flourish

[Calqless]

I bought a bottle of seachem flourish a couple months ago, but when i use it i get green splotches on both of my tanks on my background. the first time i turned off my lights for 5 days, its went away (atleast as far as i could see) it came back after i used the flourish again. I used a capfull (recommeded for 60g) on my 75g tank and aqeon plant food on my 35. so far its only comin back in my 75. did i get a bad bottle or am i doing something wrong?

here is what my background looks like atm..

 

[BBradbury]

Hello Cal...

I had algae issues when I either overfed my fish or added too much plant fertilizer. When there are too many nutrients for the fish or plants to use, the excess creates an ideal environment for all kinds of algae.

If you have a reasonable number of fish in the tank, you'll have enough fertilizer for the plants. Just feed the fish a balanced diet. You don't need to add anything. I'd suggest reducing the amount of fertilizer you use to half the current dosage and see how the plants and algae react.

Just one reporter's opinion, though.

B

 

[Jkeating8]

I, along with many others, are firm believers that excess nutrients do not cause algae in planted tanks. Rather an imbalance between light and carbon or a lack of nutrients. You have what appears to be Green spot algae which is common in tanks lacking phosphate.

 

[BBradbury]

Algae Problems

Algae, like any other aquatic plants thrive when there is an overage of nitrate and phosphate in the tank water. If you feed flaked fish food and your tank is established and the nitrogen cycle is going, you'll have both these nutrients in the tank water. Whatever isn't used by the standard aquatic plants, is going to create an ideal environment for all types of algae.

Lighting can also be the reason for algae if you have a tank close to a window. I've found it best to treat algae by removing it's food source. I introduced Common water weed and Hornwort in my tanks, two of the most efficient nutrient users and a couple of nice looking plants. The water weed comes with a bonus, because it gives off a mild chemical that's a bit toxic to many forms of algae. Large, weekly water changes will also help maintain a stable water chemistry, making it more difficult for algae to grow to the point it becomes a problem.

B

 

[Jkeating8]

Algae, like any other aquatic plants thrive when there is an overage of nitrate and phosphate in the tank water. If you feed flaked fish food and your tank is established and the nitrogen cycle is going, you'll have both these nutrients in the tank water. Whatever isn't used by the standard aquatic plants, is going to create an ideal environment for all types of algae.



Lighting can also be the reason for algae if you have a tank close to a window. I've found it best to treat algae by removing it's food source. I introduced Common water weed and Hornwort in my tanks, two of the most efficient nutrient users and a couple of nice looking plants. The water weed comes with a bonus, because it gives off a mild chemical that's a bit toxic to many forms of algae. Large, weekly water changes will also help maintain a stable water chemistry, making it more difficult for algae to grow to the point it becomes a problem.



B

The entire EI fertilization method is based on over dosing nutrients so nutrients are not a limiting factor for plant growth. In nature,excess phosphates and nitrates cause algae blooms among bodies of water, but it is hard to create an algae bloom due to excess nutrients in a glass box. I have ran my tanks with 80+ppm of nitrate and 15+ppm of phosphate with zero a page issues. In fact, it is when I stop dosing I notice algae blooms. I have tested this among different types of aquariums from low tech to high tech, lightly planted to heavily planted I have not been able to induce a bloom from excess nutrients. Please excuse any typo. I'm on my phone.

 

[Mebbid]

There's two different methods of algae control. One is the utter lack of nutrients that bbradbury is talking about. This one is how its done in saltwater tanks.

However in planted tanks we never want a low nutrient level but that also needs to be balanced with carbon and light. Long photo periods in planted tanks are a prime cause of algae growth. That's the reason most of us run lights planted tanks for 6 hours daily. Longer than this allows the algae to grow. Part of this is because algae takes longer to start the process of photosynthesis. Another huge part of this is that algae grows well at much much lower nutrient levels than plants can, with which the available nutrients would be used up in a longer photo period.

I can't explain the exact process in a scientific manner, and I'm not aware of anyone here that can give a clear cut answer as the the processes going on. I have however witnessed this happening personally. It's a constant fight to keep my nutrient levels high enough in my 10g tank to keep my plants growing algae free.