Phosphate in tap water

[Joe80]

Hello. There appears to be lots of information about nitrate but not much about phosphate. I’ve started to hair algae on my plants and wood. So I thought I’d re test my water for phosphate.

The phosphate reading on my tap water is nearly 5ppm ! The water in my aquarium tested as slightly lighter, but it’s still between 2 and 5 on the colour chart. I have quite a lot of plants so they must use some.
I’ve read that the recommended level is0.5ppm. So my readings are well off!

I already use a pozzani to remove nitrate from my tap water. Doing 50% a week.

What do people do about phosphate?
Also, like nitrate, are high levels over a long period of time harmful to fish?

cheers
Joe

 

[Naughts]

Hello,
Mostly I ignore it, but my worst readings are 1ppm. When I had algae that was out of control I used a liquid called Phosphate Minus (there are liquids to add to the water or granules to put in the filter. Google phosphate removal) but only once as I wasn't able to tell any difference.
Mostly I try hard to keep live plants including floating plants, and I remove a bit of hair algae during the maintenance. I have started to use TNC lite as fertiliser because it doesn't have phosphorus, nitrogen or potassium.

EDIT: noticed on bottle it does have potassium.

 

[Joe80]

Hello,
Mostly I ignore it, but my worst readings are 1ppm. When I had algae that was out of control I used a liquid called Phosphate Minus (there are liquids to add to the water or granules to put in the filter. Google phosphate removal) but only once as I wasn't able to tell any difference.
Mostly I try hard to keep live plants including floating plants, and I remove a bit of hair algae during the maintenance. I have started to use TNC lite as fertiliser because it doesn't have phosphorus, nitrogen or potassium.

Thanks. The algae isn’t out of control yet but I definitely want to keep it that way. I am currently using seachems flourish, which contains phosphates. I certainly don’t need to add more, so just ordered some of that TNC lite.

Really my main concern is my fish. Wonder if I need to be reducing phosphate at source ( tap water ) before adding it to my tank.

 

[Naughts]

I have not heard that phosphates are harmful to fish.

 

[Colin_T]

The phosphate reading on my tap water is nearly 5ppm

It's a concern that there is phosphates in your tap water.
Contact the water company and tell them. You might also want to get the water tested for everything by an independent lab to find out exactly what else is in the drinking water. If there's anything bad in it, go to the press and get them to run a news story on unsafe drinking water.

You can buy things like Phosphazorb to remove phosphates from water. Most pet shops that sell marine accessories sell it.

 

[StevenF]

You should be able to find a material called Phosphate remover. It will remove the phosphate and silicates in your tap water . It is a disposable filter media so eventually it will need to be replaced.

Toxicity depends on the dose 5ppm is not toxic. I don't knowhow high you would have to go to reach taxic levels. But I did use the API phosphate test kit once and at that time the reading was higher than the highest reading on the card and my fish were fine. In my case i got phosphate down by adding nitrogen to my tank my nitrates were zero. That limited plant growth so that plants were not consuming the phosphate in my fertilizer.

Note there is one type of algae called green spot algae. Thisalgae forms green spots on the glass that can only be scrapped of the glass.It doesn't rub off. It's growth is is inhibited by phosphate. So if you see it you might need to increase the amount of phosphate in your water. Some people have used up to 6PPM routinely to prevent it. As fare as I know it is the only algae that likes low phsoshphate levels.

 

[Colin_T]

Toxicity depends on the dose 5ppm is not toxic. I don't knowhow high you would have to go to reach taxic levels.

The problem is that if there is phosphates in the water, there could be other things in it too. And all these things build up over time and can affect people and animals, including fish. The OP needs to find out why there is phosphate in the water and what else is in there with it.

 

[StevenF]

t's a concern that there is phosphates in your tap water.
Contact the water company and tell them. You might also want to get the water tested for everything by an independent lab to find out exactly what else is in the drinking water.

Phosphates are as common as nitrate in well water. If a farmer over fertilizes his field the excess nutrients can get in the aquifer under the farm. A lot of people in the UK report having nitrate in there tap water. Most don't however test for phosphate. So I would't be overly concerned about it. But there is nothing wrong with contacting your water utility and verifying that they are aware of.

 

[Joe80]

You should be able to find a material called Phosphate remover. It will remove the phosphate and silicates in your tap water . It is a disposable filter media so eventually it will need to be replaced.

Toxicity depends on the dose 5ppm is not toxic. I don't knowhow high you would have to go to reach taxic levels. But I did use the API phosphate test kit once and at that time the reading was higher than the highest reading on the card and my fish were fine. In my case i got phosphate down by adding nitrogen to my tank my nitrates were zero. That limited plant growth so that plants were not consuming the phosphate in my fertilizer.

Note there is one type of algae called green spot algae. Thisalgae forms green spots on the glass that can only be scrapped of the glass.It doesn't rub off. It's growth is is inhibited by phosphate. So if you see it you might need to increase the amount of phosphate in your water. Some people have used up to 6PPM routinely to prevent it. As fare as I know it is the only algae that likes low phsoshphate levels.

Thanks for the info. I’ve got a phosphate removing cartridge I can put inside my internal filter, but will look into ways of pre filtering tap water. I use a pozzani for nitrate but I don’t think they do a phosphate filter

 

[QiQi]

Same problem here in Hampshire area. Tons of Nitrates, silicates in the tap water, hardness around 14 Dh and TDS is always over 500, so I swapped to remineralized RO water.

 

[Joe80]

The problem is that if there is phosphates in the water, there could be other things in it too. And all these things build up over time and can affect people and animals, including fish. The OP needs to find out why there is phosphate in the water and what else is in there with it.

The water company’s website says that Phosphate is 1.3 mg/I. My tests show almost 5 though

 

[Joe80]

Same problem here in Hampshire area. Tons of Nitrates, silicates in the tap water, hardness around 14 Dh and TDS is always over 500, so I swapped to remineralized RO water.

Maybe RO is an option

 

[QiQi]

I noticed when there is a lot of rain, all the readings go up. Maybe something to do with the plumbing?

 

[Naughts]

I noticed when there is a lot of rain, all the readings go up. Maybe something to do with the plumbing?

Oh, I'd just assumed it was more agricultural run-off when it rained?

 

[QiQi]

I am not sure, could be a coincidence. I read somewhere that raining and flooding can cause these issues, so I tested my tap water when there was heavy rain and the readings were indeed higher.