.
I tried a phosphate remover without success.
I have plants in my aquarium, plants require light, nutrients and a source of carbon.
I chose to use a liquid fertiliser that is nitrate & phosphate free such as TNC Lite, Easy-life Profito or Tropica Premium in conjunction with a liquid carbon.
The plants get their phosphor (phosphates) from the water and nitrogen as the end result in the nitrogen cycle (nitrates), the other nutrients come from the liquid fertiliser.

All the best

[Martinspuddle]

With a planted aquarium it shouldn't be a problem with or without CO2 injection. I wouldn't use Phosguard it's as bad as using Carbon filter products, all you'll do is remove phosphates and other added fertilisers from the water column before your plants can adsorb them, leading to deficiencies in your plants long term.

Wherever possible aquarium fertilisers should be dosed daily to help plant growth. You find with added fertilisation your nitrogen and phosphate compounds in the aquarium water will be absorbed by the plants from the water column thus keeping water levels at their optimal parameters.

[Blockhead]

Thanks a lot for your answers. Doesn't a high phosphate level in the tank of say 2 ppm cause lots of algae.

I thought it was necessary to remove the phosphate with something like phosguard to stop the algae?

[Blockhead]

I've only just understood your last paragraph, about plants naturally keeping the levels of phosphate down.

Does this mean you need to have quite a lot of plants in the tank to increase the uptake of phosphate?

[plankton]

It isn't just phosphate that causes algae, it's only one of the parameters.
There's also basic stuff like water flow around the tank, lighting periods, light from outside the tank, overfeeding, overstocking, high nitrates, the list goes on......

[Blockhead]

Hi Stephen,

If your situation is similar to mine, with high phosphate levels in your tap water. Have you had a lot of algae break outs in your tank or has your feeding of plants with low fertiliser and carbon, encouraging plant growth, kept the algae away?