Search results for query: phosphates cause algae

About 4 weeks gone now. A little brown algae on the glass and in the filter but easily removed. The right hand Limnophila heterophylla has needed two trimmings and quite a lot of Frogbit has been removed before it completely covers the tank. Weeping moss is getting a spurt on and will...

People have definitely tried vodka and I have always found those stories entertaining if nothing else. I have dosed citric acid regularly which had no obvious effects on either shrimp or plants but which I believed caused the copepod population to expand very vigorously.

Hi all, Honestly, <"don't even think about it"> & <"Exploring yeast as shrimp and plant food"> In a planted freshwater tank <"that is what the plants do">. cheers Darrel

thats a real shame, i was hoping liquid carbon was the solution, thank you for the information, looks like i would be better off closing the windows and just talking to my take, that will produce more carbon than the liquid. its crazy wen i had a reef tank i would have killed to get a stable ph...

In my experience it's unrelated to absolute fert levels per se, and is often triggered by an imbalance (usually a rapid one) in the system that causes a deterioration in plant health. For example I had a load appear in my current tank a few months back. When I investigated further, it turned...

Did some trimming today and wanted to share these massive pinnatifidas I cut. They were close to 90cm. Unfortunately don't have a good spot in the scape to let them keep growing to their full potential. Also do you guys think green spot algae on anubias/glass is just something to accept? I have...

The tank has been doing pretty good. The plants have been doing much better ever since reducing micros. I also tried supplementing some additional Mn and I think I saw a little improvement. The Amazon sword is the only plant that has paler new leaves, but its not too bad. Overall the plant is...

Hi, I have heard that somewhere about that the phospates are playing significant role according to micro. I have been watching lots of youtubers, many of them warning about phospates and nitrates that they are algae creators. And I just simply didn't use them too much. So that theory is...

Hello is good to know I have somebody near me who has the same hobby 😃 Yes that is correct, I am based in Retford and my tap water is very similar or even I would say the same as yours. I checked it by Anglian Water site when you put your post code and then you can go for fully water report...

Recently I've been reading about algae scrubbers that some reef keepers use to control nutrients and reduce unwanted algae in their display tank. The idea seems to be to give algae an optimal environment to grow in scrubber so it will preferentially grow there vs the display. I'm wondering if...

Drop checker between yellow and green on different spots in aquarium, 1.2 pH drops. Could be excessive IRON, because i EDDHA, DTPA, I could try to reduce Iron and to analyze.

I've read through this old thread and here are some of my thoughts: I'm not sure whether pH moves that markedly in the sediment as a result of CO2 on/off injection. Firstly, the diffusion between sediment and water column is rather slow. Secondly, in the sediment, pH is mainly influenced by...

You're right, if we talk in this way, There is no "method" of fertilization just a set of fertilizers (or chemicals) and people who dose x amount x day/week because it "works". But the things that makes EI, pmdd, ppspro "methods" are the ways that you manage your tank and how you deal with...

Day 40 : Looking much better with out the hang on back hanging on the side, and the plants are pretty well established now. Like I said in the Day 1 post, I look back at at the first pictures of this “planted” tank now and laugh at how impressed we were with it at the time. Obviously some...

Hi all, Point taken, it definitely makes keeping ions in solution easier. I don't use rain water <"If it's yellow, let it mellow and RO is the devil"> specifically because of its softness, I use it because I've always used it, from long ago, back before <"I was a planted tank keeper">. I...

good evening with all these plants a lot of algae have already arrived. water changed on Saturday and today this is the situation change carried out with osmosis and brought the tda 120.kh 2 gh5 nitrates 10 phosphates 0.75 potassium 40. light 80% 6500kv 80 red 60 green 80 blue .7 hours photo...

Hi all, They could, because you live in the SE of the UK you would be likely to have <"high levels of PO4--- in your tap water">, but you may have <"precipitated it all out with the iron (Fe)"> addition (from the "API leaf zone") - <"Iron phosphate">. Personally I tend to make all my decisions...

No, I only use osmosis water. Not from the tap. But how do I eliminate these algae? cutting all the plants with algae? that is, everything 😭. I would like to do osmosis tests at the water outlet, if it gives me phosphates and nitrates what do I do?

I can clearly see difference between today and 2-3 days ago. I scraped GSA from the glass and left on purpose some zone with it, i did some "holes" in the zone affected by GSA and entirely removed it from the rest of the tank, till today (usually Sunday is the maintenance day) i don't see GSA...

If you're losing 1 ppm of PO4 daily, it does not mean in the least that it's your plants which consume it. Algae are the obvious culprit. But not only "green microbes" but also the others are hungry for phosphorus - you feed them generously, surely you do. Then there are some more problems with...

Thank you for the kind words! It is true that despite me finding problems that I want to improve, I'm very happy with this tank. It is my best attempt at a planted tank ever. If I had to elect a single thing that I'd like fixed, it would be those nasty black spot algae on my anubias. But since I...

I've read through all of this thread, and l'm grateful you took the time to chronicle your experiences. Many thanks! It's what makes this Forum so pleasing. Your problem-solving approach does create a slightly misleading air of glass half-full, when in fact the pics of your tank show an...

It was a possibly uninformed attempt at containing a surge of green and black spot algae on the anubias at the first months of this layout. For the longest time it was at 4ppm, but for the last 2 months or so, I reduced it to 2.5ppm and now I plan to bring it further down, aiming at eventually...

Another weekend of tank maintenance. Tank is doing fine for the most part except for a variety of algae's. Though the most concerning to me was what looks like blue green algae right here in this picture. I sucked most of it out, I just hope it doesn't spread to plants. From what I've been...

For quite a many years, I work with RODI water only, and mineralize sparingly. That means, my waters are soft. Only sometimes, when performing experiments, I'm using moderately hard and alkaline water. I think quite many species don't do well in basic & alkaline water. Of these, some may benefit...

@GHNelson when you say stabilise... do you mean the algae will be scaled back? I trimmed the Limnophila and Ludwigia, but not the Hygrophila, as it's growing much more slowly OK, so I started testing the water. For reference, I am using JBL Pro Aquatest liquid reagent test kit. Initial test...

What ppms are you dosing when using agricultural fertiliser? I'd be willing to bet the micros (especially Fe) will be higher. I've seen some debate about that on this forum, and I think I question it based on my own experience also. I definitely think that it's a secondary effect, such as high...

What agricultural fertiliser? What’s the make up. Green spot algae is often said to form when there’s insufficient phosphates.

Hi all, I'm a diatom fan, particularly of Bacillaria paradoxa, the "slide rule" diatom. The persistent, and species specific, diatom frustule means that they can be used for all sorts of things, <"forensics">, <"climate and habitat reconstruction"> and as a <"trophic index">. True. All...

as I understand it, silicon is quickly used up and that's why the initial surge of diatom growth quickly falls away. If you don't keep dosing, there's very little that we routinely put into our tanks that will support a sustained population. And yes, as you say, silicate levels in natural water...

apologies if this has been done before .. I did search but couldn't find a thread on it There is a question here: is it madness to try and encourage diatom growth? Has anyone tried it. The screed below is about how I came to start pondering it. I disappeared down a rabbit hole. The inciting...

I’ve had this tank up and running for 2 years now, everything in it grows well, and there’s no other types of algae except for the one pictured which covers the plants and kills them. I read that high phosphates cause this, so I tested my tap water (London tap) and found that my tap water had...

Thanks for all that @_Maq_ a couple of comments/questions below: So in short, its ~ 40% WC every 10-12 days. Water remineralized to your GH/KH targets + front loading of all NPK targeting the volume of water you change. Very similar to my own approach. So, as you say, the real concentration...

The maintenance schedule is the same for all Portugals: By default, I change 30 liters (out of 70 net content) in 10-12 days period. Yet there's often something in some tanks that makes me doing larger or additional WC. This discussion evolves from a few pics where (almost) everything seems to...

@Tonyball I concur with the above. Increase P and GSA will disappear fairly quick. Keep in mind though you can't totally eradicate algae in a tank. Just to play devils advocate, not everyone likes the looks of algae on their rocks or hardscape. Some prefer to see the natural look of the rock or...

The reticulatus seems easy to identify and it isn't one of the ones I have. But when looking for information on SAE species a while back, I found some people saying that one of them eats moss, while the others don't. Since identifying them is really hard, I just assume one of mine may be a moss...

Pretty, Pretty, Pretty... Good Thanks @hydrophyte for reminding me to update my journal. 3 months have gone by, undocumented! 😅 The macroalgae seems to be a rocking horse in terms of growth - when some are booming, others are busting! Right now the Caulerpa taxifolia is growing quite...

I happened to try similar product made by "Microbe-Lift". It works, but I feel obliged to issue a WARNING: Phosphorus deficiency comes unnoticed, because plants do not exhibit deformations, they just quit growing. And it's pretty dangerous because "restarting" them with increased dosing of...

I'm not sure what you're seeing that makes you say the sessiliflora is struggling. It was about 4 inches when planted and I've had to trim it (and transferred a few of the trimmings) already in just 3 short weeks because it was right at the surface. The ones behind the AR on the far left are the...

I am not be the best person to ask about the ferts - every tank is different and you already add some premade product. There are chemistry wizards at UKAPS and know their calculators and spreadsheets in and out and will be able to help you with how much to add. I myself went EI route with RO...

Not an easy task, dosing micros. I've developed certain routine, based on Marschner's numbers and presumed losses. With Marschner data, we can derive plants' consumption quite reliably. It's the losses which pose questions. I should stress that in my case, without filters, these losses are not...

I must admit you're right. It shouldn't be named like this. I'll resume my motivation: Mr Barr insists that ammonium should never be used for fertilization as it causes algae. I think differently. So, I want to check what happens if we emulate his methods as close as possible with the one...

In my country, limit for nitrates is 50 mg/l. And indeed, 30 mg/l in tap water are not rare. Hobbyists have to cope somehow with that. In tank C - EI, we have 4.5 mg/l ammonium, that is eq. 15.6 mg/l NO3. Point taken. I'm perfectly willing to increase dosing iron to a level you tell. What about...

Hi @Hanuman, I struggle with the same green hair algae. Can you confirm they have gone when you minimised ammonia as a source of nitrogen? I dose 16ml of green Tropica (TSN) and 12ml of yellow one (TPN) per 145l of water in my tank. I found that TSN sources half of N from ammonia and perhaps...

:)

Hi all, Same for me. In <"oxygenated, alkaline, water"> the ferric iron ions (Fe+++) are mopped up by the bicarbonate (HCO3-), hydroxide (OH-) and dissolved oxygen (O2) to form <"insoluble ferric carbonate, hydroxides and oxides">. When you have phosphate (PO4---) ions <"present as well">...

Hiya @Tomasz The best advice I can give you is ignore the person that's telling you these levels of PO4 will cause massive algae blooms. My tap water contains an average of 1ppm and I actively add another 3ppm of Po4 per week, lots of other people also add similar or even greater levels of...

I have started 182l high tech planted tank on Tropica Soil. Dealing recently with a cloudy water (probably bacteria bloom rather than algae bloom) I have tested water parameters in my tank as well as tap water that I use for weekly water 30-50% water change. I found that my tap water parameters...

Thanks, that's very helpful

Only 1 summer is what it takes to get it to look like this. Sunlight is the best light we have. But I do need to block sunlight in juli/august afternoons with a simple mat, as green algae can't resist to reproduce despite all the plants present. The stem plants need to be trimmed weekly in...

I think you can buy a controller for it to reduce the intensity. Probably worth it at the start to avoid algae issues. Your aquasoil will deplete, so best to add fertiliser. For a small tank you could use TNC Complete - it’s an all in one and makes life very easy.

Hi all, Same for me, I'm also incredibly cynical about <"Seachem's advertising">, and I don't think it is an oversight. I think they want to say "no nitrates or phosphates", because that reinforces the narrative that they are the agents that cause algae and helps them sell <"Seachem...

After writing this introduction I went and double checked the timer for the main lights and found that they were starting one hour earlier than I thought, so I fixed it. Now it does work from 10:30AM to 5:30PM. It turns on just half an hour before the full ramp up cycle of the Finnex lamps...

Hi @Evansss, Nice tank and welcome to UKAPS! :) Ok, so most would agree you added livestock to your tank too early, but that is water under the bridge now. You now have the livestock in your care and have to make the best of it. As for the stocking level I can't really 100% tell from your...

Good to know, that makes me feel more confident with the ferts. Thanks👍. Yes, after you did fert calculations😁. Thanks. Ok, thank you very much for that. Seeing it in a table made it very easy to compare. I think I will up my dose of APT 3 from 4-5 drops per day to 7 drops per day and see what...

So just an update (kind of) but I do have some further specific questions at the end if anyone can answer them? Firstly I tested my tank and tap water for phosphates and silicates. All the readings were actually around 1ppm. Give or take a slight difference in the shades, the phosphates in the...

I sort of fell foul of this, although I was using RO water and EI levels of dosing my plants didn't do all that well at all ... Algae though had a field day. When I had my water tested, Nitrates, phosphates and Iron were incredibly low, potassium was so-so. When it finally dawned on me that my...

I did remove the PhosGuard a couple weeks ago for this reason (also the algae bounced back, it didn't seem to be helping). I'm hoping the phosphate levels have recovered by now.

Only now I've noticed you'd mentioned PhosGuard. Removing phosphates is rather dangerous play. You see no results at first except algae disappearing. So you're happy but then you realize that your plants have ceased to grow. And then, without apparent reason, they gradually begin to die off...

I have been battling gsa for a year and I cannot get rid of it. The only thing that helped is to switch off my lights or keep them really low like 30% (chihiros wrgb slim). When I did this though my eleocharis really suffered and plants are not growing well anymore. I bought countless of tests...

Hi all, Sorry this is a such a long post, but I've hit my first little problem with my current tank and need some assistance please. I've started to get cyanobacteria under the substrate. The brown, rusty patches appeared first and I assumed it was iron from Tropica tabs. The cyano is about 1cm...

Help needed please. Firstly, the good bit: I have added twelve more cherry shrimp to the tank and a Crinum thaianum. Yay. The bad bit: I've hit my first little problem. I've started to get cynobacteria under the substrate. I think this might be where I took out the spray bar that was...

Unless you have specific needs I wouldn't even bother dKHing, yeah I made that word up right here, right now. I would bump that dGH to a good 4ppm. 2ppm seems a bit low in my opinion considering you have some inverts in there. IMO, although urea can be good for plants, it is unnecessary and can...

Hello all, I need some help eradicating what I think is filamentous diatoms..... Tank has low lighting (only 12w) and is 7 weeks old. Lights are currently on for 7 hours per day. At first I had the typical diatom phase which coated the rocks, wood, plants etc. Then it turned into a stringy...

Hi @MrMarlow, Even for a moderately planted tank, relying on food and fish waste to provide nutrients for your plants is just not a good idea... The only way you can work that out is by trial and error...and what happens when your plant mass increases or your stocking level decreases...? Not...

You guess right. Confirmed on the makers' website; FloraGrow "contains no nitrates and phosphates, because it lead to algae growth." . . . which of course we no longer believe to be true. :)

phosphates are needed as plant nutrients. you do not need to remove them, algae can thrive off much lower levels of P than plants, it is futile trying to limit algal growth by Phosphorus. APT complete (the one with N,P) contains a fair amount of Phosphorous, so you do not need to dose extra...

Hi all, You can measure <"PO4--- reasonably easily">, but I wouldn't be too worried about <"what value you have">, plants will reduce its level. If you did want to remove phosphate from your mix and then decided that your plants were now deficient in phosphorus (P), it is <"highly mobile within...

Hi all, A <"floating plant"> is the other option, I like <"Amazon Frogbit"> (Limnobium laevigatum), but any one will do. You can also use <"Ceratopteris thalictroides and/or Ceratophyllum demersum"> as floating stems You can use the <"IFC Fertiliser calculator">, but <"should be about...

Hello, 1. Size of tank in litres - 200l 2. Age of the set - up - 1 year 3. Filtration - Oase BioMaster 600. Using the original Oase filter media + 1L Seachem Matrix + 250ml Seachem Purigen 4. Lighting and duration - SOLIKU 90cm 48W Full spectrum LED light - running at 80% intensity. 6500K...

Hi @arcturus It is a very fascinating topic and that's why I started to take a deep interest, firstly in Cyanobacteria and, more recently, BBA. I have accumulated many scientific papers on both these topics and would be happy to put a list together for you. Light plays a very important part in...

Plants are known to release <allelopathic substances>. These might interfere with algae growth on the surface of healthy plants (citation needed...) Can these substances reach such a concentration that will affect the whole tank? No idea. If these substances play a role, then this could justify...

Thanks Hypnogogia...I thought that might be the case, although a while back my nitrates had increased to 40 mg/l (but phosphate was only 0.25 mg/l) as I was late on a water change and the algae was no better. My fertilising has been a bit sporadic. I was using some root tabs and some soluble...

Well that is the issue though isn't it ...at one point someone people need to be responsible with the hypotheses they make public. I have said this both in public and in private conversations. There have been a lot of half chewed hypotheses put out there with little empirical evidence that hurt...

1 molly, 1 endler and 10 neons. Filtration is a fluval U2 and fluval C3. Ahh, I never noticed the GSA. Now that you mentioned it I see it on my anubias. I was under the impression that the relatively high bioload from the fishes would supplement enough nitrates and phosphates for plant growth...

Hi All, Little update. Please see the pictures attached. Currently the light is set to 60% intensity, 30 min sunrise, 30 min sunset, total hours on - 8h. CO2 - 4 bubbles per second. I've changed the fertilizer to TNC Lite dosing daily 4ml. By doing this the nitrates are now 20ppm. I've tried...

Hi All, Thought I would update this Journal. After my initial scape I changed it around a bit but because it was located in the main living room and I didn't want to be trailing buckets and hoses around the tank suffered from neglect for a number of months. Staghorn and various algae took over...

Good to know and thanks for sharing! I have a lot of reading to do 😄

There are several discussions about phosphates and algae here <at ukaps> and on plantedtank forum . Also read this <Barr report> . There are tanks using high concentrations of phosphates, which have no GSA or other algae. It is more likely to trigger algae with a phosphate deficiency than with...

3 months old and rescaped around 3 weeks ago lights are dimmed to 50% I have a PH checker in the tanks which is shows green or can I do further checks? I do also have PH liquid test. I use jelatin with the mixture which looks to make it consistent. I do plan to add pressurised C02. The plant...

So the tank in total is 3 months old, or 3 months since the rescape? Dimmed to what percentage? 😬 This is a very unstable way of providing CO2 to your tank, there are not many experienced people who recommend using this method. You said your CO2 is the right level, how are you determining...

Do you mean 2ppm and 5pmm ? is there any test kit that reach that number of ppm for phosphate ? Just my 2 cents, i think you should not have increased light right away. Since you were off CO2 before, the plants need to adapt to the increased amount of CO2 then you can increase the light...

"Then the Phosphates took off to 50ppm", that's astronomical! Mine are 0,1-0,05. Allthough I dose extra phosphates once a week, plants take it almost immediately. The plants can only take a certain amount of nutrients including phosphates, the rest will stay in the water column and feed algae.I...

So I have had my 79 litter UNS 90L set up since October It has Microsorum pteropus, Crypt becketti Petchii, Crypt undulatus Red, Helanthium bolivianum Quadricostatus, Helanthium tenellum, Lilaeopsis brasilienis, Anubias barteri Petite, Hygrophila pinnatifida, and now Water Lettuce. I took the...

At the moment no BBA! I had a BBA problem for months and in the end I soaked all buces and Anubis in bleach. Now I'm trying to keep it coming back: no extra fish food, less lights and a new more powerful filter. The filter was changed before I read the Wahlstad article, a bit confusing it that...

Hi all, It depends upon the source of the orthophosphate (PO4---) ions. If they are present in the water supply because they've come from surface water, or shallow aquifers, with raised levels from optical brighteners in <"washing powder, treated sewage and agricultural pollution"> then both...

Hi, sorry for the late reply, work commitments. Firstly I’ll say I don’t know how to work out ppm in dosing, is this a simple equation? If so could you explain? Planted aquariums need a chemistry degree! And for newcomers to this hobby it can look very daunting. I could if I wanted to study in...

Could it be an idea to run low on phosphates and full on everything else intentionally, to culture green spot algae over other kinds? Green spot etc looks so much better than BBA. Just a random idea that came to me. Really looking forward to seeing how this journal develops!

Thanks @Nick potts acting as the canary in the coal mine for anyone else starting out hopefully. This is all new to me so steadily working out the relationships in the system. Looking around and new fake reef rock does appear to be an open invitation for bryopsis and other hair algae, simply...

Great thread, and great work on the hair algae (my worst nightmare in my reefs and I would often nuke with Fluconazole at the first sign just in case) I know the standard advice used to be to have 0 detectable nitrates and phosphates and people (including me) used to use pretty aggressive...

Oh boy, has this tank turned into a fun ride. So whilst the 1200, 45F and terrarium have all been trucking along gracefully… this system has taxed the ol’ noggin. Hair algae a week ago: Turns out I just can’t stand to have a tank without plants in it 😂 Photo today (with filter to remove...

Hi James, I wouldn't take much notice of the advice given out by local fish stores, especially concerning planted tanks. At best they are ill informed, at worst they are trying to sell you more unnecessary products. Plants need phosphate to survive, trying to remove it will cause deficiencies...

Added a video of my tank, i see quite alot of pearling but still getting some BBA and Greenspot algae, i checked nitrate and its 20-25 phosphates were 0, do i need to increase phosphates ? Any tips are welcome.

Hi @anewbie I would not worry about intentional high levels of NO3 (Nitrates) through dosing in a planted tank, unless close to toxic level (say if your tap water is already extremely high on Nitrate or the tank is really polluted). Following El dosing you will routinely add 25-30 ppm of NO3...

With the damaged light unit replaced and after examining the tank and filters I do not believe the green tint is a contaminant. It's going to be either algae or bacteria. UV isn't having any effect and as nutrients are low to zero also rules out algae. Cyanobacteria can live in zero nitrate and...

Apologies for my slow reply. Here's what my frogbit looks like: I have indeed changed over to Tropica Specialised now :)

I have a strange problem with my 450 litre aquarium. This aquarium has always been clear but recently had a complete breakdown, substrate change, filter upgrades etc. Six months down the line the water in the aquarium has developed a dark green tint. I have no algae problems in the tank. No...

Michael do you think it's a good idea to increase my fert dosage since I have so little nitrates and phosphates too, when I test. It's just that in the packaging it says 5 ml 3x a week per 100 litres and I thought it's maybe so for lesser plant mass. My aquarium I have a lot of plants

Hi @Matti can you post a full picture of the tank? So we can see the plant mass, drop checker etc. I have zero experience with CO2, but I am sure the CO2 experts will evaluate the situation with more info. Also, just for reference, back in the day when I was dosing commercial aquatic...

Algae thrives when the ferts are in the parts per Billion, so there is always plenty for them, when we dose at levels needed for plants we are trying to give plants the advantage, hence when injecting CO2 is is best to dose the ferts in abundance Test kits, I have never tested for phosphates for...