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Re: Any thoughts on controlling algae growth in my live, floatingplants
REGINAMT at aol_com wrote:
>
> Blue-green algae is acutally a cyanobacteria and can be erradicated by
> antibiotics. I have used Maracyn I or II, I forget exactly which one it was.
> It is not harmful to plants.
> It goes without saying that you have to keep your nitrate and phosphate
> levels as low as possible, however blue-green algae seem able to grow on
> minimal level of nutrients if the light level is high. I have a blue-green
> problem developing in one of my community tanks and have not found the time
> to deal with it yet. The nitrates and phosphates in this tank are 0 and
> .2ppm respectively, yet somehow the algae managed to gain a foothold, it is
> probably the lighting, 80 watts on a 29 gal tank.
BGA has the distressing ability to "fix" atmospheric nitrogen in high light.
This allows it to outcompete other plants in a low-nitrogen environment,
hence using up other trace elements they need to be able to fight back.
Plant folks are beginning to find that adding nitrogen, and even phosphates
(heresy!), can give the other plants a boost and cause the BGA to go away.
I'm adding potassium nitrate to my heavily-planted tanks with good results.
My tanks have lots of fish, so the macronutrients are mostly supplied by
their wastes and their uneaten food.
Wright
--
Wright Huntley, Fremont CA, USA, 510 494-8679 huntleyone at home dot com
"DEMOCRACY" is two wolves and a lamb voting on lunch.
"LIBERTY" is a well-armed lamb denying enforcement of the vote.
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