Patrice
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Base info
This was tested by me Patrice M, from this site info Method of Controlled Imbalances Summary - Algae - Aquatic Plant Central and from that, result was accomplished and new info is explained for your convenient. Seems to be taken from a Russian site and translated.
A lot of problem can be solve, if your plants are controlling your algae. More plants you have, easier it’s going to be. Algae, is a unbalance of fertilizer that can be control if you know what each algae type means. To have no algae is impossible, but, to have minimal to undetectable amount of algae is possible. What you need to know, is what type of algae you want in your aquarium.
Why you fail
Every type of fertilizer dosing method you will try usually fails. Because every water and substrate are not the same, some has hard water, some have soft water, some have low calcium and so on. To find out what you need is simpler then what you think. Sometime you will have one algae that contradict they other. That’s because one day you where missing one type of Fertilizer, and the next day they other type was do low, or to high. To fix that, keep your glass clean and the next day , if you see something on it, that will be the problem you’re having right now.
I don’t like over dosing. So no waste of fertilizer, we will start with a minimum setting and start from there
Dosing:
This dosing is the best and most fail proof way I can think of. In this example I will tell you what to do step by step. You can keep PPs pro, by adjusting your recipe, if you read about what is causing your algae. Still, you will need to add iron the next day that you have added the rest of your Fert.
This dosing, in from the north, in Canada (soft water). You will need to adjust your calcium and magnesium depending on what deficiency you have. Here is my dosing from MCIS( method-controlled-imbalances-summary) in a 32 gallons tank.
15ppm nitrate = .9 gram, 0.20 ppm phosphate and 1 gram magnesium. This recipe change, has the plants grows.
How I dose:
I start dosing using a balance and adding my gram in small jar with distilled water. Make a separated mix of phosphate in a other jar that will give me .1ppm in my aquarium every 1ml. I add 2ml in the jar that I added the fertilizer for the day. Have 3 jars ready for the week. Seem complicated, but, if you need to adjust. You will only lose a bit of your fertilizer And its easier to calculate.
Making a solution
The gram to mL factor is very hard to figure out. There are many dosing calculator online, and all of them give a different answer. So lets say you want 1 litre of solution. Including nitrate, magnesium and phosphate. (potassium, calcium may be added to the list.)This should be how you calculate it.
Divide 1 liter in 4. That will give you 250ml.
Use 250 ml to make nitrate of 15 ppm (if that is the ppm you need)
Take that number and x3, so that’s 45ppm you have in the bottle.
do that with every other fertilizer.
When all fert mix together you will return to 15ppm
p.s. Instead of using a test kit, you should use a balance.
Dosing schedule:
6 day out of 7 (you could do it for 4 days). First day add nitrate, phosphate and magnesium. Second day, your iron. It’s important that you don’t add iron in the same day as your phosphate.
Killing algae
If you have algae in your aquarium like BBA, you will need to kill it. Algae in general don’t die from its self. But let’s say that you have added the right amount of calcium and magnesium, it will be easier to eliminate, because it will not be able to survive the treatment.
Any treatment like fluorite Excel and hydrogen peroxide should remove any type of algae that you have.
There are billions of site telling you how to do so. All you need to remember, if you have lots of one type of algae, killing it, will put back the nutriment in the water making a overdose. Changing your water and fertilizing it after is a must if you have algae problem.
Amano shrimps are amazing cleaner, you should have some in every tanks.
Imbalances algae
HAIR ALGAE
This will form, when you have to mush light. I recommend adding floating plants, and remove the reflector of you aquarium light. This will stop hair algae. From my experience, to mush light will bring other algae in the process, because your burning to fast your fertilizer. In they other hand, some of your plants will need more light. If so, start with a lower light setting and gradually go higher, once you have determine they exact Fertilizer amount you need, you can just add more fert do adapt.
BROWN ALGAE
Brown algae usually mean you have too high sulfate (sulfur). That can happen when you add to much Prime or any fertilizer containing sulfate for the base element, like magnesium sulfate (Epson salt). In lakes, brown happen because you have to much dead leaf(same as Tea). But a blue lake turning brown is done by human that are dumping a sulfate base chemical near, or in the lake, for a easy profit, (like 80% of them).
BBA
True reason for BBA. That's from, to high calcium, or to low magnesium. So, i added 1.2 gram of magnesium in every dosing. You will need to determine if your BBA is extensive or not. If so, that means that you will need more then what I recommended.
dead BBA, turning red, then white.
SPOT ALGAE and DUST ALGAE
Will not disappear from your glass without help. It can be control with the right amount of nitrate "over 15 [FONT="]ppm and phosphate .2ppm[/FONT]." Having spot algae will tell you that no other algae will live in your aquarium. The one that's are there, will survive, but by removing them, you will be ok.
You have spot algae when phosphate is to low or nitrate is to high.
You have dust algae when phosphate is to high or nitrate is to low.
dust algea. easy to remove
spot algae, need a good scrubber
BLACK ALGAE, Staghorn
You see it as black hair coming from substrate and on the plants. That easy, low nitrate and unclean filter. Most likely, unclean filter. Every time you play in the substrate, you need to clean filter at least the next day. It’s mandatory. Water flow is not the cause. There were black algae sticking strait out of they pump output, soooo that make no sense.
Blue-green, SLIME
If you fix your nitrate No3 and Po4 phosphate this stuff will disappear overtime (if in small quantities, like on a corner on rock) the best way to fix this, is with hydrogen peroxide. Add directly on it, no water flow for 30 min, when the lights are on. Don’t overdo it, hydrogen peroxide has a tendency to kill roots type that’s are fragile( swords grass). Just make sure there bubble on it. And repeat the next day. This stuff will fall in the bottom of the tanks and in the gravel. No point of using it on high plants. Remove the plants and clean it in bleach 1 part 20 for 5 min.
P.S. There no point of doing so if you did not adjust you fertilizer.
BLACK SPOT
This can have diffrent look. Can look like dust on gravel or black sand sticking on leaf. I am not confirm this yet, but usually this should existe because you have to high fer and to low mg or to high calcium. I am seing this in my white fake rocks. look like a type of BBA, If you have this you may have also BBA. Lowering your fer by .1ppm and adding .2g of magnesium (32 gallon scale) every week may fix that. I will let you know.
It work, now what?
Now you are probably adding 3 time a week of nitrate phosphate, magnesium, etc to your aquarium. And 3 times a week of iron, leaving you Friday free. From that, if everything look stable, you can compress your 6 days into 4 days. After that. Instead of making your solution every day, you could make a mix bottle, so that you solution can be giving in a simple tablespoon. Even better, using 2 medical pump motors to add you fertilizer automatic every day is a good investment.
This was tested by me Patrice M, from this site info Method of Controlled Imbalances Summary - Algae - Aquatic Plant Central and from that, result was accomplished and new info is explained for your convenient. Seems to be taken from a Russian site and translated.
A lot of problem can be solve, if your plants are controlling your algae. More plants you have, easier it’s going to be. Algae, is a unbalance of fertilizer that can be control if you know what each algae type means. To have no algae is impossible, but, to have minimal to undetectable amount of algae is possible. What you need to know, is what type of algae you want in your aquarium.
Why you fail
Every type of fertilizer dosing method you will try usually fails. Because every water and substrate are not the same, some has hard water, some have soft water, some have low calcium and so on. To find out what you need is simpler then what you think. Sometime you will have one algae that contradict they other. That’s because one day you where missing one type of Fertilizer, and the next day they other type was do low, or to high. To fix that, keep your glass clean and the next day , if you see something on it, that will be the problem you’re having right now.
I don’t like over dosing. So no waste of fertilizer, we will start with a minimum setting and start from there
Dosing:
This dosing is the best and most fail proof way I can think of. In this example I will tell you what to do step by step. You can keep PPs pro, by adjusting your recipe, if you read about what is causing your algae. Still, you will need to add iron the next day that you have added the rest of your Fert.
This dosing, in from the north, in Canada (soft water). You will need to adjust your calcium and magnesium depending on what deficiency you have. Here is my dosing from MCIS( method-controlled-imbalances-summary) in a 32 gallons tank.
15ppm nitrate = .9 gram, 0.20 ppm phosphate and 1 gram magnesium. This recipe change, has the plants grows.
How I dose:
I start dosing using a balance and adding my gram in small jar with distilled water. Make a separated mix of phosphate in a other jar that will give me .1ppm in my aquarium every 1ml. I add 2ml in the jar that I added the fertilizer for the day. Have 3 jars ready for the week. Seem complicated, but, if you need to adjust. You will only lose a bit of your fertilizer And its easier to calculate.
Making a solution
The gram to mL factor is very hard to figure out. There are many dosing calculator online, and all of them give a different answer. So lets say you want 1 litre of solution. Including nitrate, magnesium and phosphate. (potassium, calcium may be added to the list.)This should be how you calculate it.
Divide 1 liter in 4. That will give you 250ml.
Use 250 ml to make nitrate of 15 ppm (if that is the ppm you need)
Take that number and x3, so that’s 45ppm you have in the bottle.
do that with every other fertilizer.
When all fert mix together you will return to 15ppm
p.s. Instead of using a test kit, you should use a balance.
Dosing schedule:
6 day out of 7 (you could do it for 4 days). First day add nitrate, phosphate and magnesium. Second day, your iron. It’s important that you don’t add iron in the same day as your phosphate.
Killing algae
If you have algae in your aquarium like BBA, you will need to kill it. Algae in general don’t die from its self. But let’s say that you have added the right amount of calcium and magnesium, it will be easier to eliminate, because it will not be able to survive the treatment.
Any treatment like fluorite Excel and hydrogen peroxide should remove any type of algae that you have.
There are billions of site telling you how to do so. All you need to remember, if you have lots of one type of algae, killing it, will put back the nutriment in the water making a overdose. Changing your water and fertilizing it after is a must if you have algae problem.
Amano shrimps are amazing cleaner, you should have some in every tanks.
Imbalances algae
HAIR ALGAE
This will form, when you have to mush light. I recommend adding floating plants, and remove the reflector of you aquarium light. This will stop hair algae. From my experience, to mush light will bring other algae in the process, because your burning to fast your fertilizer. In they other hand, some of your plants will need more light. If so, start with a lower light setting and gradually go higher, once you have determine they exact Fertilizer amount you need, you can just add more fert do adapt.
BROWN ALGAE
Brown algae usually mean you have too high sulfate (sulfur). That can happen when you add to much Prime or any fertilizer containing sulfate for the base element, like magnesium sulfate (Epson salt). In lakes, brown happen because you have to much dead leaf(same as Tea). But a blue lake turning brown is done by human that are dumping a sulfate base chemical near, or in the lake, for a easy profit, (like 80% of them).
BBA
True reason for BBA. That's from, to high calcium, or to low magnesium. So, i added 1.2 gram of magnesium in every dosing. You will need to determine if your BBA is extensive or not. If so, that means that you will need more then what I recommended.
dead BBA, turning red, then white.
SPOT ALGAE and DUST ALGAE
Will not disappear from your glass without help. It can be control with the right amount of nitrate "over 15 [FONT="]ppm and phosphate .2ppm[/FONT]." Having spot algae will tell you that no other algae will live in your aquarium. The one that's are there, will survive, but by removing them, you will be ok.
You have spot algae when phosphate is to low or nitrate is to high.
You have dust algae when phosphate is to high or nitrate is to low.
dust algea. easy to remove
spot algae, need a good scrubber
BLACK ALGAE, Staghorn
You see it as black hair coming from substrate and on the plants. That easy, low nitrate and unclean filter. Most likely, unclean filter. Every time you play in the substrate, you need to clean filter at least the next day. It’s mandatory. Water flow is not the cause. There were black algae sticking strait out of they pump output, soooo that make no sense.
Blue-green, SLIME
If you fix your nitrate No3 and Po4 phosphate this stuff will disappear overtime (if in small quantities, like on a corner on rock) the best way to fix this, is with hydrogen peroxide. Add directly on it, no water flow for 30 min, when the lights are on. Don’t overdo it, hydrogen peroxide has a tendency to kill roots type that’s are fragile( swords grass). Just make sure there bubble on it. And repeat the next day. This stuff will fall in the bottom of the tanks and in the gravel. No point of using it on high plants. Remove the plants and clean it in bleach 1 part 20 for 5 min.
P.S. There no point of doing so if you did not adjust you fertilizer.
BLACK SPOT
This can have diffrent look. Can look like dust on gravel or black sand sticking on leaf. I am not confirm this yet, but usually this should existe because you have to high fer and to low mg or to high calcium. I am seing this in my white fake rocks. look like a type of BBA, If you have this you may have also BBA. Lowering your fer by .1ppm and adding .2g of magnesium (32 gallon scale) every week may fix that. I will let you know.
It work, now what?
Now you are probably adding 3 time a week of nitrate phosphate, magnesium, etc to your aquarium. And 3 times a week of iron, leaving you Friday free. From that, if everything look stable, you can compress your 6 days into 4 days. After that. Instead of making your solution every day, you could make a mix bottle, so that you solution can be giving in a simple tablespoon. Even better, using 2 medical pump motors to add you fertilizer automatic every day is a good investment.
