Dosing DT Phyto

[JustinK]

Hi all,

Been battling green hairy algae in my tank for the past few weeks, jus took out all my rocks to give them a clean scrub and everything looks better and cleaner now. Am jus wondering, will dosing or overdosing of DT phyto encourage the growth of these irritating algae? been dosing bout 2ml every 2 days for my 2 footer and suddenly realize that the problem started some time back when i started dosing DT... anyone has similar experience?

[typrobin]

basically, hair algae grow because of high phosphate and high nitrate....hair algae need light too...so to curb this problem, get yourself some phosguard, rowaphos or any similar product. more frequent water change will reduce nitrate. reduce your light too, reduce the no. of hours it is switch on....

[JustinK]

yup, did all of the above for my tank already, using phosguard, photoperiod down to 6 hours a day, weekly water change, feed fishes once every 2 days. Thing is, the algae problem still persists quite badly...

so was jus wondering if DT phyto actually contributes to the problem...

[Eric]

yup, did all of the above for my tank already, using phosguard, photoperiod down to 6 hours a day, weekly water change, feed fishes once every 2 days. Thing is, the algae problem still persists quite badly...

so was jus wondering if DT phyto actually contributes to the problem...

Unfinished DT that are left in the water will contribute to the excess nutrients thus giving ur algaes the booster. I just overcome my hairy green algae problems by the following methods and have successfully get rid of all the algaes esp. the behind glass.

1)300g of Biophos II from PR for my 300L tank

2)Use only 1 x 250W 20K MH instead of 2 x 250W(10K + 20K)

3)Water change 25% fortnightly

4)Feed once every 5 days with minimum leftovers

5)upgrade my return pump (2500l/hr -----> 5500l/hr) & increase flowrate.

[Ancelot]

hey justin, i think 2ml might be too much.. count by drops not by volume. For me also a 2ft owner, i only dose 5 drops each day which i dont think is more than 2 ml.. or maybe it is.. but i have a overrated skimmer running! so i think PS is more important than anything else!

[flush]

i thought DT phyto is live phyto and should be competing with the algae for nutrients istead of supplying them with it?

[Gouldian]

For me I do the following in order to keep the hair algae in check.

1)300g of Biophos II from PR for my 33gal tank

2)Use only 1 x 150W 14K MH

3)Water change 10% weekly

4)Feed once every once a day with minimal leftovers

5)Incraese water flow

6)Get a algae blenny (they are "power")

[killfire]

I have been battling algae since the 1st month my 3' tank was setup... it is now 4.5 months old...

It started with Diatom -> cyano -> bryopsis -> hair algae... now the tank is free (at least not noticeable) of diatoms and cyano.. I am seeing less bryopsis but more hair algae... what I am encountering is one species taking over from another as the tank ages...

i think this is normal from what I have read and will continue for the next few months... I use RO/DI water for top up and have negligible NO3 and PO4 levels. So the only thing I suspect that is fueling the algae is silicate from the 5" thk sandbed (have not tested for that) and the 500W of lighting I have ....

So, i guess will just have to be patient and wait for the algae cycle to pass..... while maintaining good water parameters.

[Gouldian]

Yes, I agree, Silicate is a contributing factor. In fact, most of us use tap water and none of us really do testing on our tap water, we sort of think that water fit for human consumption is fit for our babies - this is very wrong.

I myself experience nuisance algae bloom whenever I change water but no choice lah better than don't change unless I got enough money to get RO water. But I feel that since we can't control the silicate level (unless we use RO) we just have to ensure that we don't contribute to it but overfeeding.

[Eric]

i thought DT phyto is live phyto and should be competing with the algae for nutrients istead of supplying them with it?

How long do you think the live DT phytoplankton can last inside the tank?

[kschew1498]

hey justin, i think 2ml might be too much.. count by drops not by volume. For me also a 2ft owner, i only dose 5 drops each day which i dont think is more than 2 ml.. or maybe it is.. but i have a overrated skimmer running! so i think PS is more important than anything else!

Shit! I dose a spoonful every day previously! until my whole tank kanna red slimy algae!!! Was suspecting must be the DT.....

Now I dose 4-5 drop every alternate days and feed very minimum and reduce my MH lighting from 8 to 7 hours! Same same didnt use RO water for water change weekly so......

Now using phosguard and recently Rowaphos to counter it! Lets see how it goes! Should be very effective!!! .....

[JustinK]

heh... shall cut down on my DT then... think will change my phos removal to either Rowaphos or Biophos... phosguard not much help leh. But now i am deciding which is better, Rowaphos or Biophos II, heard so many reviews bout Biophos, but is it really better than Rowaphos? besides the pricing that is... hmmm... anyone knows?

[flush]

How long do you think the live DT phytoplankton can last inside the tank?

heh good point. thanx