fish_4_all said:
LOL, yes but it was the iron that did it.
It was my failure to keep up with the tanks though that was the ultimate cause. I wanted the NO3 to get lower and start being used up. Well it got used up alright because I had a lot of excess iron from dosing on top of multiple root tabs in the tank. Was inevitable regardless of my iron levels, it just brought it up a little faster. Now I just have to make sure I remember to dose PO4 when it finally gets low enough to need it and before signs of deficiency start to show and I have to blame Mg or CA for the problem.
I guess I have reached another "stage" since I now have fast consumption heavy planted tanks. Now maybe I will be able to enjoy the tank a little more. Almost ready for EI, not quite because I don't understand it completly yet but this experience helps me understand it a little more. That and I am not ready to do 3-5 water changes to reset my PO4. Will let it run low by itself and then give dosing with EI a try.
Thanks for being nice, some of just have to learn the hard way. That and I need to know my tanks are using the nutrients fast enough to warrent EI and once I am there, I will use it just to make the whole process a little easier.
BTW, what are the signs of PO4 deficiency so I know what to look for? Glowing veins with alien mutations?
I'm certinly a person that has to do things myself.
I've learned to be inherently suspicious in this hobby with good reason.
Much of the advice was wrong.
While you might believe the Fe caused it, in order for that hypothesis to be true, I should be able to add Fe to excessive levels and induce algae.
But........
I cannot and never have for well past 12-15 years now.
So in order for that to be the cause, not mere correlation, I would have to get algae.
I cannot reproduce that in any of my tanks due solely to Fe.
Now, 5mls in a 75 liter tank daily is a fair amount?
Now how about 200mls in a 75 liter tank?
Seachem flourish is the brand BTW.
Also did TMG at 10mls daily.
Never got any algae.
Well over a decade, many different tanks, many different fish loads, tap water supplies from CA to FL.
Bunch of weedy plants is all I got.
Now if you have poor CO2, and you add things like PO4/Fe etc, that will sometimes increase algae.
But that's due to poor plant health/growth, not excess nutrients.
The plants stop taking up CO2/NH4(nutrient limitation or CO2 limitation) and the algae appear.
By adding Fe, you may simply be causing another nutrient, say NO3 to be taken up, then you have less NO3 and the plant stops growing.takign up NH4 etc, then the plant is a sitting duck and gets covered with algae.
EI is very simple.
Maybe too simple and it's as cheap as any method can be for the CO2 enrichement methods.
Tell me the size of the tank and I'll give you a simple routine.
Add lots of CO2, you likely need more anyway, and the algae will go away.
Say the tank is a 55 gallon:
Weekly 50% water change
Add 1 teaspoon GH booster(see gregwatson's site)
Add 3x a week:
1/2 teaspoon KNO3
1/8 teaspoon KH2PO4
Traces: 10 mls 3x a week, say Tropic master grow etc
That's it.
You add 4 things, 2-3 x a week
Simple as pie.
2 steps more complex than making cereal
You can divide these up in to 7 equal amounts(so take 0.5 teaspoons of KNO3 x 3 = 1.5 teaspoons/7 days= 0.21 teaspoons KNO3 per day) and dose daily if you want, or 2-3x a week. Your choice.
The 50% weekly water prevents anything from building up.
The routine additions prevent anything from running out.
There is nothing complicated about it.
Chemicals, schmemicals...........so what....baking soda is "sodium bicarbonate", but folks still use it without placing such chemical phobias up in their way.
You add only 4 things.
These are dirt cheap.
The method is simple effective and focuses you on CO2 and then you end up with a ton of plants and no algae.
Still have algae?
95% of the time, you needed more CO2.
EI rules out deficiency issues and we know excesses don't cause algae.
So all that is left?
CO2.
That's the only fair way to analyze algae induced nutrient causes, you have to rule out the other possible factors and see. Otherwise the algae is being caused by both poor CO2, no plant growth/NH4 uptake and Fe.
Not just Fe.
Regards,
Tom Barr