Myths on algae

[|squee|]

What is the surefire way to cause algae? Ammonia?

How about what other people say on the net then, like "excess iron causes so-and-so algae", "excess nitrates gives you so-and-so algae"? Are these definately false?

I hope Tom Barr or somebody can shed some light on this

[PeterGwee]

Yes, ammonia is the sure fire way to start.

Yes, plain nonsense. 90-95% of issues are from poor CO2 (yeah..the chart might seem almighty good but heck measurements have errors even with good test kits.) while the rest from poor nutrients and maintenance.

Tom's busy during this two weeks at plantfest so I doubt he will reply much.

Regards
Peter Gwee

[cherabin]

Yes, ammonia is the sure fire way to start.

Yes, plain nonsense. 90-95% of issues are from poor CO2 (yeah..the chart might seem almighty good but heck measurements have errors even with good test kits.) while the rest from poor nutrients and maintenance.

Tom's busy during this two weeks at plantfest so I doubt he will reply much.

Regards
Peter Gwee

Conversely speaking, would excessive CO2 lead to algae problems?

[PeterGwee]

No, if you keep up with the nutrients but it does harm the critters if you go way too high. CO2 is a nutrient by its own...carbon. 40%+ of a plants dry weight is carbon...take care of that. At low light, that is not critical since the rate of growth is slow down very much so.

Regards
Peter Gwee

[flyinmysoup]

So if my critters in my 2 footer without CO2 die and they're not removed, it'll give rise to a higher chance of algae? Hmm....

[lyh]

What is the surefire way to cause algae? Ammonia?

How about what other people say on the net then, like "excess iron causes so-and-so algae", "excess nitrates gives you so-and-so algae"? Are these definately false?

I hope Tom Barr or somebody can shed some light on this

For excess iron I do not if it causes algae since my tank is very low in that. As for nitrate and phosphate I believe an excess of it will not cause any algae as my 2 feet planted has a min. level of 40ppm for nitrate and 2ppm for phosphate. Will do experiment with iron when I have the time.

[Plantbrain]

What is the surefire way to cause algae? Ammonia?

How about what other people say on the net then, like "excess iron causes so-and-so algae", "excess nitrates gives you so-and-so algae"? Are these definately false?

I hope Tom Barr or somebody can shed some light on this

In tanks where folks add the NO3, Fe etc that are stable, sure, you can add quite a bit of most things, even a little NH4.


Regards
Tom Barr