The seemingly different approaches are not really surprising. One must remember that the whole object in a planted tank is to have a balance of light and nutrients so the plants make full use of both, and algae and in this case cyanobacteria cannot.
I would suggest that Lunar's approach worked because the plants were able to use the additional nutrients, and the increased water flow prevented them from "sitting" as it were. Each aquarium is biologically different, and the balance can slip out now and then for whatever reason. Once it is restored, things should be good. I have severn planted tanks, all maintained equally with respect to plant load/species, fertilizers, fish load, light and water changes; yet the cyanobacteria has appeared only in the one tank and at three different times over six years. Point here is that the biology is clearly different.
BTW, attibones, I forgot something previously. As you have soil, when you clean the substrate do not dig down into the soil. And remember what I mentioned initially, that you will see high organics from the soil which I still feel is the cause of your cyanobacteria. I have researched into soil substrates a fair bit, and the only benefit to using soil is the organics for the first few months. These release CO2 and thus provide the carbon for the plants. In tanks without soil, it takes a few months for the substrate to build up the organics to the degree that CO2 will be sufficient. I've never had problems with CO2 levels, so I still don't see any real benefit to soil. But this is what it is, so this is most likely the source of the cyano. Eventually of course the sopil wears out. Diana Walstad says this occurs in one year, after which (in her own words) the soil substrate is equal to any sand or fine gravel substrate with respect to plant growth.
Byron.
I would suggest that Lunar's approach worked because the plants were able to use the additional nutrients, and the increased water flow prevented them from "sitting" as it were. Each aquarium is biologically different, and the balance can slip out now and then for whatever reason. Once it is restored, things should be good. I have severn planted tanks, all maintained equally with respect to plant load/species, fertilizers, fish load, light and water changes; yet the cyanobacteria has appeared only in the one tank and at three different times over six years. Point here is that the biology is clearly different.
BTW, attibones, I forgot something previously. As you have soil, when you clean the substrate do not dig down into the soil. And remember what I mentioned initially, that you will see high organics from the soil which I still feel is the cause of your cyanobacteria. I have researched into soil substrates a fair bit, and the only benefit to using soil is the organics for the first few months. These release CO2 and thus provide the carbon for the plants. In tanks without soil, it takes a few months for the substrate to build up the organics to the degree that CO2 will be sufficient. I've never had problems with CO2 levels, so I still don't see any real benefit to soil. But this is what it is, so this is most likely the source of the cyano. Eventually of course the sopil wears out. Diana Walstad says this occurs in one year, after which (in her own words) the soil substrate is equal to any sand or fine gravel substrate with respect to plant growth.
Byron.
