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How important is it to test and regulate phosphates in a freshwater aquaruim?

Ive read that keeping phosphates under control takes away the major food source for algae.

True! I vary the types of food I give my fish. I used to have problems till I did this. I now feed more bloodworms an other live foods than plakes or granules. It's reduced the phosphate levels and the variation in diet is good for your fish. Be careful of phosphate removers. They can be harmful to some fish especially clown loaches.

Hi,

I would advise you to read this article before you buy a phosphate test kit. Basically, yes, algae thrive on high level of phosphates, but as this article will show phosphate test kit are not very accurate. I was thinking of getting a phosphate test kit but after reading this article I decided it would be a waste of my money. If you have algae problem and suspect this is because you have high phosphate level, there are ways of controlling phosphates, from filter media to plants.

Enjoy the reading.

here is a tip of the day!

be a fish keeper not a chemist spend your money on fish instead of test kits, trying to mimic the ideal water conditions is impossible, with regular water changes in a cycled tank you should not have any issues the majority of fish out there will adapt to the water they a put in.


The difference between 'involvement' and 'commitment' is like an bacon and egg breakfast: the chicken was 'involved' - the pig was 'committed'."

It's not necessary to test for phosphates and most of the time it's not even very useful. Usually you can figure out a lack of phosphates by looking at the plants or an excess by an abundance of algae that can't be solved. There's nothing wrong with being a chemist and an aquarist.

just said spend money on fish not chemicals, I would say a big percentage of dead fish is because somones reading from a test kit was a little off the ideal condition, chemicals get added then it goes to the other side of the scale then a little more to bring it back then fish die. I keep 6 tanks 2 ponds been at it for twenty plus years and refuse to put anything but a little salt into any of them, my biggest problem is that I can't buy fish very often because nothing dies

The difference between 'involvement' and 'commitment' is like an bacon and egg breakfast: the chicken was 'involved' - the pig was 'committed'."

So Joe u basically use nothing in there, no tests for anything?? or no chemicals for anything?? Just curious i would rather go that route PM let me know

Hi,
IMO, we should be testing our water. How frequent we test
should depend upon our individual experiance, and the
parameters of our tanks (capacity, population, longetivity
{how long the tank has been setup}, etc.)
We recently had a thread from a long time fish keeper who
never tested, experianced some unexplained fish deaths
(new fish), and discovered that his nitrates were in the
hundreds. It was Old Tank Syndrome. Had that person tested,
even quarterly, he would have been aware of a developing
problem in time to nip it in the bud.

Testing, like aquarium maintenance, is an individual choice.
Fortunately(?) those of us who are new to fish keeping make
mistakes, or have problems develop that cause us to have to
clean tanks, vacuum gravel, and test, more often than those
of us who have been doing it for years, and have either
developed a regular routine, or have been darned lucky.

I've been keeping fish for over 50 years now, and I test
frequently. I LOOK at the tank daily, and change the water
weekly or biweekly depending upon my schedule, or what
the test results show. I add fertilizer(s) twice a week.
I'm "fine tuning" the amount by watching a small patch of
algae. I want some (for the fish) but don't want it to
get ahead of me.

When you test and get a "wierd result" you should
always test a second time. If you show a problem with the
tank, you should test a third time, at your LFS.
If all three tests are producing unexpected results
then you have a developing problem that should
be corrected.
If you have different results between your own
tests, something contaminated the tests (too much,
too little water, too many drops, too few drops).
If your tests were similiar, but the LFS were different,
you should consider that perhaps your reagents have aged
or are contaminated and replace them.

Frank


-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

Frank,

I think that what Freejoe said wasn't said about testing water in general, but about testing for phosphates. I agree on that as the phosphate test test kits are not really accurate and by observing your tank (like you do) you can get a pretty good picture if you have a problem with phosphates or not.

I test for pH, KH, GH and nitrate on a weekly basis or more often and for ammonia and nitrite when I think it's necessary (according to observation of the fish) but getting a phosphate test kit seems to me like a waste of money.