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Re: Still algae fighting...

>From: hermel at ibm_de
>
>1) Is there any sense to use Duplarit-K (I think that's the name of the red, 
>   big balls to be introduced in the ground *after* the tank is already 
>   running) without having heating coils in the ground?

If your substrate consists only of gravel, you should probably add something unless you plan to only grow plants that don't need a rich substrate.  Duplarit-K is probably a good choice.

>2) What do you think of the light pause? Nonsense or useful?

In my subjective opinion, I believe that non-natural lighting cycles can reduce the effectiveness of certain algaes in your tank.  I also believe that they can kill certain plants in your tank like Rotalas, which fold up their leaves at night.

>3) What about the O2 content? Which value do you think should the water 
>   have in the morning? Dennerle states that most tropical fish come from
>   water with 1.5 to 3 mg/l anyway, Dupla seems to be a bit more careful. 
>   Dennerle claims that algae thrive in an O2-rich environment/current,
>   that's what I also see.

If you have a higher than expected O2 content in the morning, you don't have much to worry about.  If your O2 content is too low in the morning, you can subject your fish to stresses that can lead to disease.

>4) I read in the Dupla book that purple-colored light promotes algae growth.
>   The triton looks purple, the Dennerle is more reddish. Dennerle claims
>   that blue is the algae-promoting color that's why they have the gaps
>   in the spectrum and the tube looks more reddish.
>   Do I better replace the Triton
>   with another Dennerle? The point is that the tank looks different already
>   with one Dennerle tube, how will it look with two reddish tubes?
>   What are your experiences with Triton & algae growth?
>   BTW, Dupla discourages the mix of different light colors at all. Any
>   comments on that?

Once you've gotten your waterborne nutrient levels under control and have your plants growing well, it really doesn't matter a whole lot which spectrum your plants are under.  Try to acheive an eye-pleasing look with enough intensity to keep your plants happy.

The biggest help for me in eliminating excess algae growth was to run my water change and top-off water through an ion exchange media prior to introduction to the tank (Phosguard and activated carbon).  However, this was after making a number of other adjustments, including changes to what and how many fish I keep, how often and how much I feed, CO2, addition of trace elements, and addition of 3+ watts/gallon of lighting.

David W. Webb           Enterprise Computing
Texas Instruments Inc.  Dallas, TX USA
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