Iron for lazy no lab

[jimired]

how much flourish Iron is enough for 5 red clippings from the auction in a 55. there is growth just not ornage, upped the iron to 2ml (1/2) cappfull a day.

Also I must have av lazy pleco because Im getting green algea on the glass of a 10 gallon with hagen ladder, and about 4 vals & amazon sword (poking throught the top).

I do not want to start scraping..

thanks in advance

[jvision]

Your lack of red may not be an iron deficiency, it may be an imbalance of Nitrogen. For your 10 gal, you may need more PO4, or you may just need some stem/floating plants to suck up excess nutrients in the water column... your plants are primarily root-feeders.

[byte]

how much flourish Iron is enough for 5 red clippings from the auction in a 55. there is growth just not ornage, upped the iron to 2ml (1/2) cappfull a day.

thanks in advance

According to the seachem dosing chart, I use 5 ml (1 capful) for my 55 gallon. There are many different kinds of algae and by identifying it might help find what you need more of to prevent it. Here is a web site to help identify it.

[werner]

Red plants generally require very high light levels to keep them red, otherwise they will grow in green, or just die. If I'm remembering correctly, you only have a moderate amount of light on that tank, so all the iron in the world may not keep them red. There were two red plants at the auction: Rotala macrandra and a Ludwigia species. I'm hoping you have the latter, since it's a much less challenging plant to grow.

Plants will store quite a bit of iron in reserve compared to what they actually use day to day. So if you were testing, you would see them sucking it up regardless of how much you were adding. Since high iron levels can encourage algae, I'd err on the low side in dosing. Just watch your fastest growing plants for signs of deficiency: pale, yellowish or white growth of the new leaves.

Another good algae site: Aquarium Algae

Edited March 27, 2008 by werner

[firestorm]

I agree with everyone, the dosing you should be doing is a capful at most. And yes algae loves the iron, so unless you have enough plants to be taking all the nutrients, you may need to cut down on the dosage for that tank. As well you should check out your lighting, maybe your tank is getting too much sunlight. I also know that there are products that will decrease things like the growth of hair algae, we find it at pisces here and it is called Step 3, waste and algae reducer. But you can only find it there since it is their store brand.

[byte]

...I also know that there are products that will decrease things like the growth of hair algae, we find it at pisces here and it is called Step 3, waste and algae reducer. But you can only find it there since it is their store brand.

Do you have any more information on this product? What does it contain? What is it supposed to do? When I google "Step 3, waste and algae reducer", I get information on ponds and swimming pools. I have never heard of a product that will decrease the growth of hair algae in a planted tank. Iron is not believed to cause hair type algae from this article...

James Planted Tank--Algae Guide

Ammonia and a lack of CO2 are listed as reason for hair type algae growth... I have some of my own I am dealing with

[werner]

Step 3, waste and algae reducer.

I'm not familiar with this particular one, but many "waste reducer, water clarifier" type products are flocculants which can be damaging to fish's gills. IMHO, the fewer chemicals you throw in your tank, the better.

[firestorm]

Yeah it doesn't say what is in it actually. Next time I am down I will ask them or look on the huge bottle they have, cause it doesn't say on mine. One of the guys at the pet store, who deals with all their plants and planted show tanks, showed us this product and says it is great to help remove hair algae, this is our first time using it. It is helping slightly for that type of algae, but I am not 100% sure with other types. Though we have also seen a decrease in green algae on the sides of the tanks.

[jvision]

It may be something like Seachem Excel, which does a great job of fighting algae

[firestorm]

It could very well be. I know it says it helps reduce waste as well though, so I am hoping it doesn't eat up all the good nutrients and steal them from my plants too. You never know what you will be getting with store brand products. Although I know sometimes theirs work just as well and they cost less. I guess it is trial and error, but I will for sure see if I can get a copy of the ingredients from the store. I don't want to be putting chemicals in my water that I absolutely don't want. And the strange thing is that we have 2 nutrafin natural plant systems in our 90 gallon for CO2, so they should be getting enough of that to not have a problem with algae. But since my plants are not well enough established, it could be why I am getting the hair algae.

My suggestion to you jimired, is to buy yourself a magnetic glass scraper, they work really good for the algae on the glass, and once you have your plants well established, with enough of them, you should start seeing a decrease in algae growth. You can also try putting phosphate removers pads in the filter, but I wouldn't completely recommend it with a planted tank. Try limiting the light your tank is getting as well. Just shut them off an hour earlier than you usually do, and make sure your bulb isn't wearing out and is the proper wattage for good plant growth. Unfortunately algae can be very difficult to get rid of. And what other types of fish do you have? You might even be able to get away with another type of algae eater.

[werner]

And the strange thing is that we have 2 nutrafin natural plant systems in our 90 gallon for CO2, so they should be getting enough of that to not have a problem with algae. But since my plants are not well enough established, it could be why I am getting the hair algae.

Those suckers are rated for tanks up to 20 gal each. Not near enough for a big tank like a 90gal. Yeast based systems and DIY CO2 are really only efficient (and effective) for tanks up to about 50gal- then it's better to just go pressurized.

[firestorm]

And the strange thing is that we have 2 nutrafin natural plant systems in our 90 gallon for CO2, so they should be getting enough of that to not have a problem with algae. But since my plants are not well enough established, it could be why I am getting the hair algae.

Those suckers are rated for tanks up to 20 gal each. Not near enough for a big tank like a 90gal. Yeast based systems and DIY CO2 are really only efficient (and effective) for tanks up to about 50gal- then it's better to just go pressurized.

I know, that's why we have 2 of them. Once I have enough money I will be going with a pressurized system, or I might make a couple more myself using the good ol' pop bottles(for now). Amazingly enough we have hardly had any green algae growth, only the hair algae, but it looks like it is slowly decreasing. I am still pretty new at the whole keeping aquarium plants, even though I did do quite a bit of research on all those aspects, I know what I need to be getting here in the future. My plants are still thriving even with those two ladders. We have great lighting for them, we have put fluorite in the substrate, we use the seachem excel and comprehensive fertilizers, and we have the 2 bubble ladders for now, and refill the canister with fresh juice every week(I make my own mix). I just hate how expensive the CO2 tanks are

Edited March 31, 2008 by firestorm

[firestorm]

Thanks werner for that site. I was actually looking on it and the type of algae we are getting is the fuzz algae. We just got a few ottos a few weeks ago, so I am hoping they will help in getting rid of the problem. I will look into this type of algae on some other sites as well, I have a few bookmarked, and I will see what other things I need to do to get rid of it. I know we don't have any of the other types, and rarely get the green algae that grows on the glass. But thanks for all of that. We actually don't have that much of it, just a little bit on our onion plant and java fern.