Phosban question

Tbird165 · Feb 1, 2016

I've been using vinegar to help with keeping my nitrates under control. I started using phosban to get the algae under better control. My question is , is it alright to do both the vinegar and phosban?

redfishbluefish · Feb 1, 2016

If you have excess phosphates.....yes. Note that for vinegar to work you need both phosphates and nitrates.....somewhere in the Redfield ratio....but that could be debated. You don't want to use GFO (Phosban) if your phosphates are already low.

I'd first do vinegar for a couple months and see where your phosphates are in comparison to nitrates. Then I'd decide on Phosban addition.

Tbird165 · Feb 1, 2016

Thanks I'll try that then

Randy Holmes-Farley · Feb 1, 2016

I use both GFO and vinegar.

Do you have current valuss for nitrate and phosphate?

Tbird165 · Feb 1, 2016

Not off the top of my head. Can only test nitrates after I get off work can't test the phosphate until I get a new test kit. 2 days ago both were really high

Tbird165 · Feb 1, 2016

When I talked to the guy at the lfs I told him I was using vinegar to lower my nitrates and to stop the algae from getting to bad. He told me to use phosban because it worked better

Randy Holmes-Farley · Feb 1, 2016

Tbird165 said:
Not off the top of my head. Can only test nitrates after I get off work can't test the phosphate until I get a new test kit. 2 days ago both were really high

When both are high, using both methods is fine, but using the organic first is also a fine plan.

Uwharrie · Feb 1, 2016

question... once the phosphate levels are down would it be wise to remove the phosban or leave it in? I was having an algae issue and the lfs said to add it ( along with water changes and less feeding) My phosphates are close to 0 now.

Tbird165 · Feb 1, 2016

I was going to ask the same thing

Randy Holmes-Farley · Feb 1, 2016

Uwharrie said:
question... once the phosphate levels are down would it be wise to remove the phosban or leave it in? I was having an algae issue and the lfs said to add it ( along with water changes and less feeding) My phosphates are close to 0 now.

Depending on what you mean by close to 0 and how you are measuring that, you may not need to keep the GFO, or keep as much of it.

But if you are having an algae issue, then the GFO may be used to intercept the phosphate before the algae gets it, no matter what a kit reads.

Uwharrie · Feb 1, 2016

Safrite phosphate test. Reading was 0 seems the algae is now under control was not sure if I needed to keep the phosban in or pull it ( it is in my media basket)

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
Depending on what you mean by close to 0 and how you are measuring that, you may not need to keep the GFO, or keep as much of it.

But if you are having an algae issue, then the GFO may be used to intercept the phosphate before the algae gets it, no matter what a kit reads.