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Re: Algae vs plants



>  I am convinced that my GW problem began when I uprooted an Aponogeton bulb
> which I had fertilized with a Jobes stick. I saw the fuzzy white stuff
> floating around and had a bad feeling about it... I was more concerned for
> the fish at the time but probably didn't need to worry about _that_.

I can promise you this was an extremely likely cause. Try this: Toss a Jobes
stick into the tank(say a 20 gal) and don't bury it. Even a well run tank
will run into to trouble by doing this. I got my first GW experience this
way(Thanks Jobes!).
 
 I
> probably did a 30-50% water change then but it clearly wasn't enough. (I
> don't think I will be using Jobes again after this unless I was sure I
> wasn't going to be rearranging the plants for a long time. They turn to
> jelly. I'd be interested in knowing if people who advocate them ever dig
> them up.)

I no longer advocate them unless you plan on not moving them for a long time
and have deep gravel(namely a non CO2 tank-maybe).
> 
> I have tried diatom filtration (Diatomagic) and micron filtration (HOT
> magnum). My local fish store (I can't bring myself to use those new-fangled
> acronyms yet) loaned me the Diatomagic so I only used it for a few hours -
> it definitely cleared the GW some but left a haze. The micron filter
> doesn't seem to have much affect on the haze. The best thing for me has
> been daily 30-50% water changes - I can clearly see the back of my tank at
> least once a day...

This is simply too much work. Use the Diatom longer. Or add mulm/diatom
powder to make the micron filter clog a bit, then filter it.
Run the filter for about 1-2 days and fluff the tank's dead spots up with
your hand etc.
> 
> I have tried and am trying some of the other things too that I don't need
> to go into (but I will say that I made on brief, shamefaced foray into the
> chemical - an application of flocculent too timid to have any effect and
> not repeated). I'm not particularily upset about the GW as it is now - as
> long as I'm making progress. The fish have never been bothered by it as far
> as I can tell.

That is a good thing about GW, doesn't hurt the plants too much nor the
fish. 

> I knew there wasn't going to be an easy answer - I was just hoping for some
> insights from people with experience in this sort of thing! I had actually
> gone to the library for books on phycology (which I frankly wouldn't have
> been able to define before my library visit) but the question as I posed it
> is probably too nebulous for textbook treatment.

The issue is not addressed in our context well.
Folks have used some examples but the examples have large obstacles that
need to be considered before making assumptions. But you got to start
somewhere.
Regards, 
Tom Barr