Algae Problem

[schooly20]

Not the greatest picture in the world but it does the job. The live plants include the amazon swords on the left, some java fern you cant really see all that well. the large broad leaf plant in back (left center) There is also an aquatic onion in there that is doing great, growing about half and inch a day. The other live plant is the dark green one just to the right of the wood. I also attached some java moss to the wood a couple days ago.

I really like learning as much as I can, I know my tank isnt heavily planted or anything but just reading everything has really helped me gain some knowledge and learn that my tank is still quite young and is still stabilizing and that could be a cause. I think I'm going to try a black out on for a couple days, I figure that wont hurt anything other than possibly kill some algae. I'm looking to have a real heavily planted tank, I just thought it would be nice to get my feet wet in terms of live plants, so I thought I'd try to keep some, and plus I heard they would help keep algae at bay. I've learned a lot and I hope that from posting a picture of my set up you might be able to give some more good advice on what might help keep the algae to a minimum.

I really do appreciate all the help and advice you have given me so far. I'm only 2 years into the hobby so I consider myself to be still quite new at it and all the knowledge I can get my hands on helps greatly! Thank you.

 

[lljdma06]

Algae blooms are triggered by ammonia concentrations that are two to three orders of magnitude lower than what can be seen on a test kit. On test kits, the 0 level is the level that is no longer toxic to fish. Not an absolute 0 concentration of ammonia. Ammonia is constantly being produced in the tank. If it were absolutely 0 (which it won't be) then the bacteria in your filter would starve to death. Therefore, no, you wouldn't see the toxicity affect your fish before an algae bloom because the ammonia that triggers the algae is low enough not to cause fish harm but it is high enough to cause algae. The build up and ammonia spike I am talking about can't be detected on a fish test kit.

See, this is what I wanted to know. So there you have it. The spikes then are so minute that they cause algae but are not harmful to the fish and not seen on a test kit. I know that ammonia is constantly being produced in a tank and a "zero" in test kits is not an absolute zero, that is nothing new to me, but I wanted to know which came first. Thanks for clearing that up. Always like learning something new.

May I have your source? You may PM me for this, as Schooly's thread has been padded already.

llj

 

[Dave Spencer]

There is an article on ammonia levels and triggering algae on Tom Barr`s website, but you have to subscribe to be able to read them, so get your $$$$ out Llj.

To trigger an algae outbreak in a stable, 99.9% algae free planted tank (like mine ), adding phosphates to excess will do nothing other than upset your fauna at a given level. Stop adding phosphates so that they become limiting and you can sit back and watch the GSA appear.

People choose PPS dosing because it uses lower levels of phosphate that keep plant growth slower than EI levels. However, a lot of these people complain of persisitent GSA, so they up the dosing of phosphates to a point where the GSA disappears.

Dave.

 

[lljdma06]

There is an article on ammonia levels and triggering algae on Tom Barr`s website, but you have to subscribe to be able to read them, so get your $$$$ out Llj.

Too poor to pay for an article that isn't about J. S. Bach, so I will remain ignorant on the subject for the time being, or at least until I can find a similar article for free.

Like I suspected, Schooly, the tank is not a densly planted tank at all. Very pretty though. Keep adding some more plants and up your water changes until you can figure out what you would like to do. Check out the planted journals in the top of this section, and have a look at the member's tanks. There is some excellent information there.

llj