[APD] Re: siesta

[Thomas Barr <tcbiii at earthlink_net>]

>Thanks for your comments Tom! Would you have a link to this
>info?


Try AQ: 
Aquaticquotient.com
APC:
Aquaticplantcentral.com

> I tried a search, but couldn't find it -- the search function on
>the digest pages isn't terribly selective. BTW, at least some of
>the info on algae in this book seems to be quite good. (At least,
>they preach the same thing that you do: look after the plants,
>and the algae will look after themselves.)

They seem to have come around in the last couple of years, in the past, they were not so enlightened.
Better than many companies but still have a long way to go.

>> I think what is occuring is that the CO2 is mildly insufficent. Turning
>>off the lights stops the CO2 uptake.
>> This gives the CO2 system and chance to catch up.

>In my case, I don't think that would apply. I have the CO2 on a pH
>monitor, so it never leaves the range 6.70-6.80, at a KH of 4.5,
>which works out to about 20-30ppm CO2.

Don't assume that without checking it.
Error on the high side.
But will siesta do anything?
I'm trying to think of as reason why it might.
That's the best reason I can figure.

>> I suppose just try it and see but you need to be sure that the light in
>>and of itself is the causative variable.

>I'm doing this at the moment. Not so much to try and reduce algae, but
>to reduce light overall. My new tank has been set up for three weeks now.

Well, you do not have an established stable system to test.
You also need to do this several times, not just once to make any reasonable conclusion.

>Things are going extremely well, not a trace of algae on the plants. But
>I am getting a small amount of very thin hair algae growing on stones
>and the background (pieces of Indian slate glued to the back pane).

That's a not a real issue and can be cleaned off.

>I'm looking for ideas for how to deal with that. It's not threatening at
>the moment, just annoying -- there is a thin coating (maybe 3-4mm
>in length) on the background. The algae threads are extremely thin
>(less than 1/10 mm in diameter). It looks a bit like a coating of green
>velvet.

Probably green dust algae. Scrub off and see if it reappears in a an hour or two.
If so, then that's your alga.
Scrub off and then immediately do a large water change to remove all the zoospores that will reattach back to the glass/rocks.
It tends to go away on it's own after a few times of this. 

>I'm dosing traces daily, and NO3 and PO4 every second day. (Especially
>PO4 seems to disappear about as quickly as I pour it in, from 0.5ppm to
>nearly zero within 48 hours.) 

Still think PO4 causes algae and that plants don't use it?

>Interestingly, the three pieces of driftwood in
>the tank do not show any algae growth. I find the algae only on the stones
>and, to a lesser extent, on the glass.

Sounds like green dust.
They do not like wood(so called epidendritic algae) and may be called epilithic algae.
You can take out the rocks also and clean with bleach etc, and then scrub glass and vacuum up any settled algae.

>At the moment, my thinking is that I have to reduce light to get rid of that
>algae. (I'm using two 150W metal halides plus two 36W fluoros. The
>halides are Osram WDL, and the flouros are Osram 840.) But I'd be
>keen to get suggestions as to what else I could try.

You can leaves the lights on.
Blackouts can work to beat it back.
I'd pass on that unless the other methods do not work after 2-3 weeks.

>> > "Algae obviously dislike the `siesta'."
>
>> It's not so obvious to me.

>No, it's not obvious to me either.

Bad use of the o word.
All sorts of places have clouds, lighting changes, many of the plants are not from the tropics but rather the subtropics/temperature regions. 

>What would be the minimum lighting period that could be used
>before the plants would seriously suffer? 

Time wise or intensity or a combo of both?

>I know that Kasselmann
>suggest that the absolute minimum is 8-9 hours. 

7-8 sounds fine.
I've never resorted to this though.

>I'm down to 9 hours
>now, and I'm still getting that green hair algae. Should I reduce light
>further? Or am I overdosing on traces? (I'm using Duplaplant 24
>daily, ten drops into 130gal.)

Not overdosing traces, justr kill/remove what's there and the tank should balance out.
I've had trouble keeping GD alive for more than a 2-3 weeks.
Most algae eaters don't seem to eat it.
I would say you are underdosing if anything.

I add 20-25mls(roughly 20 drops per ml) 3x a week in that same sized tank.
That's likely far more than needed though for your lighting level.

Just be agressive in the cleaning of it, remove what's there etc.
Keep adding nutrients light etc.

It should go away after a couple of agressive cleanings.
Many algae go away if you pick on them like that.

Regards, 
Tom Barr

>Cheers,
>Michi.

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