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Dead Red Algae
Hi all,
I've had a 55-gallon tank set up for several months now, and I'm beginning
to have some problems with red "beard" algae. This weekend I set up my
30-gallon tank to grow plants in, and transferred a few plants from the
55-gal that seemed to need more light to the new tank along with new plants
from the store.
Some of the plants that I transferred had a fair amount of red algae on
them. Within two days however, it is all dead (i.e. turned grey and
stringy). I am wondering what it might be in the smaller tank that killed
all the algae so fast. My first guess is very strong light--the tank is in
a south window which is supplemented by 2-20 watt fluorescent bulbs.
If this is true, I may be able to move some of the most affected plants
from the 55 to the 30 temporarily for "algae removal". Does anyone have
any idea why this happened?
BTW, the Hygro and E. osiris are doing great (already growing), the rest of
the plants are having typical reaction to moving.
Thanks,
Chetlen
Tank Parameters (30 gallon):
Light: 40 watts fluorescent + sunlight
Substrate: roughly equal mix of fluorite & sand, along with ~2 cups of
backyard dirt (high clay content), covered by 1-2 in. sand.
Fertilizer: 2 tsp. Osmocote in fluorite/sand mixture, Tetra Crypt Tablets
at roots of plants, Kent Freshwater Plant mixture (iron & trace element drops)
Other: DIY CO2 injection, 130 ppm GH, 7.0 pH, 2-3 ppm NH4 (despite using a
filter that has been in the 55 gal for months, I don't quite get this),
temp 77F.
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Chetlen Crossnoe
Baylor College of Medicine
Structural and Computational Biology and Molecular Biophysics
cc691077 at bcm_tmc.edu
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"All the things that God would have us do are hard for us to do."
-- Melville