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Re:Green water




George Slusarczuk said:

>.....Spring and Fall algal blooms are a known phenomenon in nature. It is not
>too farfetched that they also happen in aquaria.
>
>Does exposure to daylight matter, or do algae have an internal clock?
>Mussels do: They will open and shut in synchronization with tides of
>their place of origin, despite living in an aquarium in, say, Kansas!.....

The Spring and Fall algal blooms in lakes result from the injection of
nutrients into the surface water as a result of mixing with deeper water.
During summer and winter, the water is thermally stratified and the
nutrients in the surface water where there is enough light for
photosynthesis get depleated.  The thermal stratification is broken up
during Spring and Fall because of the changing temperatures.
>

James Purchase said:

>.....Now, I admit that I am over my head here, but I suspect that Dave is not.
>Whether or not "reducing agents" will prevent the oxidation of iron is not
>really the point - will they at least retard the oxidation process long
>enough to allow the plants to capture sufficient iron to meet their needs?
>It is generally recommended that Iron supplements be used frequently, [i.e.
>Dupla recommends daily additions] so would the gluconate formulation be just
>as effective from a practical standpoint in an aquarium as iron cheleated
>with E.D.T.A?.....
>
Oxidation is the loss of electrons and reduction is the gain of electrons.
Oxygen is, not surprisongly, a strong oxidizing agent.  That means that it
has a strong tendency to take up electrons from other molecules.  As long
as O2 is present, ferrous iron will be quickly reduced.  It doesn't matter
what reducing agents are present, also, unless you had a reducing agent
that reduced all the oxygen.  That would work, but we wouldn't want that in
our tanks.  Any reducing agent that retarded the oxidation of ferrous iron
would have to do so by drastically lowering the O2 concentration.

Paul Krombholz, in cool, moist, central Mississippi