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I'd love some peoples thoughts on this.....I have a reasonably heavily planted tank (32g) with a fairly high phosphate level and lots of different algae, the latest is bba. Nitrate reading is zero. I want to naturally raise the nitrate by feeding a bit extra and doing fortnightly water change rather than weekly. Am I right in thinking the lack of nitrate would mean the plants may not be using up the phosphate? I'm also using CO2. I'm looking for a more natural method rather than adding chemicals.
Thanks in advance.....James.

Only natural way short of overstocking the tank is to add nitrAtes directly. This is not exactly adding chemicals. IME the only way to effectivly deal with BGA long term.

There is one brand of tree stump remover that can be found in the states @lowes hardware stores. Greenlight tree stump remover in the powder form can be mixed with water to make a concentrated PKO3 solution that can then be added slowly and regularly to the tank. I'm sure if you look around a brand can be found in non US countries. It MUST be pure nitrAte.

I've had success in adding nitrAtes and increasing water circulation via a powerhead, not increasing surface agitation (I'm adding CO2 ). I am looking to get a BN for the poo factor, I've found the daily additons of nitrAtes to be tiresome...and I absolutly hate BGA.

^_^


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Last edited by Babelfish at 25-Sep-2004 02:21

If you have another tank that's cycled can't you take some of the water from that one(with nitrates) and add it into the other tank (in need of nitrates)?

<Vet in Training>
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Hi,
There has been some discussion about what the level
of nitrates in a tank should be. The general thought
is that it should be around 10. Too little, or too
much seems to encourage the dreaded slime algae at the
low end, and other types of algae at the high end.

Maintaining a nitrate level in a heavily planted tank
can be difficult as the plants will make it disappear
as they break it down use it and store it.

Use of "pure" stump remover is the prefered method of
maintaining the nitrate level. Be sure to read the
labels, many of the products have extra ingredients
that will harm the fish.

Transferring water from one tank to another might only
work if the two tanks were in series. That is, one
tank feeding the other, with a normal to above normal
fish load in the plantless tank. This uses the heavily
planted tank as a "filter" for the plantless tank.

Just swapping water as in a water change would only feed
the plants, who would make it disappear nearly overnight.

Frank


Last edited by FRANK at 25-Sep-2004 09:54

-->>> The Confidence of Amateurs, is the Envy of Professionals <<<--

thanks guys, I'll see if I can get some pure nitrate. Any ideas on doseage for a 32 g ?

Last edited by Adam at 25-Sep-2004 16:35

Hi James,

I had a similar problem in my tank (63 g), too high phosphate levels and too low nitrate levels. The phosphate levels are trickiest to get rid of and the most annoying really, because plants don't use an awful lot of it and many algae can use them to grow. I'd suggest you first find out what the your tapwater specifications are from the water company, that will give you some clue as to where you will have to focus your effort. In my case I was told that the phosphate levels should be fairly low, whereas the nitrate levels should be around 10 - 12. I was advised to do 30% water changes every three days to get the phosphate levels down. Meanwhile I kept an eye on the nitrate levels, I tried fertilizing once with KNO3, but that led to increased algae growth (a different one). Since last week I've started dosing with a fertilizer that contains all trace elements and potassium as those might be limiting as well. I hope that will help my struggle with the last algae left in my tank, some green hair algea, but overall things have inproved greatly. Good luck with your problem

Thanks Bonke,
I've got some Flourish, so I might start adding that. Phosphate out of the tap is negligable as is nitrate. At the moment I'm trying to increase Nitrate by not doing water changes as often.
Thanks for everyone's advice.

[link=http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_dosage_calc.htm]http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_dosage_calc.htm" style="COLOR: #0000C0[/link] is a good tool for you to use when dosing nitrate.

Someone told me that adding flourish excel to the tank will help to kill of brush algae. Has anyone heard that before?