Hello,
I have a 65 gallon planted tank with Red Flourite as substrate. I have 120 Watts of light, and CO2 injection (1 bubble per second). My water parameters are as follow (as of today3/29/04):
Ammonia = 0
pH = 6.3
kH = 3degrees
GH = 6 degrees
Nitrate = 0
Nitrite = 0
Iron = 0 ( I know I need to dose this more, but have cut back due to algae growth)
Phosphate = .175
The tank has been setup approximately 1 year, and by reading descriptions I think this is Beard algae. It is a healthy green, with tufts forming on my java fern leaves, and some in the gravel. It's soft and can be pulled off by hand, but it keeps growing back.
I have ~26 gallons of pure Deionized water that I was gonna do a massive water change soon, but I figured I would ask to see if there is something else I am doing that could promote this growth.
I dose weekly with Iron, Potassium, and Trace (Flourish products at recommended dosages.)
You need to does Nitrate, Phosphate, Iron and maybe add more light. Someone else will have a more indepth answer, but it looks like you need to change a few things.
You need to have a 10:1 ratio between nitrate(N03 10ppm) & phosphate(P04 1ppm). You can do this by using Greenlight stump remover which you can obtain from Lowes. See this link for help dosing: http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_nitrate.htm
Increase the amount of water you remove weekly. EXP: On my 20G tank I went from 3G to 6G a week.
I would stop ferts intill the algae gets under control.
It's actually 10 parts NO3, 10 parts K, and 1 part PO4. Also, if you stop ferts, the plants stop growing, but the algea WILL have enough to grow I'm sure. They are a LOT more tolerant than plants when it comes to nutrient defficiencies.
Cich...I disagree with you that if you stop ferts your plants stop growing. When I started using Greenlight stump remover(potassium Nitrate) to get my Nitrates up my plants growth increased & my algae growth decreased, this is without the ferts.
I am actully not dosing Phosphate at all. Is this caused by something else? I always thought zero nitrate, but you learn something new every day. I will be heading to Ace to get the Green light today, any idea of cost? Or how big is a bag/container or whatever it is?
I have Otto's in the tank, as well as American-Flag Fish. The Flag fish prefer my Wisteria, and the algae that is not in site. The Otto's prefer just the green algae that's on the back of the tank.
Thanks everyone for your help and suggestions, this is helping me emensly!
I am actully not dosing Phosphate at all. Is this caused by something else? I always thought zero nitrate, but you learn something new every day. I will be heading to Ace to get the Green light today, any idea of cost? Or how big is a bag/container or whatever it is?
$3-$4 USD for a bottle. Good ammount too. If you can't find it at Ace (They didn't carry it, but did carry green light products here locally), I found that home depot and lowes both carry it. I also know some people use spectracide stump remover but I stick with the green light when needed.
Since I am now dosing with Kno3 do I need to dose additional K (potassium)? Should the algae go away after this has reached an equilibrium? Or do I need to remove it again and hope for the best? Thanks for all your help in finding my problem, and finding Green Light Stump Remover
I have continued my regular dosing of fertilizers, with increased Iron, and the Addition of the KNO3 (Which I add 3ml a day which is equal to ~1ml a day) I did this all last week, and tested this weekend and the NO3 was at 0.2 ( I was expecting more around 5).
So I increased the dosage a bit.
Today I found my filter had almost NO flow at all, so I removed it and cleaned it, and upon further inspection almost everything in the tank is covered with like a slime layer. (Grayish, to colorless)
Any Ideas? Only thing that has changed is the NO3 Dosage.
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