Seeking advice please

[amcgee2842]

Going out of town this weekend but will start a new thread with pictures when I get back.

[morpheus]

i get this black or brown algae growth on my plants that slowly will kill the leaves if I don't get my phosphates down. I also get green to brown algae on my glass that I have to scrap off with a blade it wont come off that easily with a pad. I have two BN plecos. the chemi pure elite great slows down the growth on those algaes. If anyone knows what i am dealing with please chime in would love to know what growing on my plant leaves. If I hijack this thread let me know and I will start a new one.

i would say start a new thread. pictures of it would help too if you have any

[amcgee2842]

i get this black or brown algae growth on my plants that slowly will kill the leaves if I don't get my phosphates down. I also get green to brown algae on my glass that I have to scrap off with a blade it wont come off that easily with a pad. I have two BN plecos. the chemi pure elite great slows down the growth on those algaes. If anyone knows what i am dealing with please chime in would love to know what growing on my plant leaves. If I hijack this thread let me know and I will start a new one.

[morpheus]

I see. To be honest, I never pay attention to phosphate. I don't mind algae growing on rock. My fish actually enjoy grazing algae.

me either. my plecos take care of any algae growth. i have too many plecos though after i adopted 4 of them when another member moved. need to find a trade partner for 2 of them

[ptran]

I see. To be honest, I never pay attention to phosphate. I don't mind algae growing on rock. My fish actually enjoy grazing algae.

[morpheus]

yeah the quote i gave from the seachem forum was about a black algae bloom initially....i just copied ther eply that applied here from their staff.

i personally have never used any specific treatment for phosphates. i have never seen any issues. i think water changes just remove them anyway that form from fish food/waste. so as long as you are on top of your changes, it never becomes an issue. any phosphates that are broken down get absorbed by plants

[barrettsline]

http://freshaquarium.about.com/od/watercare/a/phosphates.htm

Fortunately phosphates do not directly harm your fish, even at high levels. However, the algae blooms that result from elevated phosphates can ultimately cause problems for the aquarium inhabitants. For instance,

which in turn can harm the fish.

[ptran]

Is phosphate bad for the fish?

[morpheus]

I mostly use the elite for phosphate removal because I don't believe purigen removes phosphates. I notice a lot more algae growth if I take out the elite. I haven' t had time to research cheaper phosphate removers that can stay in a canister for more than a few months.

no, purigen will not remove phosphates. i have never tried PhosGuard from Seachem but they have it available. here is a quote off the Seachem webpage in one of their threads on it:

"Purigen removes organic waste, but it will not remove phosphates from the water. If you have existing high nitrates you may want to perform routine water changes to lower nitrate. Carbon will remove organics from the water aggressively, but not impact phosphate. You may want to look at SeaGel. It is a blend of Matrix Carbon and PhosGuard for aggressive filtration and phosphate removal. As long as you are not using a phosphate based buffer SeaGel or PhosGuard is fine to use."

[amcgee2842]

I mostly use the elite for phosphate removal because I don't believe purigen removes phosphates. I notice a lot more algae growth if I take out the elite. I haven' t had time to research cheaper phosphate removers that can stay in a canister for more than a few months.

[ptran]

I dug up the thread here if interested.

http://www.houstonfishbox.com/vforum...ghlight=matrix

Will have some Purigen for sure when I clean the filter.

[ptran]

I use matrix, purigen, and chemipure elite. Since you can recharge purigen its not that expensive but the chemipure elite is $30 every 3 months for replacement.

Yike, no wonder your tank looks so clean. Some expensive stuff.

[amcgee2842]

I use matrix, purigen, and chemipure elite. Since you can recharge purigen its not that expensive but the chemipure elite is $30 every 3 months for replacement.

[morpheus]

I dug up the thread here if interested.

http://www.houstonfishbox.com/vforums/showthread.php?61827-Pond-matrix-n-Purigen&highlight=matrix

[Austy16414]

I'll have to check that out sometime. If it has Seachem in the name, I stand by it