I am always dubious of people that post pictures of their tanks and then assume that is proof that their advice is not only the right way but also the only way.
I never said that the pictures were the only way to go, i was merely stating not to worry if your PO4 is above 1ppm.
Even algae infested tanks have clean new leaves that can be photographed and tanks recently setup look lovely before the algae takes over, tanks that are constantly cleaned can look great for long periods of time but your not solving any algae problem, your just hiding it. That and the fact that most of these people tear down their tanks on a regular basis and start again.
ok then here are some full tank shots to prove i am hiding no algae
, point out the algae to me if you find some
My tank again
Toms tanks:
Marks tanks
Theres proof of all the algae i was hiding
High NO3 and PO4 by itsself doesn't induce algae. But PO4 above 1ppm will result in noticeable addition of algae unless you take the Tom Barr approach which means tons of light, tons of CO2, tons of nutrients, lots of water changes requiring alot of energy and enthusiasm. Tons of NO3 and PO4 are not only suited to this type of aquarium but they are actually required.
hang on a minute...
tons of nutrients ... so are you saying that tons of nutrients (ie above 1ppm PO4) will actually limit growth in a high light, high tech environment? Interesting!
These "experts" seem to miss the point. To most people a tank is an addition to their living space and not something they are obsessed with.
True
They want an easy maintenance schedule to go hand in hand with their busy lifestyle.
Go for a low tech tank then
They aren't going to be mixing up nutrients, changing 50%+ water every week
buy an all in one fert then and change 10% weekly
and sticking their hands in the tank every 5 minutes to clean up algae and prune the plants.
correct because there will be no algae as the plants will not be PO4 limited.
They also care about their fish more than their plants so for example swimming space might be more important to them than huge plant biomass.
not sure what this has to do with high PO4 but still go for an iwagumi if you like open spaces.
Reducing NO3 and PO4 will slow down algae growth and slow down plant growth so you need to decide what you want from your tank and how much effort you are willing to put in before determining if a certain level of PO4 is good or bad. Generally something like NO3 5ppm-10ppm and PO4 0.05-0.25 will enable most plants to grow at an acceptable level whilst limiting algae to the level that just one fortnightly cleanup will be sufficient to stop the algae taking over, and this is all that most of us want.
So now we are getting somewhere, limiting nutrients
does slow plant growth. Slower plant growth means algae will have a larger chance to grow, hence why i said in my 2nd post "When PO4 limited, plants do not grow aswell, or even worse sometimes die. When they rot they produce ammonia and it is the NH3 spike that triggers algae."
As for RR it has it's uses but it's not workable for stopping algae growing. It can tell you which type of algae you will get when either NO3 or PO4 is limiting but you should never have either of them limiting anyway. Running out of NO3 will result in BGA, running out of PO4 will result in green algae. A 10:1 ratio in your tank means you will run out of both at the same time, generally speaking of course. Higher NO3 means you will run out of PO4 first and higher PO4 runs you out of NO3 first. This is all assuming youv'e got sufficient levels of nutrients all of the time.
And again you are agreeing with me that PO4 should not be limited. You even state yourself that low PO4 causes GSA! Higher NO3 does not mean that plants will run out of PO4 first, PO4 uptake depends on the availability of CO2. So if you inject CO2, Phosphate will be more demanded.
There are many ways to running a tank, showing a nice picture and saying it's got 3ppm PO4 by itsself is meaningless and misleading. Ask yourself what you want and then go from there
True, but the "nice" pictures also show no algae, even though the PO4 is above 1ppm, surely that has to be telling you something. It is by no means meaningless, it proves my point very well that high PO4 does not lead to excessive algae growth.
Thanks.
Perhaps some of them were in the RR ratio, but even still PO4 above 1ppm will do no harm. It is when you start to limit PO4 you get problems! When PO4 limited plants do not grow aswell, or even worse sometimes die. When they rot they produce ammonia and it is the NH3 spike that triggers algae.
