jarrod0987
Aquarium Advice FINatic
- Joined
- Jul 12, 2005
- Messages
- 512
I learned some really cool things from reading Diana Walstad's book The Ecology of The Planted Aquarium. Some of the ones that surprised me were:
1. Ammonia is toxic to plants above 3 ppm. I always just thought it was plant food.
2. Calcium and DOC can both Bind Heavy Metals but Blue light can release it again. This is why using Saltwater bulbs with more blue in them can sometimes cause algae outbreaks in freshwater tanks. They release all the bound Iron.
3. Marine plants grow way faster then freshwater plants. If CO2 was the issue they would go slower or the same because CO2 diffuses through water slower then air. They grow faster because they can switch to getting carbon from alkalinity instead of CO2. Sea water is way higher in alkalinity. Many hard freshwater species can do this trick too.
4. Contrary to popular opinion, 0.1 ppm Phosphate is more then enough for algae and plants to grow. Algae grows very slow at 0.03 ppm and Algae cannot grow at 0.02 ppm.
1. Ammonia is toxic to plants above 3 ppm. I always just thought it was plant food.
2. Calcium and DOC can both Bind Heavy Metals but Blue light can release it again. This is why using Saltwater bulbs with more blue in them can sometimes cause algae outbreaks in freshwater tanks. They release all the bound Iron.
3. Marine plants grow way faster then freshwater plants. If CO2 was the issue they would go slower or the same because CO2 diffuses through water slower then air. They grow faster because they can switch to getting carbon from alkalinity instead of CO2. Sea water is way higher in alkalinity. Many hard freshwater species can do this trick too.
4. Contrary to popular opinion, 0.1 ppm Phosphate is more then enough for algae and plants to grow. Algae grows very slow at 0.03 ppm and Algae cannot grow at 0.02 ppm.