dosing in non co2 tank

brad

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Aug 2, 2005
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Is it high nutrients, no co2 that causes bba or varying co2 levels?

If it`s door number one, how do we go about dosing a non co2 tank without simply keeping our fingers crossed that we won`t have algae?

I`ve been running my non co2 tank for a while now and haven`t had any problems with algae. Only when I did a water change I got a little thread algae. pulled it out and all is fine. So, since I`ve been rambling, in a non co2 tank, with no water changes will an excess of any nutrient cause algae?
 

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Apr 24, 2005
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Re: dosing in non co2 tank

brad said:
Is it high nutrients, no co2 that causes bba or varying co2 levels?

If it`s door number one, how do we go about dosing a non co2 tank without simply keeping our fingers crossed that we won`t have algae?

I`ve been running my non co2 tank for a while now and haven`t had any problems with algae. Only when I did a water change I got a little thread algae. pulled it out and all is fine. So, since I`ve been rambling, in a non co2 tank, with no water changes will an excess of any nutrient cause algae?

One of the basic ideas behind EI is that excess nutrients do not cause algae. In a high light tank CO2 that drops below 30ppm is a common cause of algae. Below 2 wpg non CO2 works. See Tom's article on Non CO2 tanks.
 

brad

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Aug 2, 2005
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Re: dosing in non co2 tank

One of the basic ideas behind EI is that excess nutrients do not cause algae.


nope, but is it the lack of co2, or the change in co2 that causes algae?

how come in one of my tanks that has:
nitrate:20ppm
p04:1-2
co2: nearly 0

I have no algae?

In the other, with the same water params, I get algae if the co2 drops from 30 to 20ppm? It`s still much more favorable for plants than the other tank. Can I maintain this dosing regime with no co2 or should I be reducing the levels? Seems kinda pointless knowing that the algae will find what they need anyway right?

Basically, if 95% of algae issues are co2, what causes it in non co2 tanks?

Co2 is limited to a small percentage of people with tanks. Algae isn`t. What is causing the algae in all these other people`s tanks? Simply water changes intoducing co2?
 

Urkevitz

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Mar 29, 2005
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Re: dosing in non co2 tank

High lighting with low Co2 is a problem. Non Co2 tanks usually have low lighting.
 

Tom Barr

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Jan 23, 2005
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Re: dosing in non co2 tank

Plants adapt well to CO2 levels, if you monkey with them by doing frequent water changes this confuses the plant, so they go back and forth between high and low CO2.
Algae are faster at this and it often signals a change in the dynamics of a stream, lake etc when the CO2 changes from the norm.

I've added higher levels of nutrients to non CO2 tanks without issue, but I'd suggest adding only what you need and watch the plants more than following a specific pre determined amount of dosing.


Regards,
Tom Barr