| Part 3 How do we deal with them.
Ok once we have an understanding of them as above we can try to fight them where we can. Also we can see that thier is not going to be one way to do it, we must battle them on alot of different fronts. So lets take a peek.
INput:
A great start, we use ro/di to stop ortho P from entering that way. We rince our seafood mush in ro to rid ouselves of the wash used to perserve seafood. We watch which salt mix we use as some contain large ammounts. We stop using foods that contain high ammounts (frozen cube foods, and flake). the use of carbon that is washed in P. Maybe the sand that is used in dsb (ok I had to throw that one in, lol)
Ok even though we do all that we are not going to beat it. it will still enter and or be produced. So what next. Lets go back to its forms.
Organic= bound up in bacteria and algae or associated with extra food/detritus (as i bacteria are on it and eating it and creating thier soup). So if we remove this stuff we remove it in many forms, Particulate inorganic P (ie: microscopic argonite dust tha thas attached to organics) Particulate organic P (ie the food or waste blob, baterial soup, bacterial floc and so on) Disolved organic P (more parts of the soup and enzynes used by bacteria and or P that is in transistion) organic P (the little bast*** bacteria and cyanos that are loaded with it) .....by simply syphoning/skimming/socking and whatever from the tank directly prior to it entering into any cycles.
Next would be for the dsb folks do as much of the above as you can including input, and then just harvest the algae once it begins to form. other then that pretty much the same concepts.
Ok so lets bring this back to the original posting Ferric Oxide (RP) at certain point in the P cycling and all the other processes listed previously, thier are points where the P is inorganic and available. this is where a product such as RP can come into play. At certain points (say when IP first enters the tank, or it is unbound by bacteria and not used or not needed as thier populatio is in a state fo flux) RP can act as an absorbant to remove it. So....just one small part of the over all battle against Phophate saturation.
Anyway Clear as mud now??????
lol
Mike |