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Phosphates

john dory

john dory

Member
Joined
16 Nov 2014
Messages
422
I'm getting a bit of gsa on the glass of my 3ft low tech.
It's not a massive problem,as it's easy enough to clean.
Was thinking about adding more phosphate,but the lfs did'nt have any.i was advised to simply double the dose of complete fert i'm currently using.
I'm just interested to hear other peoples opinions on this.
I was also asked if i have a phosphate testing kit...which i don't.
Are they any good?
 
Thanks for your help.
The only plant that gets it is anubias.i put a"test piece" in,about 2 months ago,grows well..but older leaves soon become shabby.
 
Not shaded in this tank,but i've had some in a different tank,which was.
I'd really like to "crack" this plant,as i'm thinking about doubling the size of my cory tank,and using lots of anubias.
Anyway...i'll go with the ferts increase and see what happens.
Thanks again.
 
Hi John, iv tryed doubling the phoshate and trebling the the phoshate to get ride of gsa in he past it made a bit of a difference,but I think light is the main couse for gsa try moving it about to a shader spot,as for growing anubias,I have really hard water and I always stuggled to grow them well,till I started running my tanks on ro water, I add a bit of seachems equlizbium and bicarbonate to aim for gh 3 kh 3,I run all my tanks on ro now....
 
Ah right.
Maybe i'll have to reconsider my plans for a anubias heavy tank
I did think light might be the problem,as the tank recieves the evening sun at this time of the year.
The other tank does'nt though...and although it's free of gsa,the growth rate of anubias (15w t8)is so slow,it's pointless keeping it.
AND the older leaves still look shabby
 
Dip the anubias in a diluted solution of liquid carbon which will kill the algae, I have to do that every 6 months odd with my anubias. Bit of hit and miss, unfortunately as too weak (or soaking to short) has little effect and too strong (or soaking too long) will kill the leaves, but does work well.

I moved my anubias to a shadier portion of the tank, under the bracing bar and that has put a stop to major algae outbreaks on the leaves.
 
Increasing my phosphates (with adequate carbon) removed the GSA on all my new Anubis leaves and significantly reduced the GSA on the glass. Although I do not disagree that light is an important factor (as with any algae) the differences were noted under the same light intensity.

Since then my co2 cylinder had run out and I stopped dosing all ferts. So far the newest of the Anubis leaves remain algae free but the GSA on the glass had come back worse than ever.
 
As you may know, we don't have nerite snails in Australia.

I have to deal with GSA the old fashioned way. Adding heaps of phosphate. I use an auto doser and have found that my tank needs 0.7ppm daily to prevent GSA. if I add 1.4ppm I get GDA. if my co2 is reduced I get major GSA. This is independent of light.
 
Difficult to say if there's been any change,as i hav'nt had time to get any new anubias.
(Binned the old one)
Scraped the glass with a credit card(top tip guys)and have noticed the tiny white critters that once lived around the substrate line....will now move up to the surface during darkness.
Are these creatures having to travel further for food?
If so...is the lack of food down to extra phosphate,or reduced light?
Tank no longer recieves evening sun (autumn)
 
No new gsa on glass.sun down,not long after lights out now.
I'm convinced it's a light issue (with my tank)
Added more anubias...although i've gone for barteri this time,as i've had some success with it in the past.
 
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