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[APD] Re: SW nutrient levels



>As there's been talk of saltwater tanks recently can this also be said of
>these? Many 'experts' state that high phosphate levels in a marine tank
>equals rampant algae growth over your rocks and corals. Is that true?

>Graham

Well so far it has been true(PO4 not NO3).

I believe less is needed depending on what/which species you have in the tank. 
If it's all Ulva, Chaetomorpha etc, I think it will grow faster, if it's mainly slower growers, you'll get lots of diatoms over the glass etc. Some Caulerpa's have responded negative to high  dosages. 

Low pulses in a well run tank seem to work, but food/decomposition likely provides enough PO4.
Iron, K+ and NO3 seem to work well and the range of tolerances are pretty wide.

PO4 does not seem to be as easy. 

Ca++ and alkalinity are certainly huge factors and need to be kept up on(Kalk, CaCl2, Baking soda, Kalkreactor dosings etc). This al;ong with lack of NO3 are the two biggest issues with most problems dealing with Macro Algae and refugiums today.
Most folks can dose the iron in semi regular intervals that generally do not reduce growth.  

Many problems exist that exist with Fw plants concerning NO3 and getting good test kits to measure this parameter.

Look, it cost $ to change large amounts of SW, it also takes more care raising up a bunch of macro's only to have them die off when they run out food. 
Folks will spend 1000$ for filters, or lights or livestock then 5-15$ for cheesy NO3 kit. 

Get a good Lamott etc if you plan on actually keeping moderate low NO3 levels.

Don't trust those cheap kits. 

Many people assume they have 5ppm of NO3 when very often they have 0.0 ppm of NO3 in BOTH FW and SW tanks.


No NO3 and guess what you get? Nasty algae.
Marine and FW plants are a great deal more tolerant of PO4 limitation.

Regards, 
Tom Barr


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