[APD] RE: brown algae problem

[Laura Burbage <leuhrich at yahoo_com>]

Jared,

This doesn't answer your question, but I am wondering
about your DI water.  Are you adding anything to it to
reconstitute some necessary ions?  I use DI water too
(to get rid of very high phosphates in my tap).  If I
don't reconstitute it and add some salt, I get
terrible fish disease problems.  Not having ANY ions
in the water is very stressful, even on soft water
fish.  A simiple way to correct this is by adding a
commercial product like Ken't R/O Right, sodium
bicarbonate, and aquarium salt.  There are
instructions on the R/O right jar to make soft water
for discus.  Note that regular salt (very necessary
for the fish) does not raise hardness.  I make my own
"R/O Right" using a recipe given by Roger Miller
(http://fins.actwin.com/aquatic-plants/month.9908/msg00014.html).
 It is a lot less expensive that way.  You can combine
all the ingredients (except the calcium pills) in a
jar, mix, then add them all together when needed.

I'll be honest, though:  I'm not sure really how much
aquarium salt to add when I am adding sodium
bicarbonate.  Does anyone have any thoughts on this? 
The salt gives a general amount for tap water.  Not
sure if the sodium bicarbonate gives enough sodium, or
if more is needed (especially if/when battling
disease).  I add about 1/2 the recommended salt, as a
guess.

The only thing I know about brown algae is that it can
be diatomaceous, promoted by excess silica, which your
water isn't supplying.  If it is leaching out of your
substrate, perhaps frequent water changes for a couple
of months will get it out of the system.

Good luck,
Laura


> Message: 4
> Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2004 08:23:48 -0800
> From: "Jared Morris" <jmorris at infostations_com>
> Subject: [APD] brown algae problem
> To: "aquatic plants digest" <aquatic-> 
> plants at actwin_com>

> OK, so I've had my 37 gallon Southeast Asian biotope

> plant tank going 
> for about a month now.  I'm following what seems to
> be a pretty standard 
> Barr method.  I am getting good growth out of the
> dwarf red lily and 
> the rotala indica, but the cryps are going a lot 
> slower (but have yet to 
> melt).

> True to the subject though, I do have an algae 
> problem.  It's a 
> brownish film on the leaves of all the plants, it is
> pretty hard to rub off 
> without crushing the leaves, but possible on tough 
> leaved plants... but 
> it just comes back in a day or two.  Here's the 
> setup:

> I use pure DI water to keep the hardness low.  
> Thoughts?
.....truncated.....

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