High KH / GH

[ricardo48]

In anyway shape or form does having a higher KH or GH affect how much or little algae you can get?

Does it also affect dosage requirements for fertilisers etc. I read that softer water does not precipitate as much of what you add out but with hard water you almost have to double dose to compensate for what gets lost?

 

[mgamer20o0]

never heard that. have ro water and tap water with high gh kh never seen a difference for the most part

 

[ricardo48]

Read it on another forum... Harder water has more free ions which can bond with chemicals you add to tank causing more of it to precipitate out and be lost.

Maybe we are talking about a small % difference that its hard to really see a change?

 

[timwag2001]

do you have the link? im kinda interested in it

 

[ricardo48]

Traces and high GH - Fertilizing - Aquatic Plant Central

 

[mgamer20o0]

dennis there seems to ahve the right idea. heck EI is just dump plenty in so you dont have to worry about it. dry ferts are cheap and i dont worry about it.

 

[ricardo48]

Can you use liquid ferts and just dumo plenty in and make sure you are changing 50% water at week end?

 

[mgamer20o0]

yea same thing.

 

[timwag2001]

same thing but extemely expensive!

 

[timwag2001]

i wonder how hard the water has to be before you have to consider upping your dosage? i would be a little apprehensive about putting too much Fe in the tank.

hmmm... just when i think i'm getting the hang of all of dosing the cops come and throw a spike strip under my tires. the car just came to a stop!

 

[ricardo48]

Not that expensive on a 14 gallon tank though. all my seachem stuff cost me £20 and should last about 8 months.

 

[timwag2001]

its not that expensive to dose according to the bottle. ei you would be dosing more.

 

[ricardo48]

My bottle says dose 2-3 times per week. I am doing 3-4 times and still the bottle would last about 8 months. So £6.99 for 8 months isnt bad

 

[rkilling1]

Not that expensive on a 14 gallon tank though. all my seachem stuff cost me £20 and should last about 8 months.

its not that expensive to dose according to the bottle. ei you would be dosing more.

My bottle says dose 2-3 times per week. I am doing 3-4 times and still the bottle would last about 8 months. So £6.99 for 8 months isnt bad

It is that expensive. Timwag is talking about maintaining an EI routine and the cost associated with using those Seachem products.

Example:

Assumptions:
Your NO3 is being used up by your plants and algae.
You are dosing per EI. (3x a week to obtain atleast 10 PPM NO3's)

Using the equation from the Seachem website for nitrogen.

0.25vn=m

0.25(14gallons)(10ppm)= 35mls.

So...in order to maintain EI NO3's and dose 3x a week, you have to add just over 100 mls of that stuff a week!!

That's what you call expensive.

 

[ricardo48]

Im still getting black beard growth even though im dosing all macro nutrients and traces daily, my co2 is 30ppm and im dosing excel. I change 15% of my water twice a week.

Is my bioload causing my algae? My 14 gallon has

2 golden gourami
4 harlequin rasboras
4 glowlight tetra
3 platys
4 baby platy ( 5 week old fry )
3 octocinclus

 

[timwag2001]

your bio load is a little bit high, i would prob do 50% water changes. http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm.
what do you have for lighting?
diy or pressurized co2?

 

[ricardo48]

Lighting is 8 hours a day with 2x24 watt t5 ho flora glo bulbs at 6700K

2 DIY co2 bottles giving me 30ppm... measured using ph pen

 

[timwag2001]

are you sure that they are flora glo bulbs. i thought that they didnt make t5 floraglo.

i be that your problem is all with your co2. diy fluctuates. if the bottles get cold they produce less co2 and if the sun hits them they will start to shoot out tons and then die down a lot as they cool down. then if they start to get old they start to produce less. and you have a hob filter. that off gasses co2 out of your tank.