re: mega dosing

[paragon <para111 at yahoo_com>]

From: Thomas Barr <tcbiii at earthlink_net> 
Date: Thu, 20 Mar 2003 23:27:38 -0500 
-------------------------

> I think that instinctively wanting to keep the tank
> leaner-running due to the high light might be
> detrimental (trying to be intuitive and anticipate
> excess under strong light). In fact, maybe the
> opposite is necessary. Richer conditions than would
> seem unreasonable at first for higher-light tanks
may
> be needed for strong growth. Keeping N/P "just
> measurable" [or on the lean side] might not be good
> enough. 

>> "More light = more nutrients, more uptake. But...
>> But..........rather than the mega dosing approach, 
>> more frequent dosing is all that's needed."

Granted, that is a certainty. My point, which I wasn't
too articulate in bringing across, is that even in
relatively strongly-lit setups, we can afford to run
conditions rather rich. (Those who have had consistent
results keeping things lean might naturally try to
emulate this even as light levels increased. This has
been my tendency, anyhow. It takes a little practice
but I know I'm not alone; Jeff Kropp and others have
it down to a science.)

In short, it's likely that line of thinking leads to
diminishing returns in stronger-lit setups. Whereas
there is a relatively wide range by which one can
manage their NPK levels in most moderately-lit tanks,
in more brightly-lit tanks I think that many species
will be much less tolerant of typically lean
conditions (I can run a couple ppm N03- in a well-lit
setup with time to tinker with color, growth rates,
etc; the tolerance for these conditions prior to
clearly lacking plant growth is high, and surely
indicated by color, leaf size, and so on. In
strongly-lit setups the burnrate is so fast that a
couple ppm does not allow for timely adjustment. So,
more N = a larger window to play around with). 

So, even if N & P are measurable, they may need to be
more abundantly available for truly strong growth to
become apparent in certain species. I have a feeling I
repeated myself 5 times over, and this isn't
necessarily covering new ground, but hopefully that
made sense. :-p

Erik Leung
e-aquaria.com

__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Platinum - Watch CBS' NCAA March Madness, live on your desktop!
http://platinum.yahoo.com