How to raise phosphates

fishkeeprian

Active member
Hello I need to raise my phosphates.

They were undectable on my icp and on the hanna phosphorus checker it's 0ppb. So with taking into account the Hanna error range it's between 0.000 and 0.015.

I don't want to feed more as I feed twice aday and I dont want lots of uneaten food rotting in my tank. I'm only running the skimmer through the night so it's only in for 10.5 hours aday.

What's is the go to chemical?

Thanks
 
I think Amazon still might be selling food-grade trisodium phosphate. That's where I'd look first.

I'm in the U.K. and struggling to find your suggestion. I can find it on amazon U.K. but it's industrial grade.

I can get Seachem phosphorus which is for fresh water planted tanks, little more pricey but would it work?

My tank is 200 litre water volume how much would I need to dose to raise phosphates to 0.03? I want to do it gradually, so what would you recommend?

Here's the instructions for the Seachem product.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1ab88yj2u0sfelr/IMG_0720.PNG?dl=0
 
The SeaChem product should be fine. I would try ⅕ of the "beginner" dose as a starting point. So that's 0.5 ml per 20 gallons (or 80 liters) of actual water volume. Do you have a good estimate of the amount of water in the system?
 
The SeaChem product should be fine. I would try ⅕ of the "beginner" dose as a starting point. So that's 0.5 ml per 20 gallons (or 80 liters) of actual water volume. Do you have a good estimate of the amount of water in the system?

Hi yes my actual water volume is 200 litres.
 
Use the seachem stuff but just go slow. Very slow, as in for a few weeks. IME P04 will stay stubbornly low for a while and then jump.



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I use Seachem Phosporus to show trace phosphates.
In my 65g, with 50g water, I use 1ml per day, which maintains my phosphates at 0.03.

Three weeks in now, and testing with Salifert and Hanna daily.
 
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