algae free mangrove tank

["Kinney, Travis" <kinney at pdtarchs_com>]

This is interesting, so I thought I'd share it. I have a 20G red mangrove
swamp with a sand substrate. My lighting is 150-watt high pressure sodium
light (yes it's yellow and ugly, but it was free). No co2 injection, since
the mangrove leaves are not submerged. I've been tossing some clippings into
this tank along with some plants that haven't been doing well because of
some hair algae(amazon sword, crypt wendti, hydrilla verticullata, marsilea,
and Lilaeopsis novaezelandiae). My nitrate level in the tank was at least
30ppm if not closer to or above 50ppm. I've been placing jobe spikes around
the base of the mangroves and they seem to love it. New leaves, lots of
roots etc. What I found interesting is that there is no algae in the tank.
Even the cutting I put in the tank that had hair algae are doing well.
There's no filter, and I don't vacuum the gravel, and I only top off the
water and haven't changed any of the water. Don't know what this all means,
but I thought it was interesting that I didn't end up with a tangled mess of
hair algae.

-Travis