Does any one know if water temperature is a factor in algae and plant
growth. Was wondering as I haven't had much algae in my tank until I
reduced the temperature by about 4 degrees, I've noticed a really
light colored flimsy kind of algae starting to develop on a piece of
driftwood. Any ideas.

75g
210w cf
pressured co2
heavily planted
plant growth is good
~7 cc of fertilzer daily
flourite/onyx substrate

thanks

Lowering your tank temperature should *slow* the development of algae.

Are we talking about a bright green "light colored flimsy kind of algae
starting to develop on a piece of driftwood" which is directly exposed to
the lights? I'd be more inclined to wonder about 1) the length of time the
lights are turned on, and 2) whether you're overfertilizing.

I (only recently) achieved equilibrium in my CO2 injected 75 gallon with 190
watts turned on 11 hours a day and the temperature at 74º.

What's your fish load? You might want to test Ammonia/Nitrite/Nitrate and
increase water changes if your plants aren't using all your fish poop. If
you're dosing fertilizer daily, are we talking about trace elements only?
Test for Fe to see if you really need to be putting that much fertilizer in.

I should talk, but there you go.

kush

"You can't have everything - where would you put it?"

Bugbear wrote in message
om...
Does any one know if water temperature is a factor in algae and plant
growth. Was wondering as I haven't had much algae in my tank until I
reduced the temperature by about 4 degrees, I've noticed a really
light colored flimsy kind of algae starting to develop on a piece of
driftwood. Any ideas.

75g
210w cf
pressured co2
heavily planted
plant growth is good
~7 cc of fertilzer daily
flourite/onyx substrate

thanks

If it's green, it's algae. It's pretty hard to keep algae from growing on
exposed driftwood. Personally, I kind of like it. Adds to the natural
beauty
of the tank -- especially the moss-like algae, and the kind that forms
short
carpets.

I hate string algae and beard algae and the algae that grows on the sides of
the tank, but in my opinion the moss-like carpet algae that you describe is
a good algae. I like the color it adds to the tank, and I would think that
it's filtration and bacteria surface area would be beneficial, especially if
moved from an established tank to a filtering tank. The biggest problem
with keeping this algae is that my oto cats love it, and they can clean an
item in a few days.
-Cesium


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