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Re: [APD] My 90 Gall tank



Beth
Tom just responded to your first post - with far more authority than I 
have.  My further 2 cents worth is:  You can clean the tank all you 
want, but don't drain out a big percentage of the water when you do it. 
  When you add a big dollop of tap water you may be adding a spike of 
dissolved CO2, and that may trigger the algae.

You can have much more than double the recommended levels of phosphate, 
nitrate, and other fertilizer, without causing algae problems - algae 
is not caused by high fertilizer levels.  Far better to have more than 
needed than to have less or a wildly fluctuating level.  NO3 level to 
aim for, as I recall, is about 20-30 ppm.

If you don't use CO2, don't use super high light level, and add reduced 
amounts of fertilizer only once a week, I don't see why you can't have 
a nice open look like you want.  Just avoid spiking the CO2 level with 
water changes ("condition" water in a container before adding, for 
example) and avoid any ammonia spikes by not over feeding and keeping 
dead leaves and fish cleaned out.

I'm sure others will correct my errors here!

Vaughn H.

On Friday, January 27, 2006, at 08:10 PM, Beth Lang wrote:

> I'm sorry, I didn't make it clear.  The phosphate level .75 is after 
> putting
> the remover in.  I had a terrible outbreak of thread algae before I 
> reduced
> the phosphate level.  Apparently, we have a lot in our tap water.  I 
> am also
> using Kent Freshwater Plant and Pro-Plant once a week.  One of those 
> is for
> the purpose of increasing nitrates.  Mine use to be zero.  I thought 5 
> was
> an acceptable level for a planted tank.  Should I fertilize more often 
> then?
>
>
>
> I understand about cleaning the tank and its relationship to CO2.  Are 
> you
> suggesting that I never clean the tank?  I plan to fully stock this 
> tank and
> don't understand how that would be good for the fish.  My tank is only
> partially planted because I like a nice open and clean look.  Will it 
> be
> possible to achieve this and avoid adding CO2?
>
>
>
> Thanks for your help.
>
>
>
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