"Richard Sexton" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Koi-Lo My impersonator is Roy TJ Hauer aka Roy. wrote:
I'll look for the stump-remover. I believe I saw that at one of the
stores.
Well there ya go then. The label should say what's in it, I *think*
there's
one that doesn't have KNO3 but the rest do. You can goodle the brand
name as this has been discussed to death in ages past.
I can check at Lowe's and Home Depot as I have access to both stores plus
ACE Hardware.
It's essentially, salt.
And yet it works so well in my ponds and plant prop' tanks. I don't add
regular salt to my ponds.
Well you would;nt need to :-)
It'll help build up potassium and if your pond is potassium deficient
it'll
do some good I guess if the chloride ions don't build up too much.
Evidently chloride ions don't build up because the outdoor plants thrive.
The only plants I've had to die outside were the borderline hardies in
winter. I'm hoping my new greenhouse will keep them alive from now on. :-)
Someone offered us a free gas greenhouse heater for this winter. BTW, I add
it to the outdoor tanks the fish are in, and so far no problems. I don't
add the garden fertilizer to tanks with fish, just the Muriate of Potash.
The old Tetra fertilizer was just potassium, in tanks with a high fish
load
this is sometimes all you need, but only in very rare cases. Still the
chloride ion buildup is an issue without water changes.
Water changes would have taken care of any buildups I believe.
What would be the signs of too much potassium in an aquarium? After all I
can add too much stump-remover as well (PN).
I don't remember off hand, but people have had issues with it.
Since I don't know either I add it in small amounts since the Seachem
contains it.
I understand the mindset of "oh god I've added all these chamicals and
had
no or bad results why should I ad more". BDTD.
That's exactly how I feel - yes.
Yeah, it's a funny feeling but it goes away when you see what good it
does.
Well, if I decide to replace all the plants that faded away I will
definitely try to find someone who can advise me on the correct amounts to
add to my tanks. This time I'll make sure I get plants that can tolerate my
hard alkaline water. No amount of fertilizer is going to make them live and
flourish in the "wrong" water.
The same checmicals that gave me great trepidation a year ago I now dump
in
as routine and I haven't see that awful black algae since and remember I
battled
it for 7 years and tried bleach, peroxide, you name it. When I quit being
so damn stubborn and just did that Tom Barr said and threw away my nitrate
test kit things starting looking like showcase planted tanks around here.
I believe you also said you only have a few small fish in your tanks. Mine
are at capacity and goldfish produce a lot of waste.
OK,... but as I recall I was told there was too much nitrate and
phosphorus
in my tanks last winter, and that was the cause of the RB algae. I was
told
to do major water changes and really clean the gravel, which I did. Why
do
this and then add more nitrate and phosphate from GregWatson? Can you see
what's so confusing here?
High nitrates and phosphates don't cause algae. Ammonia does.
If there was high ammonia in the tanks the fish would have suffered
(especially the platy fry) and it would have shown on my test kits. Ammonia
always reads zero once the tanks cycle. And that's even after a filter
cleaning along with a gravel vac, major water change and Vortex polishing.
Tom and
I have both tried way too high nitrate and phosphate and it does
absolutely
not cause algae.
So then what did? What was the ammonia reading at the time? If there was
ammonia, how did you keep the fish alive?
In a tank with no nitrate added and a phosphate removing
product - algae grows very well.
So nitrate alone (with phos removed) caused the algae? High nitrate and
Phos together does not cause algae - only Nitrate alone - what about the
ammonia? Did the POTASH cause the algae then? Where does the ammonia come
in and what was the ammonia readings on your test kit when the algae
appeared? Mine always reads zero ammonia and around 20ppm Nitrate. I have
no idea about phos levels since I don't have a kit.
PROBABLY? We can't know that since it works great in my outside tubs and
ponds. Are you saying the all the potassium in the Seachem products
somehow
fought-it-out with the Muriate of Potash and the plants were all deprived
of
this mineral? How can one suppress the other? I added very little MofP.
It's really pointless to speculate what happens when things go wrong with
the wrohg recipe, there's too many failure modes, and frankly who cares?
Do the right thing and things will be fine.
And the right thing is to buy all GregWatson's products and just start using
them willy-nilly and the plants will thrive and the algae will go away?!?!?!
Hummm... that's pretty much what I was told the Excel and Flourish products
would do. :-) Since I'm not a chemist nor can I afford the accurate test
kits on the market I have little chance to guess the correct amounts to add
to my aquariums.
1) Remove all the alage you can mechcnically.
Yes, I've done that several times with the help of the plecos.
2) Change 85% of the water a day for two days
I already went that route then used the recommended products - Excel, the
mirconutrients, the iron......
3) Fertilize properly.
I am fertilizing properly according the the Seachem products I bought from
Foster & Smith.
--
KL....
Frugal ponding since 1995.
Aquariums since 1952.
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://tinyurl.com/9do58
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