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Ok so evil staghorn algae stuck out, and I've been battling it ever since.]
I have tried alot of things and the staghorn don't seem to be retreating. I've lowered my nitrAtes to 10; I've added co2; upped my wattage so co2+light=faster plant growth; Manual removal of staghorn; removing leaves(infected ones); purhcased posphate remover; reduced lighting to 6-8 hrs; and I'm still loosing to the staghorn.
Recently when I introducing higher lighting new leaves the sprout out are pale than the older leaves, is this a lack of iron?
I really need help here, my tank looks ugly and I've spent soo much time and money onto it, this is not what I suppose to get in return!!:#(:#(

TIA

Gee

Last edited by BigGee168 at 16-Mar-2005 17:05

Gee

!!I think I just learned somthing new!!

The basic notion that you need to focus on the plant's needs.

Algae is mainly caused by a lack of a couple of things, NO3 and CO2.

Adding K+, PO4, GH (Ca/Mg)and traces rounds things out.

It's not difficult to add enough nutrients and keep them in a good range, CO2 is the biggest challenge for most folks.

CO2 issues are perhaps 90% of the issue.

Staghorn is generally caused by a large disturbance, like uprooting and moving the plants around a lot, too many fish + poor plant growth etc.

It's inducible by adding NH4 to the tank or adding too many animals.

Water changes, 50% weekly, prune good, add enough CO2, KNO3, KH2PO4, Traces and make sure you have 25-30ppm of CO2 when the lights are on the entire day length.

You can search KNO3/KH2PO4 and also buy it here: www.gregwatson.com for peanuts.

Dosing is easy if you tell me what you tank size is and what the KH/GH are.

Regards,
Tom Barr

Wow alot of science here
Well for the info u need is
Ammonia=0
NitrIte=0
NitrAte=10
GH=80
KH=60
Lighting is 1.5wpg

Gee

Gee

!!I think I just learned somthing new!!

Well, plants use chemicals to grow, fish just eat other things.

It's not particularly complex or complicated to do and "the how". "Why" will get you into trouble though

I forgot to add: the pale new growth, is likely a lack of NO3. If plants have holes, some red plants become more red, then that's likely what it is.

How big is the tank?
From there I can tell you precisely what to do as far as adding nutrients.

You'll only add 3 things(not including CO2/light/water)
KNO3
KH2PO4
Traces(Eg SeaChem Flourish or Tropica Master Grow-TMG)

With the light you have, about once a week dosing is all you'll need and feed fish well and crank up the CO2.

Alternatively, you can also add SeaChem Excel+ CO2 but adding enough CO2 is what you should work on the most.

Dosing the nutrients will be easy, and cheap.

You can get the KNO3 at Canadian Tire I believe, stump remover, sounds weird but it's 100% almost KNO3.

Traces you can buy locally, Hydroponic stores carry KH2PO4.

You can get KNO3, KH2PO4 from www.gregwatson.com and it's dirt cheap and will be sent right to your door.

Regards,
Tom Barr

Tom? What would the dosage be for the following?

KNO3
KH2PO4

Michael