Algae Growth (was Re: Bleaching Monthly?)

["Alex R." <pcalex at yahoo_com>]

Thomas Barr wrote:
> Are your plants growing well? Plants need the 3 things light(you have),
CO2
> (you have), so all that's left is nutrients. There are many folks that
have
> good light, good CO2 like you yet have little if any algae. They don't
have
> and you do. Why?

That's the thing. My plants are not growing that well. They were growing
better before I changed my substrate in March, when I had less CO2. I don't
know why for sure. I add everything: NO3, K, micro's from TMG, sometimes
MgSO4. I started to keep my Fe at 0.2 ppm like you suggested. I most suspect
that it's PO4. But I do add a little sometimes from a PO4-based buffer. I
have no idea if it's too much or too little.

> I would look at NO3, PO4, iron. Do you use RO water? What's the tap water
> like etc.

I keep my NO3 at close to but less than 10 ppm. No, I don't use RO. My tap
water has 7 KH, 10 GH. My tank water has 5 KH, 8 GH.

> You cannot get by only with nutrient management. You have to go in and
> remove the algae physically, water changes, herbivores etc. Maintenance
etc.
> Use everything you can that makes life easy for both you and your plants.

I remove the algae physically every 2-3 days. As for herbivores, I
specifically avoid putting any new animals into my tank. I want to fight
algae with nutrient balancing. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have much algae if
I put some algae-eating fish in there. But if I have to, I'll get some Amano
shrimp.

I recently stopped adding any iron for several weeks, which didn't seem to
discourage the algae. I have Flourite substrate, BTW. In another one of your
posts, you said that algae responds to quick nutrient changes. This sort of
supports one my observations. I once left town for about a week and the
person who was feeding my fish was also adding the nutrients I left. But she
only did this twice during the week, not every day as I do it. When I came
back, most of the algae I had was gone and my tank was very overgrown. Maybe
the fact that the nutrients were dosed less often, thus increasing their
concentrations more at a time, was why the algae receded. Should I try to
dose less often but with bigger amounts?

Thanks.
__
Alex R.
pcalex at yahoo_com

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