HagenKB

Phosphate Test Kit Reading Interference

My 55gal tank (set up for many years) is showing readings of +5.0 ppm according to your test kit in less than 10 seconds - I guess this means that the levels are much higher than 5.0 ppm.

The fish and plants are all doing fine and are not showi

My 55gal tank (set up for many years) is showing readings of +5.0 ppm according to your test kit in less than 10 seconds - I guess this means that the levels are much higher than 5.0 ppm.

The fish and plants are all doing fine and are not showi
There are few things that can be done.

1- Dilution, to know the exact amount of orthophosphate that the water actually contains. Use distilled water or reverse osmosis water (since
tap is suspected to contain orthophosphate). Add 1 part of tank water, dilute the tank water in 9 equal part of distilled water. Mix, measure
phosphate level. And multiply the result by ten.
2- Interferences, the known interferences of the test kit are rare and quite problematic: arsenate, chromium, nitrite and sulfide will cause positive interference.
3- How to deal with high phosphate concentration. Few things can be done to decrease phosphate in tank water, remove feed leftover after feeding, not using phosphate buffer to correct pH and water changes. If even this can make the phosphate concentration drop I highly recommend using Fluval Phosphate Remover. Used in conjunction with the previous dilution protocol mentioned in point 1, will permit an accurate measure of the phosphate level drop. In standard condition Fluval Phosphate Remover will remove 20 ppm of phosphate in a 50 gal tank.

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Hagen

Phosphate Test Kit Reading Interference

My 55gal tank (set up for many years) is showing readings of +5.0 ppm according to your test kit in less than 10 seconds - I guess this means that the levels are much higher than 5.0 ppm.The fish and plants are all doing fine and are not showi

My 55gal tank (set up for many years) is showing readings of +5.0 ppm according to your test kit in less than 10 seconds - I guess this means that the levels are much higher than 5.0 ppm.The fish and plants are all doing fine and are not showi

My 55gal tank (set up for many years) is showing readings of +5.0 ppm according to your test kit in less than 10 seconds - I guess this means that the levels are much higher than 5.0 ppm.

The fish and plants are all doing fine and are not showi

My 55gal tank (set up for many years) is showing readings of +5.0 ppm according to your test kit in less than 10 seconds - I guess this means that the levels are much higher than 5.0 ppm.

The fish and plants are all doing fine and are not showi