Less Plants = Less Dosing ?

[reiverix]

So my tank has been running since last October and now it's all coming together quite nicely. My tank is a bit of a jungle but that's ok, my goal was just to get things growing, lots of species and then start keeping the ones I like and thin out out the rest.

I've been pruning a lot over the last few days and have removed a fair bit of plant mass. So the question is - will this affect my dosing regime or should I just continue as normal?

 

[Tom Barr]

Re: Less Plants = Less Dosing ?

You can dose less, but it's not required. Some feel excess = algae, but this is not true.

Having said that, I think you can take this too far and go to extremes.

Good biomass is required, but you can get away with less dosing, I do not think it means the algae will be limited either way, less oplants = more likely algae will appear.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[reiverix]

Re: Less Plants = Less Dosing ?

Good to know. I cut down traces just slightly but am dosing the same amount of macros. I've replaced a lot of the stems with rooted plants and bulbs so the mass is almost the same but with 'slower' plants.

 

[Tom Barr]

Re: Less Plants = Less Dosing ?

Wise move, means less pruning to maintain the scape
I love Crypts for that.

Also, the hardscape is prime anmd can really reduce the work load for larger tanks, Jeff and Mike from ADG, Amano, Myself, we all have done a number of big tanks, we all design some very similar patterns due to long term stability in the design.

Regards,
Tom Barr