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RE: [APD] Re: algae problems



Dear Tom:

That?s a great article, with a serious study of the facts!. Did you also analyze the uptake rate for Ca, K and Mg?. Are they similar to NO3 and PO4?. My tap water has 3ppm Mg, 3ppm K and 18 ppm Ca. I am using MgSO4, K2SO4 and CaCl2, but the later seems to present some problems with new leaves, so I am reluctant to use it.

Since your last response I am dosing 2 ppm NO3, .06ppm Fe and 0.5ppm PO4 in a daily basis, planing to increase dose gradually, up to the recommended standards. By now things are getting better with the brown algae (it has stopped growing), but green algae does not present a tendency yet.

Do you remember the names of the guys you met from Argentina?.

Thanks a lot, and hasta pronto.

Mariano



From: "Thomas Barr" <tcbiii at earthlink_net>
Reply-To: tcbiii at earthlink_net
To: "Mariano Fernández Bonfante" <mariano_bonfante at hotmail_com>
Subject: RE: [APD] Re: algae problems
Date: Fri, 27 May 2005 21:24:54 -0700

Hola,
> Thanks indeed for the advice. I currently using a powder formula for
micros,
> with the following components:
> Which would be the desired amount?.

Add this to 500mls of water.
Then add 15mls 3x a week

> I done some calculations with your figures. For 100G I compute:
> - KNO3 -> 3900 mg -> 7.31 ppm
> - KH2PO4 -> 700 mg -> 1.36 ppm

> I read about the Redfield index, which gives the N to P ratio. In this
case
> it will be 3.73, with a standard between 10 and 20. Is this a matter to
> care?.

Redfield ratio is for tiny picoplankton in Marine systems.

Not Aquatic plants.
Aquatic plant ratios is about 10:1 N:P

Plants need more PO4 than algae.
The dosing will greatly enhance the tank since you will have plenty of
nutrients for the plants.
When the plants grow well= algae does not.
Happy plants= poor algae growth

The ratio itself does not matter, since the plants are supplied and you re
set the tank with regular water changes each week.
you can have a NO3 of 5ppm and a PO4 of 2ppm, or a NO3 of 20ppm and a PO4
of 0.3ppm and still have good growth. You will have less Green spot algae
if you have high PO4 and much better O2 production from the plants.

A ratio is a good starting point and tends to waste less NO3 and K, and
PO4, but these are very cheap and easy to dose and many tanks will use
2-4ppm of NO3 per day, and 0.3ppm to 0.8ppm per day of PO4 if you use CO2
enrichment at 30ppm.

There are a few Argentine plant aquarist I've helped and they translated
the EI into Spanish and another group is Italian as well.
You can read it on my site for free. Register a username and password,
ignore the sign up ads.
 I can try and find those folks for you.

> Sincerely,
>
> Mariano F. Bonfante
>

Regards,
Tom Barr

3rd annual Plant Fest July 8-14th 2005!
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