Phosphate and copper in fish food?

djofir · 04-08-2006, 08:22 PM

I was checking the ingredients in the fish food I am using for over a year now. And i found an ingredient about half way down called "L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate" then after that I also found in the same fish food "Copper Sulfate." Are these ingredients safe for the tank. Will they raise levels of copper or phosphates significantly?

gwen_o_lyn · 04-08-2006, 11:09 PM

Welcome to TR!!!

What brand of fish food?

djofir · 04-09-2006, 12:33 PM

OK first thing first, I don't want to bash this manufacturer, in fact I think this food is great. Like I said I have been using this fish food for over a year now and my fish are healthy. With that said and done, the brand of this fish food is called New Life Spectrum Marine Fish Formula www.nlpublish.com. I talked to some friends about this as well and this is what they basically said. The fish need some of the trace elements in their diets. Also the copper would never build to levels high enough to disturb anything. Also fish need some phosphates in their diets. Is this true?

djofir · 04-09-2006, 12:34 PM

Sorry I forgot to also say thank you for the welcome Gwen_o_lyn.

***Rob*** · 04-09-2006, 02:24 PM

i cant comment to the coppper, but i do know that various phosphates in fish food have been shown to accumulate in a tank and cause algae issues.

i experienced this first hand using TetraMarine Marine fish flakes

djofir · 04-09-2006, 06:59 PM

Yea I know about your problem. I heard the podcast and that gave me the impetus to check the fish food for the ingredients. I would like to take this chance to compliment you on the podcast, great job! It is awesome and very useful. Now what do you recommend doing, changing the food? And if the fish need these phosphates in their diets, wouldn't all the foods have phosphates in their ingredients?

***Rob*** · 04-09-2006, 08:12 PM

i recommend using a different food.
personally, i found Formula ! or Formula 2 to be a good choice.

the fish do not need phosphates in there diet at all. this is a trace element, but is actually used be invertebrates like coral.
it is only kept in "trace" amounts, and this is usually accomplished from your sea salt.