Cory Schwartz query

On Thu, 27 Apr 2006 09:06:55 GMT, Altum
wrote:

Frank wrote:
Mister Gardener wrote,
One corner of my cory tank
catches direct sunlight for about an hour each morning......

And no algae bloom (green water) yet? ............... Frank

I have a tank in direct morning sun that doesn't have green water or
much algae at all. It's all in the fertilizer. ;-)

This tank contains no special substrate, just gravel and sand, and it
doesn't get fertilized, except by the fish. I keep the plants simple,
mostly water sprite, planted in the substrate and floating, along with
some mayaca, if I spelled that right, which I keep having to trim back
and replant.

-- Mister Gardener
-- Pull the WEED to email me

Change the page then Thats the point of a Wiki.

Mister Gardener and Altum,

Must be my water - comes out of the tap with nitrAtes between 10 and
20ppm depending on the time of year. Any direct sunlite at all = green
water. Funny though, lights are on a timer and at peak light, I'm
putting 4 watts per gal. in the tank (4 hours). Late afternoon sunlite
would hit the tank if the drapes were open - every once in a great
while one of us will forget and leave them open - by the next morning
we have the start of an algae bloom. Hmmm - mabe it's just that little
bit of extra light that does it (?)
................... Frank

On 27 Apr 2006 08:07:43 -0700, "Frank"
wrote:

Mister Gardener and Altum,

Must be my water - comes out of the tap with nitrAtes between 10 and
20ppm depending on the time of year. Any direct sunlite at all = green
water. Funny though, lights are on a timer and at peak light, I'm
putting 4 watts per gal. in the tank (4 hours). Late afternoon sunlite
would hit the tank if the drapes were open - every once in a great
while one of us will forget and leave them open - by the next morning
we have the start of an algae bloom. Hmmm - mabe it's just that little
bit of extra light that does it (?)
.................. Frank
4 watts per gallon is a lot of light, though I don't know the science
well enough to comment on the effect if it's only on for 4 hours a
day. Plants need nutrients, light, and CO2. Too little of one, and the
others are left over to feed the algae. Too much of one, and it feeds
the algae. Are your non-algae plants getting enough nutrients, usually
added from a bottle, and CO2, with Flourish Excel or a CO2 bubbler?
And finally, do you have enough plants to take up all the nutrients,
CO2, etc - grabbing them before the algae gets them?

That's where my experience ends and Altum's takes over, so I now pass
this thread on to Altum.

-- Mister Gardener
-- Pull the WEED to email me

On 27 Apr 2006 07:30:45 -0700, wrote:

Change the page then Thats the point of a Wiki.

(I think this is directed at me, after I commented that I don't fully
agree with Wiki Aquarium's entry on a certain corydoras. Please,
people, include enough of the post you are responding to so that we
don't have to guess what you're talking about.)

I have not paid much attention to Wiki and I haven't any interest in
actively participating. I don't feel I have the expertise to
contradict an existing entry on this particular topic, but I also
question the background of the individual that posted it there. I see
this as a potential clash, and I simply don't have the inclination to
get into whatever political dynamics that make Wiki what it is.
Perhaps I'll explore Wiki Aquarium sometime in the future when I have
time to discover a new web frontier.

-- Mister Gardener
-- Pull the WEED to email me

Frank wrote:
Mister Gardener and Altum,

Must be my water - comes out of the tap with nitrAtes between 10 and
20ppm depending on the time of year. Any direct sunlite at all = green
water. Funny though, lights are on a timer and at peak light, I'm
putting 4 watts per gal. in the tank (4 hours). Late afternoon sunlite
would hit the tank if the drapes were open - every once in a great
while one of us will forget and leave them open - by the next morning
we have the start of an algae bloom. Hmmm - mabe it's just that little
bit of extra light that does it (?)
.................. Frank

How odd. You wouldn't think that one afternoon of sunlight would make
such a difference. If I were talking to anyone less experienced, I'd
suspect a touch of ammonia in the tank. Nothing like ammonia to get a
green water bloom. I'm sure your tanks are ammonia-free, though.

I noticed that Mr. G and I both have water sprite in our algae free
sunlit tanks. Makes you wonder about allelopathy. Water lettuce has
been demonstrated to inhibit the growth of chlorella (green water) in a
couple of different scientific studies.

I don't have nitrate in my tap water, but I spike nitrates up to about
10ppm after each water change. The water sprite loses its healthy green
color otherwise.

--
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Did you read the FAQ? http://faq.thekrib.com

On Thu, 27 Apr 2006 19:01:03 GMT, Altum
wrote:

Frank wrote:
Mister Gardener and Altum,

Must be my water - comes out of the tap with nitrAtes between 10 and
20ppm depending on the time of year. Any direct sunlite at all = green
water. Funny though, lights are on a timer and at peak light, I'm
putting 4 watts per gal. in the tank (4 hours). Late afternoon sunlite
would hit the tank if the drapes were open - every once in a great
while one of us will forget and leave them open - by the next morning
we have the start of an algae bloom. Hmmm - mabe it's just that little
bit of extra light that does it (?)
.................. Frank

How odd. You wouldn't think that one afternoon of sunlight would make
such a difference. If I were talking to anyone less experienced, I'd
suspect a touch of ammonia in the tank. Nothing like ammonia to get a
green water bloom. I'm sure your tanks are ammonia-free, though.

I noticed that Mr. G and I both have water sprite in our algae free
sunlit tanks. Makes you wonder about allelopathy. Water lettuce has
been demonstrated to inhibit the growth of chlorella (green water) in a
couple of different scientific studies.

I don't have nitrate in my tap water, but I spike nitrates up to about
10ppm after each water change. The water sprite loses its healthy green
color otherwise.

Water sprite and allelopathy - interesting concept. Might make sense.
I simply assumed it was sucking up all the extra nutrients floating
around. And as for losing color, yes, that is happening in that
particular tank. I've never though of feeding water sprite until just
a few days ago when I shot it a squirt of Excel and Flourish.

-- Mister Gardener
-- Pull the WEED to email me

Mister Gardener wrote:
On Thu, 27 Apr 2006 19:01:03 GMT, Altum
wrote:


Frank wrote:

Mister Gardener and Altum,

Must be my water - comes out of the tap with nitrAtes between 10 and
20ppm depending on the time of year. Any direct sunlite at all = green
water. Funny though, lights are on a timer and at peak light, I'm
putting 4 watts per gal. in the tank (4 hours). Late afternoon sunlite
would hit the tank if the drapes were open - every once in a great
while one of us will forget and leave them open - by the next morning
we have the start of an algae bloom. Hmmm - mabe it's just that little
bit of extra light that does it (?)
.................. Frank

How odd. You wouldn't think that one afternoon of sunlight would make
such a difference. If I were talking to anyone less experienced, I'd
suspect a touch of ammonia in the tank. Nothing like ammonia to get a
green water bloom. I'm sure your tanks are ammonia-free, though.

I noticed that Mr. G and I both have water sprite in our algae free
sunlit tanks. Makes you wonder about allelopathy. Water lettuce has
been demonstrated to inhibit the growth of chlorella (green water) in a
couple of different scientific studies.

I don't have nitrate in my tap water, but I spike nitrates up to about
10ppm after each water change. The water sprite loses its healthy green
color otherwise.


Water sprite and allelopathy - interesting concept. Might make sense.
I simply assumed it was sucking up all the extra nutrients floating
around. And as for losing color, yes, that is happening in that
particular tank. I've never though of feeding water sprite until just
a few days ago when I shot it a squirt of Excel and Flourish.

-- Mister Gardener
-- Pull the WEED to email me

I get different types of algae depending on where the tank is and how
heavily planted....I treat all the tanks the same as per water change
routine (although probably having said that do the smaller tanks more
frequently but doesn't impact anything) IME the algae is down to just
two things...the planting and the light....

Gill

Altum & Mister Gardener,
If I were talking to anyone less experienced.....

I've been around the block a few times with fish, but with plants, I
let Jessie rob the train. My first two planted tanks (90s) were set up
just after I sold out my breeding tanks and breeders, a couple of years
ago. I built the hoods and had the elect. on one of the jobs install
the lighting - planted the hell out of the tanks (atop of UGFs) and
pumped the CO2. Plants cloged the filter plates in no time - some
growing, others dying, whole thing looked like crap in no time. Removed
the UGF plates - redid everything, and in no time, the two tanks looked
like crap again. Took everything out again, called one of the gals from
the fish club that used to take care of the plants at the pet shops.
She does the plant thing in my tanks and I do the fish thing in hers -
tanks really look great now, and I still don't know much when it comes
to plants...
To answer your guestion Altum, 0 ammonia... yes, she does have a small
amount of water sprite floating - removes handfulls all the time... She
don't mind the nitrAte level. .................... Frank

On 27 Apr 2006 14:42:59 -0700, "Frank"
wrote:

Altum & Mister Gardener,
If I were talking to anyone less experienced.....

I've been around the block a few times with fish, but with plants, I
let Jessie rob the train. My first two planted tanks (90s) were set up
just after I sold out my breeding tanks and breeders, a couple of years
ago. I built the hoods and had the elect. on one of the jobs install
the lighting - planted the hell out of the tanks (atop of UGFs) and
pumped the CO2. Plants cloged the filter plates in no time - some
growing, others dying, whole thing looked like crap in no time. Removed
the UGF plates - redid everything, and in no time, the two tanks looked
like crap again. Took everything out again, called one of the gals from
the fish club that used to take care of the plants at the pet shops.
She does the plant thing in my tanks and I do the fish thing in hers -
tanks really look great now, and I still don't know much when it comes
to plants...
To answer your guestion Altum, 0 ammonia... yes, she does have a small
amount of water sprite floating - removes handfulls all the time... She
don't mind the nitrAte level. .................... Frank

Sounds like you and the fish club gal need to hang onto each other.
Your body of knowledge in matters piscine is astounding, you shouldn't
have to carry around all that plant expertise at the same time.
Altum's comment on Water Sprite really got me thinking, of the
successful plant growers I know, a common denominator is water sprite.


-- Mister Gardener
-- Pull the WEED to email me