The BS Pond report for 08-13 2005 (The power of Hornwort)

Bill Stock wrote:
As most of you know (ad nauseum) I've been fighting the dreaded Hair Algae
all summer. I've been adding nutrients (Iron, Potassium, Magnesium,
Nitrates), Aquazyme and Water Lettuce but the Algae kept marching on at the
expense of the other plants. I even tried the miracle grow bath for the WH a
couple of weeks ago (helped a little) but the plants were losing to the
Algae. Except for the Lilies which I've been supplementing with plant tabs
and they've claimed half the pond from their two small pots. Well a couple
of weeks ago I started dumping my excess Hornwort from the tropical aquarium
into the pond, probably 10 gallons over a two week period. This stuff
doubles every week in the aquarium (CO2 added) and takes the light away from
other plants. This has forced the WH and Water Lettuce to the outside of the
pond, starving the Algae of light and out competing the Algae for nutrients
(Phosphate I suspect). So the WH has finally started to perk up, adding new
white roots and putting up a second story (knuckle).

The Water Lettuce is still yellow looking, but I added some more Nitrates
today, which really perked it up last week. I suspect a number of factors
have finally helped to curb the Algae, but it's nice to believe in the
miracle of HW.




Your right. it al BS