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RE: Algae growth etc



>I had a think about the algal growth i've jsut noticed on my leaves..its
>fine thread/hair green algae and I think it occured when I added extra
>magnesium to the water in the for of magnesium sulfate.. I added 1/4
>teaspoon per 5 gallons to my water when I was doing water changes and I
>think that this with my regular fertilisation has caused the algae..  Doesnt
>look like my plants are magnesium defficient.. maybe calcium ? any comments
>on magnesium causing algae growth ?
>
>Cheers
>Jon Hammond
>Perth, Western Australia

Mg is not. I would worry somewhat more about your Ph/KH/CO2 stability and
having a good light.
When figuring out what's wrong with a tank that's the first place to look.
Lots of fish or poor maintenance will cause problems also. There are other
obvious things like these but generally speaking, Light, CO2 then trace and
macro elements are what to look for in plant tanks. A balance of these 3
items will give success. Not some snake oil or some "magic" fertilizer. Your
Mg will not mess with your plants quite as bad as you may think. Some yellow
veining in the leaves from replacement of Fe can cause problems at an excess
or a chronic lack of it will also cause problems. Try using TMG or some
prepared trace fertilizer mix then after the CO2 is taken care of. 
Doing regular fertilization is great for plants............... if your light
and PH/KH/CO2 levels are BALANCED. Check out the archives for more on this
topic of PH/KH/CO2 and look up the table on the KRIB. You will find it most
useful for most of the problems.It's not as complex as you might think. The
hard part is doing the maintenance consistantly! Water changes will help if
you have decent tap water. Planted tanks that are well set up will almost
never have fish diseases. Your doing something very wrong if you have fish
deaths. Low(er) fish loads, water changes, basic maintenance then move on to
the plant's needs. Test kits will help you also. Your stabbing in the wind
accusing Mg. Consider trying to duplicate someone else's method to the
letter. Add the fish, the plants, CO2, the whole sha-bang(everything) to the
"T"(letter). This might work for you. 
Regards, 
Tom Barr