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Re: Was bleaching plants

> 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.

If they were going well before(less CO2) then you had been adding enough
nutrient for that amount of light and nutrients. You need to add more
nutrients etc. High CO2 levels at lower lighting still is a good thing and
can remove nutrients well just not as fast as the higher lighting values.
Go back and make sure your not over looking something. Adding enough K+?
What's your N03? That's a biggy. PO4 next.
 
> 
>> 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.

All sounds good. That was very close to the jokingly called "Tom's magic tap
water" values minus the PO4.
Do you do lots of water changes? Big weekly ones?
Makes estimation of make up water easy and gets you close to the values you
need for a happy tank even if you don't have the best kits. Call the Water
company and ask for the NO3's and the PO4's levels in your tap water.
> 
>> 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.

Yuck, way too much.
Something needs done.

> 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.

Adding herbivores will help, not hurt a tank. The more you add the less
algae(up to a point). Shrimps don't attack fish or tear up Riccia/fine
needled plants and SAE's are good along with Otto's and snailies etc
barbs/flagfish but they go after some plants maybe not yours:). Those are
not too bad cost wise. I buy in quantity so the cost factor is low.
But herbivores are needed for most every plant tank in some form. You can
choose what's best for you $ & availability wise etc.
> 
> I recently stopped adding any iron for several weeks, which didn't seem to
> discourage the algae.

What did the plants do?

> 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?

That's sort of what I do. I don't dose every day. I add stuff every 2-4
days. P and N are used up in my tanks at the rate of about 1-2ppm of N a day
and P about .2ppm a day. I just try not let any Macronutrient hit 0 for more
than a day or so. Some places sell the KH2PO4 which may or may not be the
issue. Does your tap water have it(PO4)?
Do you feed your fish well? You got kind of a weird issue and if you keep up
on your water changes and reset your tanks each week and dose 2-3
times(heavy on P and light on N) and decent TMG you should be okay after a
few weeks of doing this. What type of algae is causing you 2-3 day removal?
If it's hair algae adding some shrimps/barbs/Flagfish/even SAE's will eat it
and cure it, then you have to just focus on the plants after.

Adding KH2PO4 will be much safer if P is your only issue. I'm not sure that
is it though. I doubt you need to add MgSO4 though with a GH of 10.

Just do the water changes and big clean out's first and add some algae crew,
then try adding the KH2PO4's. That would be safer. Find out what your PO4
tap water levels are. Stay up on the CO2. Prune off algae covered leaves
etc. Clean filters etc. Be patient and keep after it. Keep NO3's relatively
low(not more than 10). Try not adding much KNO3 for a couple of few days to
let the NO3's drop. Keep an eye on the plants and algae during this time.
Regards, 
Tom Barr
 
> Thanks.
> __
> Alex R.
> pcalex at yahoo_com