Re: [APD] flourite with soil substrate!

[Vaughn Hopkins <hoppy1 at surewest_net>]

Another problem with soil in the substrate is that if  you ever have to 
pull out a plant, either to move it or to eliminate it, it pulls some 
of the substrate lower layer to the top.  If that includes soil, it 
probably includes some NH4 too, and algae love NH4.  When I had a 
garden clay layer under my black beauty gravel my real algae problems 
started when I pulled out some plants.  So, I will never use soil under 
gravel again!  I am now a believer in a uniform substrate, no matter 
what material it is.  That is also why I stopped using root tabs for 
fertilizer.

Vaughn H.

On Tuesday, September 13, 2005, at 08:41 AM, Jerry Baker wrote:

> Rushui Guan wrote:
>>  I am setting up my 55 gal now. My biggest fear is algae. I am hoping 
>> by
>> combining flourite with soil, I will minimize nutrition in water 
>> column,
>> therefore, minimize algae growth.
>
> The hardest thing for me to accept when I first started and had algae
> issues was that *adding* nitrates and phosphates cleared the problem 
> up.
> I believe algae are better at surviving off of meager nutrient supplies
> than plants, so when nutrients are limited the plants stop growing and
> the algae grow. It seems that when the plants are growing like crazy 
> the
> algae never have a chance.
>
> -- 
> Jerry Baker

_______________________________________________
Aquatic-Plants mailing list
Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com
http://www.actwin.com/mailman/listinfo/aquatic-plants