Re: [APD] CO2 and Algae

["J.K. Endow" <jkendow at gmail_com>]

I assume CO2 supplementation would increase the growth of "algae" as well,
to a point.  However, I think they actually say higher plants are not able
to compete with "algae" when there is an abundance of nutrients. When
nutrients are limited higher plants are able to remobilize the nutrients
within themselves, while algae are generally not able to do so.
Furthermore, higher plants probably cannot exchange CO2 as readily as
"algae" that are single-cellular or filamentous, so they will benefit more
at higher concentrations of CO2 than algae.  If this is the case, increasing
CO2 levels would make the other nutrients limiting for algae, while for
plants the conditions may become more optimal.

Maybe?

JE

On Sun, Feb 7, 2010 at 12:43 PM, Bill <billpers at comcast_net> wrote:

> Standard advice to people whose aquariuims are plagued with algae is often,
> "Add more CO2."
>
> That seems to work in many cases.  My question is, Why?
>
> Does CO2 directly kill algae or stop it from multiplying?  I think not; as
> a plant, algae should benefit from CO2.
>
> Does CO2 enable plants to grow faster?  Yes.  But how does that affect
> algae?
>
> People say that higher plants can't outcompete algae for nutrients.  The
> higher plants need much more nutrient than does algae; by the time the algae
> feels the impact of lower nutrients, the macrophytes would be suffering.
>
> Does the growth of the mactophytes reduce the amount of light that the
> algae gets, thus limiting it that way?  That could be, but such growth would
> also limit the growth of other macrophytes.
>
> Why does increasing CO2 often control algae?
>
> Bill
> _______________________________________________
> Aquatic-Plants mailing list
> Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com
> http://mailman.actwin.com/mailman/listinfo/aquatic-plants
>
_______________________________________________
Aquatic-Plants mailing list
Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com
http://mailman.actwin.com/mailman/listinfo/aquatic-plants