Discovery

[Angry_Platy]

OK...So there are theories as to what causes algae. Some say it is lack of CO2, some say it is an imbalance in nitrate/phosphate, some say it is too much light, not enough nutrients etc.

WELL....I have been doing the E.I. method now for approx 4 weeks. I have had some success with getting rid of lage but I am still needing to do glass scrapes periodically. THIS week I have had issues with my nitrate test kit and went and bought a more reliable test kit. Because of the hotter weather here my CO2 DIY bottles have been lasting longer (its the only thing that has changed, the heat that is).

ANYWAYS, this week I discovered I had very high nitrates, like 50ppm so I did a few water changes to bring them back down. They are now sitting at approx 15ppm. I measured CO2 this morning and got a reading of 60ppm!!! Both tested by correlating KH and pH and by testing CO2 with the test kit. My fish are fine, still very active and the plants are growing like weeds.

Then the BF commented about the lack of "green stuff on the glass"....I mean, its not normally that obvious but when I had a close look there is NONE there. Now, normally I would be seeing a few green dots of algae and/or strands of algae. Today there is none. Last time I did an algae scrape was 6 days ago!!!

Bear in mind that I have 3.2wpg, considered high lighting I think.

SOO....nitrates of 50ppm, phosphate maintained at 1ppm (MAJOR imbalance) and CO2 at 60ppm.....and NO algae......

 

[zig]

Great complaint

What else can i say.

B)

Edit: a quote from the EI article i wrote

Nutrient deficiency is the cause of algae and not an excess of nutrients