Am I Killing Bacteria

[Primous]

Why does Tropica the main plant cultivator to Europe sell aquatic plant food with N03 and P04 in?? Because our plants need them.

This is untrue, yup people dose nitrate but there is a huge community who do not dose nitrate at all. Myself being one of them.

 

[ian]

not huge...believe me. What is untrue, plants don't need N and P?? I can't believe what i'm reading here...

also a good friend of mine and forum user George Farmer states to use N and P

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/106371-algae-in-the-planted-aquarium/

 

[elmo666]

to be fair I don't think anyone is disputing the benefits of nitrates in a planted aquarium. It is the excessive nitate that is being looked at and how this encourages algael growth. My understanding and personal experience is that it does. Anyway, apart from algael issues, high nitrate is not well tolerated by fish and as such its level needs to be monitered and contolled to the best of our ability.

 

[ian]

time for me to step away from this thread...


Elmo, have a read up on the EI way of dosing your tank

http/www.theplantedtank.co.uk/EI.htm

 

[elmo666]

just chuckling to myself in a quiet way, my aquamedic tank is totally plant free. Catch you soon in another post, take care.

 

[Livewire88]

I like to clean my external filters every 3 months or so, when ever I do I remove the media trays give them a rinse in a bucket of tank water that I have just removed.

The amount of fish poo that builds up over the corse of 3 months is quite surprising, I pour all the dirty water out of the canister (through a fish net to catch any Shrimp that have been sucked up) then swill the canister out with some more tank water, then replace the trays and fill the canister back up with water from a second bucket of freshly removed tank water.

Im no expert but surely all the poo that is trapped in the filter is just going to create unwated Nitrate if not removed regulary?

 

[StandbySetting]

Just going to chime in here and agree with Ian. A false correlation is often derived from tanks full of algae, the hobbyist runs a simple test and sees that nitrates are high and thinks that must be the reason why. As Ian has already stated, light and ammonia are the cause, as well as poor circulation. Also you're going to need a heck of a lot of nitrate (approx 400mg/L for most bread and butter species) to cause any immediate problems, but obviously lower is always better as the long term effects are not well documented

This is untrue

That statement itself is untrue, Nitrogen and Phosphorous which are derived from Nitrogenous compounds and Phosphorous based compounds form 2 of the 3 macro nutrients which are ESSENTIAL to plant growth, nitrogen is used in protein synthesis and phosphorous is required for photosynthesis, nutrient transport and energy transfer, without it a plant simply would die.

 

[stu40]

I'll chuck my hat in on this one.
To the OP. what you're doing is fine IMO, it's exactly what i do.

if you take the time to read my post I didn't suggest cleaning the filter lowered the no3, but removing unwanted detrius from where ever it collects certainly does help prevent it building up in the first place. Excessive nitrates do encourage algael growth, that is without quedtion. As for waiting for a drop in flow rate before carrying out filter maintainance, well that is like waiting for your car to sieze before changing the oil filter, but each to their I guess. Mine is only an opinion ofcourse, but I do believe in regular tank management and the removal of unwanted waste.

Sorry, i'd question it.
EDIT:i've been accidently adding too much TPN+ (1ml per 10L) for the last 3 months, and for the tank (new set up) has only had diatoms.

Excessive lighting, too many nutrients and so on and it will. Nitrate is the end result of the nitrogen cycle and if levels are excessive this encourages algael growth. My preference is to remove as much waste as I can through regular cleaning to keep nitrate levels as low as possible. I take on board your comments and don't disagree with you, just prefer a different approach.

Agree with the first part of this.Forgotten how many threads i've seen on here that complain about algae, and then post their lighting period is 12hrs.
Disagree with the 2nd part.
By removing excessive waste,surely you're keeping the ammonia levels as low as possible, as by your own admission nitrate is the end of the nitrogen cycle, with ammonia the start.

@Ianho we're going to have to agree to disagree. In what I've read and from my understanding nitrate is a key ingredient to algae but this isn't the thread to debate that. Though I going to add that like you said, nitrates being an ingredient of certain algae types is "old thinking" and very established science. Nitrates "Not" being an ingredient of algae is "new thinking" and in all honesty i've only seen that type of thinking on a couple of sites but always being championed by those who agree with Tom Barr. Much respect regardless...

@elmo If your tank is set up nitrates shouldn't be a factor regardless of buildup. I check mine before every water change and get oppm. But I do agree with nitrates adding to certain types of algae. Welcome to the site by the way...

EDIT

@elmo you can disagree with people lol respectful debate can be healthy when it comes to this hobby imo

May i respectfully ask what type of algae these are? (no flaming)

 

[Primous]

From reading the above it would seem that we may just be arguing a mute point? If you don't believe that nitrate causes algae but once established can feed algae then the debate in my opinion isn't necessary...

 

[ian]

You have not really answered the questions posed in the discussion.

 

[Primous]

There are about 12+ distinctive algae types and nitrate at either high or low levels of nitrate sustains about 5-6 of them. From memory green dust, blue green, and spot algae are sustained by nitrate...

But here's where you'll chip in with a link to some article that says nitrate doesn't etc etc or just state it as fact. Which I think defeats the purpose if the answer to the question I asked in my previous post is indeed "Yes."

By the way if algae is caused by just light and ammonia, how do you explain the different types of algae?

 

[ian]

Then how do you get algae when cycling a tank with ammonia without any N03??

 

[Primous]

lol Now who's not answering the question iahno? Just so we are clear I'll make it more concise

Do you believe/from your understanding once established, does nitrate feed algae?

*EDIT*

Also the second question I asked after answering yours. If ammonia and light are the only contributing factors to algae how do you explain the different types of algae?

 

[ian]

In an unbalanced tank, yes N03 amongst 40+ other nutrients will help feed algae, but high levels won't give you an algae outbreak...but you say this as algae is inevitable in a planted tank when it really isn't. I'm also unsure to whether you know how photosynthesis happens in a planted tank and the importance of N03 and P04 in a planted tank??

now, you're probably not gonna believe me but also low N03 and P04 can exacerbate alages. BGA is exacerbated by low N03, Cladophora is exacerbated by low P04 levels, GDA is exacerbated by low NO3 and P04, GSA low PO4. I could go on and on...but i don't feel as it'll get through. If you go to any DECENT planted forum and ask the same, you'll get the same answers as i'm giving you, i wouldn't listen to closely to a Yahoo group that consists of middle Americans (not that there's anything wrong with middle Americans).

http/www.theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm

^^you probably won't read yet another link i'm giving you, but hey!

 

[Primous]

Yahoo group?

I read that and had to chuckle. You get your info from tom barr and cart it around like it's gospel but because my approach differs to yours you assume I'm using a yahoo group? Wow ianho?

The respect I had for you as a fellow hobbyist, I want that all back. No need to throw slights my dude. And by the way Plantedtank/apc/ukaps/ (to name just a few) are not yahoo groups. And why the hell are you going in on Americans loool? Wow