[plantbrain]

Hardstuff, if you limit plants.............with nutrients, then one nutrient becomes more limiting than another, so if you have poor CO2..............and you limit say Fe or PO4, both of which have a long history of correlation with BBA............


This hobby is much simpler than most seem to think or imply.
It's about growing the plants well, so the focus should be there.
If you have algae, then you are not focused on the plants enough.
It really is that simple.

 

[plantbrain]

I just have been on a quest to find a resolution to this & I never for a minute believed that CO2 was strictly the cause. It seems to be an inducer but the fuel source needs to be found for it to go away or not do well. Adding O2 at night seems to be the biggest solution to date. Aeration should improve redox & help the beneficial bacteria do its job. People with sumps in theory will have a huge heads up on this provided the sump is kept in clean & a healthy condition.

Likely true, but little evidence has been shown thus far.
Degassing rates with canister filter are much different and lower ppm of O2 in the tank is common.

We have correlation, but it is O2, or is it degassing and stability of the CO2?
You cannot add O2 without stabilizing CO2 degassing rates also.

Well, unless you add O2 gas.........but that did nothing for algae overall.

EI may have issues for some especially if untestable nutrients build up.

EI will minimize/eliminate any growth limitations and provide large frequent water changes. This also helps with algae issues.

If anything, it's a much better tool than any other method of dosing if you are testing things like light and CO2. Which as anyone worth their salt is aware of, are the two largest driving factors for growth and thus issues with management.

EI removes dependencies, it does not add to them.

If you have a CO2 issue, it could be from degassing differences, it could be due to lower O2, current etc, not simply add more/less CO2 gas.

Yes I know about the pure water that it loves in nature, but our tanks are different, there will always be something different.

True.

I dose very low amounts as stated of excel. It never stopped my bba. Do I think its totally gone ? No I am sure the spores are waiting & yes if you want to pick my tank apart I am sure you could find some trying to stay alive!

If you use CO2 gas, then do not use Excel.
If you do not use CO2, then you can use Excel.
I think it does not help adding a general biocide to a CO2 enriched tank.
Better to let the bacteria and plants do their thing with the CO2.

If you do not add any CO2, then Excel is a decent idea. Plants will adapt better to a single source of carbon than both I think.

But thanks folks, its nice to get some feed back, I really did not want to start a big long thread on this, just to report what I feel will help many, & what has helped my tanks. I know my tanks , I could not stop this stuff from steadily growing now it is fading back so I thought I would let some people know.

Well, PMDD reported this same thing about 20 years ago, but the conclusion as to why was incorrect.

http://www.thekrib.com/Plants/Fertilizer/

I falsified the hypothesis, then went after other nutrients.
I really do not fiddle and play with nutrients much any more.

I just focus on good filtration, current, CO2 and light.
Water changes, gardening etc.

If you cannot grow plants without a lot of algae issues without limiting ferts, then you have a lot of room to improve your horticultural skills. Maybe you do not want to do that, but I have a feeling folks that say that are lying

Light/CO2 are where it's at.

http://www.tropica.com/en/tropica-abc/basic-knowledge/co2-and-light.aspx

Note, Ole and Troels used a non limiting fert routine to make sure there were no dependencies with ferts for the test.

It's a good article and focuses on what most hobbyists need to focus on more: plant growth, not algae growth.

Back in the 1990's, it took me 3 years to figure out BBA, but not an issue since. Amano said it took him 10 years.

I do not think I would have lasted that long.

 

[plantbrain]

I think I've done enough discovery, that was not my goal, nor most when they started out in this hobby, the goal was and this is true for 99% of the hobbyists, (thus I can certainly make a broad generalization), to garden aquatic plants nicely.

No one gets into this hobby to find all the causes for algae. Getting side track is fun at times, but it certainly dissuades hobbyists from their original goal, intent and primary focus.

If you have a pestering BBA issue, you have plant growth/horticulture issues, not algae issues. There's something to learn from that, not to get side tracked. Stay focused on the problem and stop looking for silver bullets, easy ways out. Learn to use CO2 well, learn to have good O2, current, less light etc, there's plenty of good management advice on the web that most do not listen to, but are willing to play every possible nutrocentric card there is.

Some folks just have to learn that the old myths are just that no matter what other folks tell them. They have to prove it to themselves. That's fine, but it often drags a bunch of other folks and "me too's" into the fray and waste their time and they think there's something to this even though the issues have been beaten to death 101 times in every language. This same old manure is repeated and no know one learn beans and little is done to improve their gardening skills.

So yes, you learn, but not what you wanted or your original goal.