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Re: Algea and PMDD
Hello Mike,
I add two to three times the amount of nitrate that you have
been adding to a brightly lit, CO2 fed tank. I share the same
water. You will probably want to look for some SAEs for the
pelt algae. You seem to have verified the point that BGA can
be minimized by adding nutrients to enable plant growth.
I haven't found a phosphate kit to be of much use, but with
our soft water a pH kit is a must.
Mike Charlton asked...
>Hi all.
>
>About 2 weeks ago I started adding PMDD to my tank. I had been using
>kent fertilizer and I was battling a small green algea/cyano bacteria
>problem. I've never had any measurable amounts of nitrate in my
>tank and so I figured my tank was a good candidate for PMDD (especially
>since I live in Ottawa).
>
>Anyway, I've been adding them for about 2 weeks now and I have gotten
>rid of the cyano bacteria completely. Unfortunately, I have a huge
>problem with pelt algea. Today I looked into the tank and noticed some
>filament algea as well.
>
>I'm having a hard time keeping my nitrate levels at a measurable level.
>Lately I've been adding 5 ml of 0.5 molar KNO3 to my 180 liter tank
>per day (about 0.8 ppm NO3). This seems like alot to me. I'm using
>aquarium pharmaceutical's nitrate test. Is it perhaps faulty?
>
>I've also been trying to measure my phosphate levels. Unfortunately my
>AP phosphate test is vitually useless. I seem to have less than 0.5 ppm
>phosphate, but I'm not sure that this information is useful to me :-).
>
>So after all that preamble, I'd like to get some advice. Should I assume
>that my plants are still nitrogen limited and that the increased algea
>growth is due to the fact that I have been adding nitrate while there is
>still lots of phosphate in the water? Or should I assume that my test kit
>is faulty and cut back on the nitrate (If I've done my math right, I'm
>currently adding 10 times the suggested amount)?
>
>I'm going to get some other test kits. Are there any that people suggest
>(I'd like to stay in the $20 range)? Does anyone know where to get a
>good test kit in Ottawa (mail order to ThatPetPlace.com took over 2 weeks
>last time)?
--
Dave Whittaker
Gloucester, Ontario
Canada
ac554 at FreeNet_Carleton.ca