Adding too much Fetrz?

[peteypob]

HI everyone,

I am still trying to figure out what is the cuase of the brown algae that is on my anacharis, moneyworts, javamoss, and many others. It seems to be growing half way on the plants or stays on the bottom half of my tank. I am wondering if its my lighting thats giving out or Im adding too much flourish and flourish iron on my WC. Growth is not a problem in my tank, everything seems to be just fine except for the algae. I do WC every other day @ 50%. I add 20ppm of potassium from greg watson and about a cap full of flourish and half a cap of flourish iron every WC. I added my new light about nine months ago. Corallife freshwater(2-65watt complact bulbs), pressurized CO2 is at a constant rate. Any one have the same problem as I am? Any comments or suggestions greatly accepted! Thanks!
Pete

[shalu]

I assume the tank is 55gallon? Then lighting should be ok. What CO2 level do you shoot for? Higher(30ppm) CO2 is always helpful for combating algae.

How do you know you have enough PO4? I don't assume I get anything from frozen food(there might be some), but I dose PO4 to get estimated 1-2 ppm level. More PO4 made an amazing difference for me in terms of general algae reduction, green spot on glass in particular. I recall seachem's one capful is about 5ml, half is only 2.5ml. That amount of trace/iron is not much compared to my dosing, I dose 2-3X that much. I use mostly PlantexCSM/IronChelate, with a little Flourish for completeness. You could have picked up some Plantex CSM/Iron chelate from gregwatson as well to save you more money.

[peteypob]

Hi Shalu,

Thanks for your response! Yes it is a 55gal. I remember seeing the plantexcsm/ironChelate on the site but didnt understand on how to dose it. How do you dose your tank with the plantex? Ill place an order for it today. Also how much of a role dose external lighting play in algae? My tank is about 3' away from my window, not much light comes from there but there is some. My PO4 stays petty steady at around, .3-.5 with my fish load. With your phosphate that high you dont experiance any algae problems? I had always thought the target for PO4 was no more than .5.....I will place an order for the plantex maybe you can help me out with that shalu :) ! THANKS!

Pete

[shalu]

The CSM is quite simple. You mix 1tablespoon in a 500ml and use it like flourish. GregWatson says that is equivalent to 80% flourish strength, so you can use a little more. Some people add additional IronChelate10%, but that's optional. I play with it a little bit and add 1teaspoon iron chelate to the solution as well. Can't say if it really makes any difference. Anyhow, that will make trace dosing very cost effective. 1lb each will last practically forever.

Phosphate causing algae is really "old" story. The algae only grows in excess PO4 when other nutrients are limited, like NO3/K/Trace. Making sure everything is in a little bit excess will eliminate most of the algae. I don't even measure PO4(bad kit), just dose it liberally. Now that you are saying you get .3-.5 from fish food, I guess I am already getting at least that much from fish food as well, but much more did much better for me.

But it can still be lighting, because any brown algae I have seen is always in low light condition. How old are the bulbs? However, my pc bulbs are more than 2 years old still work fine.

btw, how many fish in there? I estimate your current water change is ok for up to 6 fish at most, more wc with more fish.

[peteypob]

I noticed on his site that he has a new product "PlantexCSM+B plus extra iron" would this be the same as purchasing the plantexcsm+b and the iron seprately?

[shalu]

That looks like the same as what I end up with after mixing the two :) I guess you can just buy this one if you are not inclined to tinker with the ratio.

[peteypob]

So adding a tablespoons and a half into 500ml and pour the whole 500ml into the tank? Or do you measure out of the 500ml?

[shalu]

So adding a tablespoons and a half into 500ml and pour the whole 500ml into the tank? Or do you measure out of the 500ml?
No, no, no :-)
Not the whole 500ml, treat it like you have 500ml flourish more or less. Use about 5-15ml of that each time just like flourish, you can fine tune it with plant response within that range.

[peteypob]

Awesome! The Plantexcsm+b plus exta iron will be shipped out tommorow. Thanks for the help Shalu! ;) So Ill ply around to try and get the right amount figured out. Thanks!