"Steve Michie" wrote in message
...
yeah, I tried extra water changes, extra gravel vacuuming, weekly
blackout
periods - without success - but after 1 week with the vortex diatom & a
2nd charge of powder - a massive improvement - not 100% crystal clear
yet - but the plants are starting to flourish again - so another few weeks
and the micro floating algae (that the vortex cant trap) might just get
outcompeted by the plants - fingers crossed. I'm still dosing CO2 but have
stopped dosing iron & potassium.
==================================
I suspect iron is the culprit in some of these algae blooms and problems.
Since I started using a product with iron I notice I have a lot more algae,
especially that black soot looking crud that grows on the glass and is now
starting to show up on the rocks on the bottom. There is takes on more of a
dirty red color. The tanks I haven't used iron in don't have this sooty
looking algae or diatoms. I don't know what this sooty looking stuff is.

DE earth is so cheap at Home Depot you can run your Vortex every day for an
hour or so until the problem is under control.
--

Koi-Lo.... frugal ponding since 1995...
Aquariums since 1952
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