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A fertilizing mess



The last week of November I set up a 75 gallon, heavily planted, tank.  I 
work at a horticulture experiment station and have access to many 
different fertilizers.  One of our best fertilizers is the brand 
Nutricote.  I decided I would add some 360 day, slow release formulation 
to my gravel as if I were planting a terestrial plant.  The result of 
this decision is that my ammonia levels are always up over 7ppm, however 
my fish haven't shown any signs of stress yet.  Algae hasn't been too 
bad, yet; I've got 10 SAE's, 5 otocinclus and 1 clown pl*co.  I've tried 
vaccuuming the fertilizer out of the gravel with my python but it doesn't 
provide enough suction to pull the fertilizer prills out of the tank.  
I'm thinking of attaching my gravel cleaner to my Magnum 350 to see if it 
will create enough of a vaccuum to pull the prills out of the aquarium.  
Any other suggestions?  My plants are all looking great but if I can't 
remove a goodly amount of the fertilizer I think I'm stuck with frequent 
H2O changes to keep my ammonia and phosphate levels down and my pH up.

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*	Chazz Hesselein					*
*	P.O. Box 81508					*
*	Mobile, AL 36689				*
*	voice: 334-316-3772				*
*	email: maf01562 at maf_moblile.al.us		*
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