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New subscriber, presentation and Q. about algae"explosion" after adding MGSO4
Hi!
I'm a new subscriber to the list so i thought that a short presentation of
myself would be a correct approach.
Name: Daniel Orloff Age:44 Live: Stockholm, Sweden Aquatic
background: first tank at 8, working in aquarium petshops ( no
cattlitter,dogfood and so on. Only fish and all that goes with that ) at
18. My own shop for about 6 years, this was late -70's- mid. -80's. After
that only as a hobby. Fish I've had: mostly Cichlids: Discus, P. Altum,
S-A dwarfs; Tangs, Kongoriver dwarfs but also Corys , L-number catfish,
Loaches, Tetras and Black Ghoast Started my first attempt with a planttank
-95 and been at it since with varying success.
I've two sons, Micha 5 and Max 3 1/2, that I've the privilege to take care
of every second week.
If I've put my foot in it in some way by introducing myself like this,
please feel free to "kick" my derniere.
I can take it. I'm 193 cm -100 kg. But I hope it's ok. Forgive me for any
misspellings and grammatical blunders that I,m surely going to do. I,m,
after all, but a swede.
Recap. of my tanks algae problems. I've a 540 l. ( 150 x60 x 60 cm . ) Co2
with neddlewalve and diffuser, UGC, english lake sand(2-4 mm. ) mixed with
Deponit ( Dennerle)and some clayballs, as liquid fertilizer I use TMG .
Light: Aprox. 260W. ( I mix. Philips 950,965 and Sunglow) controlled with 4
timers. Waterparameters:
Ph. 6.8
Kh.3.5
Gh.7.5
NO2: <0.3 mg/l
NO3: aprox. 6.0 hard to get an exact reading from the Tetra test I use.The
colourchart jump from 0 to 12.5 mg/l in 1step.
PO4:< 0.5 mg/l
CO2: 16 mg/l
Fe: < 0.25 mg/l
Filters: one Eheim ( 600 l/ h ) with Effihsubstrate and bioballs and one
Eheim ( 200 L/ h ) with black peat granulates.
The tank has been running for 18 months now. All the time I've been having
some trouble with algae , some green algae ( leaves close to surface) , a
small amount of brush algae ( on bogwood and Anubias) and silicate algae(
is this the correct name for it in english ? ) on my Alternanthera and
Ludwigia glandulosa perennis but not in excess. I had 6 SAE but I found
that they liked my Crypto sprouts so I took them out. All the time my big
problem been my big Ech.plants.They never grown as they should, small
stunted leaves that looked like A. Madagascariensis after a while. No
trouble with E. tenellus or E. magdalenensis All the light demanding
plants where ok. ( I had E. stellata, L.aromatica, D. diandra, R.
Wallichii. Riccia that looked like the photos in the Amano books) . So
after reading and rereading Sears /Conlins article about PMDD and algae
controll , and other related articles, I thought I had found the answer!
Lack of Mg. I followed the insructions in the PMDD article and added !0 ml.
of the solution twice (2 !) to the tank.
So stupid, so utterly stupid. After 1 week the tank exploded!!!I've never
seen so much algae,growing so fast , in a tank before. Every sort there is
.The only sort I didn't have was blue-green. All the lightdemanding plants
was strangled with hairalgae. What a mess!
This was two months ago and the tank has improved quite a bit , but still a
lot of black brush algae ( the bogwood is covered with it, and also my
Anubias and Bolbitis). A lot of greenalgae on all the leaves close to the
surface. And some hairalgae.
All along I've also been having trouble whith keeping the Ph. down on the
levels where I want it.The only answer I can think of is that there is
something in the gravel that's pushing the Ph. up. Though the Gh. and the
Kh. is at the same level all the time.The tapwater I have has a Ph.: 7.9
Gh.: 6.0, Kh.: 3.0, NO2.: > 0.3, NO3.: aprox. 6,0, PO4.: 0.25, Fe.: 0,0,
CO2.: 0.8
Now I had it with this. I'm anyway forced to move the tank so I'm going to
redo the tank completly. .
But before I do that I would like to know , if possible, why my big Ech.
looked like they did, and still do to some extent. They are slowly coming
back but far from what they should look like ( nutrient deff. for sure,
but which one?) My guess now would be that it is K. But I,m not sure .
And why did the tank explode? Does anybody have a clue/ guess please answer
this!
I don't want to make the same stupid mistake again.
I,m also having trouble finding a supplier for most of the ingrediens in
the PMDD formula, they only sell in bulk ( 10 - 50 kg. ) and I wasn't
planing on fertelizing the Baltic Sea! I would be grateful if there were
anybody living in this part of the world that could help me out. Sorry,
this became quite a mouthful and I sinserly hope that you don't mind to
much and help me. Please......?? :)
I come back to you with Q. about the light and substrate, that will be
short and to the point, later on.
Thankful for any suggestions and info. that you might have!
Daniel Orloff