Re: [APD] theory behind algae control

["S. Hieber" <shieber at yahoo_com>]

The million dollar question, which has been the subject of
much discussion -- peruse the archives ;-)  O2 levels,
alleopathy, nutrient competition are just some of the
answers offered, all of them problematic in their own way
-- you;ve hit on the problem with nutrient competition.

The "feeding hypothesis," put forward and supported more by
Tom Barr than anyone else, at least on APD, is (very
roughly and with apologies to Tom, Karen, and others), that
algae does poorly when plants do well, therefore, take care
of the plants and algae problems will be minimized.

I've heard it put, "You can't starve the algae away," 
"starve your plants and you'll get algae problems," and
"Focus on the plant health, not the algae."

Note that the point is *not* that *just any amount* of
plant nutrients are okay. There can be too much of any of
them. But not enough can be just as problematic for good
gardening. As Karen Randall would say, healthy planted
aquaria are a question of balance -- lights, CO2, other
nutrients, etc.

Scott H.

Scott H.

--- Roeland Grommen <roeland_grommen at UGent.be> wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> I have been following the discussions about fertilisation
> for some months
> now and I was wondering whether there exists some kind of
> theory behind the
> story. Long ago, before I found this list, I was very
> much convinced by the
> theory that one had to limit phosphate in order to
> outcompete algae. After
> reading Tom his suggestions, I started dosing KH2PO4 en
> K2SO4 in order to
> get a least 0.5 ppm phosphate and 10 ppm potassium.
> If I understand it well, somehow the algae should be
> inhibited because the
> plants are growing actively. I am not denying this, as I
> can see the results
> with my own eyes. But on the other hand, this clearly can
> not be nutrient
> competition, as the concentrations of all the important
> nutrients are 'high'
> and no algae problems occur as long as CO2, N, P, K and
> micro's are
> abundant. So, what could it be then?
> 


=====
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