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Re: Micronutrients


On Wed, 5 Apr 2000, Steve Dixon wrote:

> I asked Claus if increasing
> the TMG dosage would result in more algae in my tank and he said flatly that
> it wouldn't.

In order to give such an assured answer he must have been pretty confident
that the TMG wasn't going to effect whatever factor limited algae growth
in your tank.

> So with a bit of hesitation, 10 days ago I doubled my TMG dosage to 60 ml
> per week.  I have one of these Eheim Liquidosers so I programmed it to add 2
> ml.  4 times a day starting just before the lights come on and ending a few
> hours before they go off in the evening.  So these nutrients hit the tank
> just as the light cycle fires up and the plants need them, and they continue
> to be available throughout the day.  Better conditions for the algae to grow
> in as well, right Roger?

Not necessarily.  It wouldn't be particularly significant to the algae
unless your additions changed the growth-limiting factor.

> That's my view anyway.  With a dose every couple
> of hours at least the TMG nutrients are not limiting, I would have thought.
>
> The result:  Plants are growing very well and coming in much greener.  To
> use one of my favorite scientific terms, the tank has even more 'sparkle'
> than before. The growth is not faster, just richer.  And to my amazement,
> there is even less algae on the glass (the plants have always had very
> little visible algae on the leaves).  In fact, almost no visible green algae
> on the glass after 10 days.  What on earth could the explanation be?  I'm
> guessing Roger would say toxicity of one or other nutrient, if he agrees the
> micronutrients are not limited.  But I wonder.  Why doesn't the usual modest
> compliment of green algae grow on the glass under these conditions?

From the sounds of things, TMG didn't add anything that was growth
limiting for either the plants or algae.  You pointed out yourself that
the growth isn't faster, just more attractive.  As far as the algae are
concerned I suppose that toxicity is a possibility, but I'm not sure an
explanation is really called for.  I see variations in the amount of algae
on the glass in my tanks without doing anything to either encourage or
discourage it's growth; that detail seems like a poor indicator for
conditions in the tank.


Roger Miller