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Re: PO4 Deficiency & CO2 Swing
Roger S. Miller wrote:
> discoloration. Growth stopped or slowed dramatically; over time the
> plants (vals, in particular) became stunted, and a sort of filamentous
> algae started growing on (but not actually attached to) the most
> effected plants. Pearling still happened, but mostly after a water
> change and I really couldn't tell whether it was the plants that were
> pearling, or the algae.
That sounds a lot like my situation. All my plants have become stunted but
algae still grows, although not as fast as it used to. I think plants would
only exhibit deformities if there was no PO4 entering the water at all. But
there is always some that comes from food or tap water. It's interesting
that filamentous algae grows in such a PO4-limited environment. I've seen
increasing evidence that not all algae problems can be solved by limiting
PO4.
> When I identified phosphorus as the problem in that tank, I cleaned out
> as much of the algae as possible, continued to add small amounts of
> phosphorus (in my case, using Hagen PlantGro) and maintained everything
> else as usual. The plants started growing and the algae didn't come
> back.
Thanks for the suggestion. What is the NO3 level in your tank?
__
Alex R.