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Meredith

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
Aug 25, 2004
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I think I may have to rip everything out and start again. I am now getting hair algae. There is not much I will be able to do about it until I can get ahold of some proper test kits and see what I am lacking as far as nutrients go, but in the mean time, I am thinking of doing some agressive trimming on my wisteria and my swords. Eliminating all the leaves infected with the algae, which is almost all of them. Will they grow back or or die off if I do this? Is it even a good idea? I think I will also have to remove all the anacharis (sorry Jc) its pretty well covered with hair algae. I don't know if I can save it. :(
 
Sorry to hear that Meredith. I may be making another thread soon about hair algae, you've given me something to think about. I hope you can nip this in the bud and get it out of the way while saving your plants.
 
Before you pull out the plants (and quite possibly, your hair...no pun intended :D ), try what I did a couple of weeks ago.

I noticed the first strands occurring, was advised to test for NO3 and found that I was hovering at @ 4ppm. I had completely forgotten that I never increased my bio-load (N) to coincide with the addition of several heavy nutrient gluttons.

I did a nice cleaning (toothbrush works on hair algae...it really does), pruned the leaves or stems that weren't salvageable and began dosing N. The hair algae was gone within the week.
 
Jc, did you brush the plants with the tooth brush? Nitrates I can test for. Do you use the flourish line to dose nitrates?
 
Jchillin said:
Yep, toothbrush...medium. I use flourish for all my fertilizing needs. :D
Click to expand...

If I used Flourish, I'd go broke, lol. With the amound I've been having to dose, Greg Watsons is the only way to go for me at high lighting. I'm still thinking I'm going to have to up my dosing more. But I do think I'm making headway. :) Also, will have to try the medium toothbrush. :)
 
I just checked out greg watson.com
The dry stuff looks like its very well priced but what the heck is the difference between Potassium Sulfate, Potassium Nitrate, Mono Potassium Phosphate, Calcium Nitrate.
Some of my plant symptoms suggest potassium deficiency, but what kind is the best? If you dose the potassium nitrate do you get both potassium and nitrate? I feel very dumb.

*edit* WOW. Its almost 12 dollars to have them ship a $2 order.
 
The Potassium Sulfate is what you use for Potassium. The Potassium Nitrate is for nitrate dosing. And mono-potassium phosphate is for your phosphate dosing. And when used, the 1lb bags lasts a while for me. Much longer than a bottle of Flourish. The phosphate and the CSM+B you can make solutions for. But the nitrate and potassium is easiest dosed dry. Just mix in a cup of warm water and dissolve.
 
The only thing the calculator on the webpage doesn't do is the dry dosing. They have a calculator software you can download that does the same thing, but also gives you the amounts you need if you dry dose as well. I tried the nitrate as a solution and had the toughest time getting it all to disolve. Finally got it by doubling the water with water from a coffeemaker, hot. After I use up my solution, will dry dose nitrogen from now on.
 
FWIW, I only get hair algae when I bottom out N.
Meredith said:
Some of my plant symptoms suggest potassium deficiency, but what kind is the best? If you dose the potassium nitrate do you get both potassium and nitrate? I feel very dumb.
Click to expand...
Don't feel dumb :) Yes, you get both potassium and nitrate from potassium nitrate (KNO3), and would need to dose at least 15ppm nitrate to reach your minimum potassium target. As said, if you want to control potassium alone, potassium sulfate (K2SO4) is good. If you would rather not pay for shipping from Greg, your local hardware store/nursery should have KNO3 as Grant's or GreenLight Stump Remover. Its $6/lb around here. You can still use Chuck's Calc for it.

(You can use Chuck's online calc for dry dosing by entering 1mL for "Amount of water to mix with.")

Its also good to read Malkore's fert sticky a few times. :)

HTH
 
Those two brands are. I was incredulous at first too, but then happily used Grant's for months before my first Greg Watson order. You'll find numerous references online, including emails from company reps verifying this.
 
I was using Flourish Nitrogen, Potassium, Phosphate, Trace, and Comprehensive. Was getting too spendy for me. Will finish what I have and then use my Greg Watsons stuff. :)
 
I had hair algae everywhere, my N was bottoming out too...added more N, and some P, and with the help of my algae eating army, it was gone in less than two weeks. Hang in there! My tank looked so awful, I never thought it would go away and it did.
 
Meredith,

As mentioned KNO3 will give you both potassium and nitrAte. One of the reasons why dry ferts can be superior to off the shelf products is the flexibility. Based on your tap water and tank you can find the specific chemical that will give you 2 nutrients at once. Not only is this easier and cheaper, but your not putting an unwanted chemical in the tank (sulphate or chloride for example).

In a low bioload tank KNO3 is the perfect potassium suppliment since it will also dose a healthy amount of nitrAte. It's always great to have a variety of chemicals to dose with (since if you need to dose 20-30ppm potassium which is common), you probably don't want to dose 20-30ppm nitrAte at once (the fish might not like such a sudden jump).

In a larger bioload tank K2SO4 is much more attractive, and for certain brackish tanks (or with non-fragile fish species) KCl is welcomed. You can mix and match to find out exactly how much of each macronutrient is needed in your tank and instead of dosing 4-5 chemicals you might only need 2 or 3.
 
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