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whats the deal with phosphates?? wat are they, are they harmful, and why would it cause a weird brown algae on my plants? babel told me bout it and i thought id ask for more info in this region of FP. anyhelp is goo help.

Phosphate (PO4) is a nutrient used by photosynthesizing (light for energy source) plants and algea. It is a macronutrient(a measurable percentage of the plants dry weight, in this case less than 1% I think) used in DNA replication and other stuff. However, phosphates that aren't used by our plants are gladly accepted by algea, and they are pretty good at using it. Algea will use just about any leftover nutrient that you give them including the dosed ferts, iron, nitrAte, etc.

If you are keeping fake plants, it's easier not to worry about it and just scrub them down in hot water because PO4 doesn't have an effect on fish health. If you are keeping live plants and this algea is detrimental to your plants, then monitoring your nutrients through tests and water changes is probably the first thing you want to do.

I have diatoms (brown algea) in my low light tanks. It usually doesn't bother my live plants, it loves the fake ones though. I guess I'm lucky. Hope this helped.

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Critical Fertilator: The Micromanager of Macronutrients