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Re: Alum as a device for algae control?



>From: Nicolas Livingston <nickliv at halcyon_com>
>
>The local lakes in my area are in serious trouble.  High levels of =
>phosphates have caused a brown algae bloom that is crowding out the =
>higher order plants and causing other problems.  One of the plans to =
>help clean up a small lake involves the addition of alum to the water.
>
>The person who mentioned that to me didn't know how the alum would =
>prevent algae growth, so I thought someone on the list might be able to =
>explain it.  I presume that the aluminum would bond with the phospohates =
>making them unavailable to algae, but I honestly have no real idea.  And =
>if alum prevents algae in lakes, could we use it in our tanks as well?

I haven't heard anything about alum, but I use chelated iron as a phosphate precipitator.  The Dupla Fe drops really help in this area.  

David W. Webb
Enterprise Computing Provisioning
Texas Instruments Inc. Dallas, TX USA
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(214) 575-4853 (fax)    Internet:    dwebb at ti_com
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