Flourish Excell and Beard algae

[sasquatch]

The castle is settling in nicely, as it was a transfer lots of nutrient got moved around causing a bearded algae outbreak, dark green to black covering moss and plant leaves. I dose 15ml a day in a 55 gal tank for 3 to 4 days of excell, on the 3rd day its starting to turn red as in the pic, I will dose for 6 days and stop, in another few days it will be gone. tank is full of shrimp, fish and snails and seems not to cause any problems for them, Flourish will not outright say its an algaecide and the levels used are more than suggested amount, if it returns I may have to use some faster growing plants to consume the nutrients. Sorry for fuzzy pic, camera and operator are challenged. Steve

 

[Dentoid]

I wanna see pictures of your foot!

 

[sasquatch]

I will not assist you in bulimia Scott, this is a family friendly site lol

 

[PEMfish]

Should clear up nicely. I`v never seen anyone ( but heard of ) use that. Most people are against bio warfare. Be sure to remove most the algae or it will cause a spike in ammonia. You could always get snails for it. But then you'd need a clown loach to get rid of them before they ravaged the plants. Then you`d have to get a large eel to get rid of the loach before your spouse finds out you bought something behind their back. Then you would have to get a freshwater shark to banish the eel. Latter you'd have to explane to your spouse why you need a bigger tank.

 

[vdituri]

Wait, what happened to Steve's foot?!
Cant those two catch a break?

p.s. - Steve I have no help for you on the algea issue. You are in unchartered territory for me. I had FW algae that made HA look like tissue paper. Just recently had it leave the premises.

 

[sasquatch]

Should clear up nicely. I`v never seen anyone ( but heard of ) use that. Most people are against bio warfare. Be sure to remove most the algae or it will cause a spike in ammonia.

sorry Pem, not following you on this, please explain ammonia spike, excell is a carbon fert. dosent affect bio in anyway other than as food or minor algaecide, Im at a loss as to how you think an ammonia spike will occur, thanks Steve

 

[zimboy]

I beleive he is talking about the decaying algae being removed before it decomposes to ammonia. I don't think he is referring to the excell

 

[sasquatch]

ah, I dont think ammonia is involved in rotting veggies, only nutrients and trates? I will google now lol

 

[zimboy]

Post a brief summary of your findings (if you don't mind) so that I also may be enlightened. i always seem to have planty pieces in my floss, maybe i should be more diligent about cleaning?

 

[PEMfish]

Zimboys right. The last post (5:40), me?

 

[sasquatch]

Research! looks like a 50/50 split on algae break down.
"For reasons that are not
well understood, these blooms are
subject to spectacular collapse,
often called a “crash,” where all the
algae suddenly die. When this
occurs, ammonia concentration
increases rapidly because the *** main
mechanism for ammonia removal—
algal uptake***has been eliminated.
Rapid decomposition of dead algae
reduces the dissolved oxygen concentration
and pH and increases
ammonia and carbon dioxide concentrations.
After the crash of an
algae bloom, ammonia concentration
can increase to 6 to 8 mg/L
and the pH can decline to 7.8 to
8.0. The 4-day chronic criterion,
the appropriate criterion to apply"

so a minor algae death representing a very small portion of total mass, should show no increase, a massive die off will be shown as ammonia in nitrates and ammonia, google is cool!

 

[zimboy]

Thanks for the info Steve. knew i could count on you.

 

[boozeman]

I would think that the sudden increase in ammonium would be used up immediately by the plants themselves as fertilizer.

 

[sasquatch]

I would think that the sudden increase in ammonium would be used up immediately by the plants themselves as fertilizer.

I agree Booze, an ammonia increase would require a major crash, Im still a little unclear on ammonia in nitrate, so still following the bread crumbs lol