Re:PO4

[Thomas Barr <tcbiii at earthlink_net>]

> Been awhile since Ive posted, but Ive just moved and got a few tanks
> set back up. My tap is just about peachy, pH=7.6 kH=4, GH=8, NO3 = 15ppm, but
> here is the dinger...PO4=1.5 - 2ppm by a Seachem test kit. I like the Barr
> "reset" method, it replenishes the NO3 quite well. I find though that I am
> adding too much PO4 by doing 40 - 50% water changes. In a 75 gallon tank
> (this is fuzzy math btw, involving heavy SWAG) if I take out 1/2 a tank, lets
> say 35 gallons (minus 5 for rocks,plants,wood, etc) of 1.5 ppm PO4 and
> replace it with 35 gallons of 2 ppm PO4 water, wont I just be gradually
> increasing the concentration of phospate? (You thought I was going to attempt
> to do ratios didnt you? =) I do have press CO2 and good light, Micranthemum
> and Mayaca are doing great, Sag looks like it could use a little more iron (I
> dose Flourish 2 or 3 times a week, a capful or less)

That's not enough IMO.

> Java fern is good, some
> crypts (spiralis or some other long thing kind) do have some bba on them,

Trim and up the CO2.

> lilaeopsis could use a little more iron too. Anyway, given my tap water,
> should I be able match or deplete my PO4 through consumption, while staying
> up on NO3, K and traces?

The PO4 should drop. 1.5-2.0ppm resolution is not exactly going to tell you
much here. Have you called the water company (or it a well)?

Anyway, a simple thing you can do for the time being is go to less water
changes, say 25% if you have high nutrients in the tap.

But also realize that 1.5ppm of PO4 is not bad either(most plants seem
fine?_). You need more CO2, traces it seems like to me for 75 gallon tank. I
add the same amount of traces to a 25 gallon for example.........
 
> Or should I take my canine vocalizations to another location of Quercus sp?
> =)

Q agrifolia, durata or lobata?
Regards, 
Tom Barr
 
> - -Zach