Phos (P) in lakes vs tanks

[Delapool]

Came across an article which reports P setting off lake algae growth at 0.025ppm. Well below most tanks I'd think and yet the majority of aquariums are largely algae free - anyone know any reasons or thoughts why?

http://www.ipni.net/ppiweb/bcrops.nsf/$webindex/AD82B42544B82084852568F0006D68AF/$file/98-1p08.pdf

 

[Fresh2o]

I can only speculate that we're dealing with sunlight in all its spectrum(s) and intensity. In the home aquaria the CO2 concentrations can be much higher than found in natural bodies of water.
I deal with persistent hair algae in my pond. I add no nutrients (other than an occasional feeding for the fish). It is reduced when shading occurs from the lily pad leaves.

 

[Delapool]

That's a great point on sunlight - I hate it anywhere near the tanks. Even the display tank in the centre of the room, I used to notice got more algae on the side near the windows (or possibly just paranoid).

 

[Fresh2o]

I get afternoon sun in my Planted tank if I don't draw the blinds. No issue with the plants but the BBA and GSA on the hardscape is a pain.
Phosphate is always going to be associated with algae. It is a trigger but other factors need to be accounted for as well.

 

[Bert2oo1]

I've seen a lot of people talking about this laterly. People have even been putting phosphate absorbing medias into canister filters to remove excess phos.

Personally I've never had an issue with high phosphate levels. Back when I was dosing EI I was between 5-10 ppm of phosphate and didn't have any algae at all.
Infact I was double dosing it for a while and still didn't notice any difference lol

I think people tend to blame phosphates before anything else because it's easy to get rid of etc. sunlight plays a huge roll, I've got my Ada tank about 3 meters from a window that gets full sun and the GSA is worse on the window side than the other side.

I think it's far too common for people to buy these massively powerful lights and blast them in the tank and then get a mass of algae and blame phosphates or lack of co2 or other ferts issues.

I read an article on phosphates on ukaps and it was explaining that the make up DNA of most aquatic plants is actually a high % of phosphate and that higher levels of phosphate will increase growth rate in plants rather than harming anything [emoji106]


Also I agree with fresh about the BBA, I haven't had a problem with BBA in the 60g at all but the Ada tank is the same spot as my old 29g that I had and it's growing BBA on the driftwood. It could be 2 things, either it's appeared from when my co2 wasn't working properly and going up and down due to not holding a bubble count or it has to be the sunlight the tank get through the day. Plants are BBA free apart from some old growth of bolbitis but the driftwood is starting to look pretty fluffy.

Very interesting stuff [emoji106]

 

[Caliban07]

In natural waters Po4 is strongly limiting . Mainly because Po4 as you know is highly reactive and forms many insoluble and plant unavailable compounds. Therefore it would make sense that in the event of a sudden influx of Po4 the balance is lost and algae can gain a foothold. Especially in the summer when the sun is strong.

In a high tech planted tank there are no limitations and as Fresh stated co2 is maximising plant nutrient uptake. In a planted tank that has healthy growing plants algae will be rare. We don't know why but it's a common observation we all have as hobbyist. In this instance excessive Po4 is not the sole cause of algae. However, if plant growth is not optimised and you lose this balance you will be hard pressed to control algae without controlling all excess nutrients including Po4.

 

[Delapool]

Good points

Just out of curiosity - does anyone have sunlight par at I guess water surface? Was interested in how our lights compare (started looking but got side-tracked on how plants/algae cope with light changes).

 

[Caliban07]

Sunlight is far beyond the PAR of any lighting fixture. It will vary of course for a number of different reasons but this is the reason I sometimes feel that lowering the light is often less desirable for most plants. It's managing the nutrients that is key.

Without getting too scientific.

https://youtu.be/-vTWQeuZIhE

 

[Delapool]

Whoo! Is that a reading of 1,608 or so??

 

[Caliban07]

Sure is. Surface will be much higher too

 

[Delapool]

Wow again - no wonder pool maintenance people are always on about keeping pool chemicals dosed properly.

 

[Bert2oo1]

Wow again - no wonder pool maintenance people are always on about keeping pool chemicals dosed properly.

My dads got a pool and he is constantly throwing in handfuls of chlorine, the pump broke once and the pool went completely green (like dark green) within a week. That's some intense lighting!

Sent u a pm too dela [emoji106]