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Re: Growing conditions for plants & algae
>The algae problem continues. It's not really severe, but enough to keep me
>alert. To objectify: I have to remove the green algae coat from the front
>and side glass screens every other day to maintain a pleasant 'look'.
>Green 'coating' algae on the plant leaves and driftwood seem to be
>controlled by the five SAEs fairly well, but there are some 'hairy' algae
>on some of the plants, especially on the fine-leaved Rotala wallichi
>(sp?). Sorry I can't idenitfy the algae correctly. The hairy algae make
>long threads which float in the current like flags in the wind. The SAEs
>don't seem to like them too much. Despite these algae, the wallichi are
>still growing well.
Have you tested for nitrates? The only time I've had the hairy algae
problem is when my nitrates have gotten high (>20ppm). Doing water changes
& reducing fish numbers worked for me - this was in a 125 gal tank stocked
with approx. 1 inch of fish per gal of water & I reduced it to 0.5 inches
of fish per gallon of water & increased lighting & added CO2 to boost
plant growth & now it stays at 0-5 ppm nitrates with no algae problems.
Also, your CO2 addition rate (bubble count) seems too high. I think I've
heard that one bubble per 3 sec is optimum - try reducing the bubble count
& see if it makes a difference to pH. I believe that there is probably
a max. saturation level for CO2 & you are probably not doing much *good*
by adding excess CO2.
Subject: Clay vs plasitic pots
>In the last APD, Karen Randall mentioned the used of putting sword plant
>into a CLAY pot. I also put plants into pots. Good idea. But why do
>people usually suggest 'clay'.
I just use clay pots because they were much cheaper than the plastic
aquarium ones that I'd seen for sale. I don't see any advantage or
disadvantage with plastic or clay.