help with Algae

[pete]

Hi CEG,

I've read loads of your comments across the forum, and your a very funny man!, i found the spray bar advice very useful as flow seems and distribution seem to be a key fundamental,
the GDA is actually filamentous it just looks like dust in the pic. - only had it once, cleaned - gone.
Thanks for the advice on the Step 2, - it was recommended so you try it! i was also sold brighty K, so it seems i'd be piling in the K but no N or P?
I've read many discussions about powdered ferts, can you recommend what/where to buy? i.e what are the staples? as i would definately like to be in control of what i add as opposed to guessing whats in the bottle!,
this leads me to my next question, Generally, How do people with planted tanks remineralise their RO, at the moment i use Sera salts and KH/PH up, but have used equilibrium and TMC tropical, it all seems like guess work as depending on your CO2 and maintenence routine it seems impossible to keep it constant.
I do a regular 50% water change every 6/7 days without fail, i know that a 25 litre drum of RO with 1/2 a tea spoon of salt and 7ml of KH plus gives me - KH5 and GH 4, which is about right? however if in 7 days thism is still the same and i add more remineralised water, it goes up, if i add plain RO it goes down, etc etc. i admit you can judge it to a degree but its still guess work and alot of messing about.
I may be being alittle stupid, but please could you enlighten me to what most people do??,
cheers

Pete

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
Pete you can follow the advice given on "James Planted Tank", <http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/EI.htm>.
It has everything you need to know - amounts, dosing regime etc. via the link:

Estimative Index isn’t about aiming for parameters, but supplying everything to a slight excess of the plants requirements. These are general parameters that plants grow well in and as long as they are reached you shouldn’t have any problems.

Nitrate 20–30 ppm
Phosphate 1-3 ppm
Potassium 20-30ppm
CO2 30ppm

Personally I'm not interested in having either an algae free tank, or one with fast growth for a large range of plants, so I don't add CO2 or fertilise at anything like the levels for EI., but I still need to maintain a level of plant macro and micro-nutrients, as if any nutrient is entirely missing plant growth will stop. Many "low light" plants, such as ferns, mosses (and most algae) are extremely efficient at extracting very low levels of soluble ions from solution, meaning that they can grow slowly, even in extremely nutrient poor water. When plant growth slows, and deficiency symptoms start to appear, I could play "spot the deficiency", but I don't, I just add a small amount of the macro-elements, N, P & K, a smaller amount of Fe, Ca & Mg, and a minuscule amount of all the other trace elements, it is a "belt and braces" approach, one of these elements will still be the factor limiting plant growth (usually N or K), but if I add them all I definitely have it covered.

cheers Darrel

 

[ceg4048]

Hi CEG,
Thanks for the advice on the Step 2, - it was recommended so you try it! i was also sold brighty K, so it seems i'd be piling in the K but no N or P?

All in good fun mate. The main difference between the Brighty K and the Step 2 is that little bit of Iron. If you had set up your tank in accordance with the ADA system you would have been using their sediment which is loaded with nutrients including P and massive amounts of N. Their methods depend on high nutrient loading in the sediment and minor dosing of the water column. But of course, you weren't using their NPK rich Amazonia sediment, so it's unfair to deride Step 2 for having only K and a bit of Fe. If you want to follow their methodology of lean water column dosing, to keep your conductivity down for breeding, but still want to have decent growth, then you'd have to pay more attention to substrate choice, because that is the linchpin of their methodology.

I've read many discussions about powdered ferts, can you recommend what/where to buy? i.e what are the staples? as i would definately like to be in control of what i add as opposed to guessing whats in the bottle!

Most of our sponsors (their logos are shown at the top of the page) sell the dry salts. Visit their webpages and cruise the fertilizer sections. You can also find great deals on the powders at Garden Direct UK Once you know what to look for, you can also find screaming deals on flea-bay. The basic nutrient salts are:
Potassium Nitrate (KNO3)
Potassium Phosphate (KH2PO4)
Chelated Trace Element Mix

...this leads me to my next question, Generally, How do people with planted tanks remineralise their RO, at the moment i use Sera salts and KH/PH up, but have used equilibrium and TMC tropical, it all seems like guess work as depending on your CO2 and maintenence routine it seems impossible to keep it constant.

Well, normally the commercial products like Sera and Equilibrium come with specific dosing instructions on how to raise the KH and GH, and the instructions are fairly repeatable. Again, to save money, check out Remineralising Agent for RO Water I also strongly suggest that you avoid the pH buffers at all costs.
There are lots of options depending on what you want to accomplish. It's also worth checking out the thread => All about Water Hardness which is a sticky at the top of the Water Chemistry sub forum.

I do a regular 50% water change every 6/7 days without fail, i know that a 25 litre drum of RO with 1/2 a tea spoon of salt and 7ml of KH plus gives me - KH5 and GH 4, which is about right? however if in 7 days thism is still the same and i add more remineralised water, it goes up, if i add plain RO it goes down, etc etc. i admit you can judge it to a degree but its still guess work and alot of messing about.

Well, I think you need to stop worrying about it. We don't need to control these parameters to the degree that you suppose. Remineralize your water at the water change and then forget about it until the next water change. Neither you plants nor your fish will care about the drifts that occur with pH/GH/KH over the course of the week. If you manically try to control them you will suffer stress and burnout. The tank is a living system. It produces acids, alkaline substances, organic waste, proteins, fats, all kinds of stuff. These all have an effect on the water's chemistry. Because our water volumes are so small, relative to the size of a lake or river, these products have an immediate affect on the readings, whereas in a lake there would be little impact. The fish and plants are adaptable though and they just carry on. The most important thing, which I reckon you have figured out, is to keep the tank clean with regular and large water changes. Do the basics at water change, add your nutrients and CO2 on schedule and let the water chemistry parameters fall where they may.

Be sure to visit the Tutorial sub forum where you'll see specific articles on CO2, nutrient dosing, plant maintenance and other goodies.

Cheers,

 

[AverageWhiteBloke]

I personally I use JBL Aquadur to re-mineralise RO water as it's already in the right mix regarding KH/GH rather than trying to work both out. There are plenty of other brands available specially designed just for RO water. Like Clive says though it's not that important unless in extreme values or sudden big changes as long as you keep consistent. I add a teaspoon to 5gall of RO water in my fermenting bin before changes which results in water of about 4gh and 2kh. Every blue moon when I check hardness it may have raised slightly due to addition of magnesium in dosing and topping up evaporated water so next water change I simply put none in and back to square one.