[Prev][Next][Index]

Re: cyanobacteria from Flourish?

>From: schmaus at bighorn_dr.lucent.com (SchmausJ)
>
>> From: "David W. Webb" <dwebb at ti_com>
>> 
>> I started adding Flourish to my tank several months ago instead of just
>> Duplaplant 24 drops because some of my plants were showing a K
deficiency.
>> I think I will probably be adding micronized iron to the tank substrate
>> soon however, because I think the Flourish isn't high enough in Fe.
With
>> no changes in the tank other than the switch in fertilizers, I'm now
>> experiencing significant cyanobacteria growth.  Previously, you could
>
>	Hey, I started supplementing the Dupla with Flourish a few months
>	ago, myself, and I've had lots of blue-green algae recently.  I was
>	wondering myself whether it was the Flourish or something new
>	in our city water.
>
>	I did leave the Flourish out of the refrigerator for a couple of
>	days by mistake -- it has a little smell -- maybe I ought to toss
it.
>
> >search for cyanobacteria and find it, but it wasn't evident in large
>> amounts.
>
>	I never saw any before, but I just cleaned out several large globs
of
>	the stuff and it's still all in wy Myriophylum.
>
>	Can Flourish rot?  According to the label it's got amino acids.

I probably should have been more clear as to what I think is happening in
my tank.  I switched from Duplaplant 24 drops only to Flourish a few months
ago when my plants started showing trace element deficiency. 

According to my understanding, Fe++ ions in water will bond to phosphate
ions and precipitate both out of the water.  I suspect that while I've been
using Flourish, my setup basically ran out of Fe++ to the degree that
cyanobacteria could take off.  I had a mild growth of algae in a deposit on
the floor of the tank.  That growth one week converted rapidly from a green
(probably a red) algae to blue-green algae.  I suspect that increasing the
iron levels in the water will lower the available phosphate again and
eliminate the cyanobacteria bloom.  I intend to do this by adding
micronized iron to my substrate.

My large bottle of Flourish is in the 'fridge.  I have a dropper bottle
under my tank that is not refrigerated.  Flourish has a different smell
than my Dupla drops, but I haven't noticed anything nasty-smelling.  I
believe the directions for refrigeration are there to help keep the Fe
chelated.

David W. Webb           Enterprise Computing
Texas Instruments Inc.  Dallas, TX USA
(972) 575-3443 (voice)  MSGID:       DAWB
(972) 575-4853 (fax)    Internet:    dwebb at ti_com
(972) 581-2380 (pager)  Text Pager:  dwebb at ti_com Subj:PAGE