Sophia Posted December 22, 2009 Report Share Posted December 22, 2009 I thought I should 'do the right thing' and fertilise the plants as I haven't done so since I set the tank up (August, and then a partial reset a month ago when swapping out half the gravel for sand).... the levels were between 0 and 0.5 and now they are 10. When I changed the gravel out I made sure not to wash the stuff that was staying behind and I didn't clean the filter, also kept at least half of the old water to try and maintain as much bacteria as possible. When I changed it the ammonia stayed at 0, nitrite went up very slightly and then returned to zero a few days later. Fertiliser is the only thing that has changed since then. :bounce: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix44 Posted December 22, 2009 Report Share Posted December 22, 2009 high nitrate = do a water change Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted December 22, 2009 Report Share Posted December 22, 2009 It is a plant fertilizer so probably contains nitrate. 10PPM is not high and many water supplies could be near that from the tap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted December 22, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 22, 2009 NPK on the packet says 0-0-3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted December 22, 2009 Report Share Posted December 22, 2009 Can't be that then. 10ppm is not high. Your biggest problem with algae happens when you have low nitrate and high phosphate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted December 22, 2009 Author Report Share Posted December 22, 2009 i dosed it in the first place to try and give the plants a boost to fight off the staghorn algae. then since last weekend I started putting the tanklight on for a few more hours after I learnt that the zealandia grass thingy needs more light so will see how it goes. As the room does get some sunlight and general daylight I had hoped the light was enough without too much artificial, it was on from about 3 in the afternoon till 8pm. Now it's on from before 12 so will see what happens. anyway thanks for answering my question Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted March 13, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 13, 2010 what is considered high phosphate? and what is considered enough phosphate to contribute to algae growth? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted March 13, 2010 Report Share Posted March 13, 2010 what is considered high phosphate? and what is considered enough phosphate to contribute to algae growth? Depends who you ask, but most phosphate test kits don't measure low enough...So generally if it has a reading you could do with lowering it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jennifer Posted March 13, 2010 Report Share Posted March 13, 2010 Keep in mind, an imbalance in many nutrients can cause algae. If you remove all the phosphates you can have a problem. Instead of fixing a problem, prevent it at the source. Plants can utilise phosphate, IF they have enough potassium. It's a similar story with nitrates and a number of other macronutrients. Easiest thing to do is provide a good trace nutrient supplement to the tank. The plants will then use up a lot of the excess nitrates and phosphates and your tank will be more likely to be balanced. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted March 13, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 13, 2010 I've bought some flourish comprehensive to use with the excel and that should hopefully provide what is needed to boost the plants into eating some more of it. In the shop they were all for me buying a phosphate removal pouch but I thought I'd put it to the board first to see it was an overreaction. I don't mind a little algae while the plants get used to the ferts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redracer77 Posted March 14, 2010 Report Share Posted March 14, 2010 I used to have really high phosphate levels and tried removing them with phoszorb and similar products but it just kept coming back, now that I feed my plants the phosphates have dropped to almost zero. I'm using Flourish Excel and another liquid fert(can't remember the name). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix44 Posted March 14, 2010 Report Share Posted March 14, 2010 I'm using Flourish Excel and another liquid fert(can't remember the name). plant gro / flora pride? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redracer77 Posted March 14, 2010 Report Share Posted March 14, 2010 Could be plant gro not 100% sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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