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[Ordovician]

Recently the bluegrass was hit with a major ice storm. My power was out for 7 days and my plants and tanks did not receive any light at that time. My fish losses were kept to a minimum, but I'm not sure about the plant losses yet. 7 days is a long time without light, and I expected that most of my plants would be dead by now. However, they seem to be OK. I have done water changes, started the CO2 again and got the water back up to the normal temperature...............Is there anything else i should do? Thanks.

[djlen]

You should be just fine. Recently I had a terrible Black Beard Algae problem and did a total 4 day blackout of the tank with absolutely no ill affects to the plants or fish. And I mean TOTAL.
I covered the tank with black trashcan liners and blankets so no light at all could get in. BTW, it solved the problem along with dosing fertilizers properly and keeping a steady CO2 level in the water table.
Len

[Ordovician]

Thanks......thats good info. I have had problems with Black algae in my cichlid tank, but none in my planted one. I seem to get that spot algae most of the time and a little bit of BGA.......I think. Lexington has horrible water. Way tooo much phosphorous.

[Richer]

How much is way too much phosphorus? In well maintained CO2 injected, high lighted tanks, its actually quite common to dose with a bit of phosphorus to really get the plants growing. I'd suspect it would be something else if your having BBA problems.

-Richer

[djlen]

I agree with Richer. How much light do you have over that tank? If it's a high light tank(3watts/gallon) or more you need to get it balanced between CO2,Macro and Micro ferts and light. And one of the elements I use regularly is Fleet Enema which is PO4(phosphate). After I did my 4 day black out I started looking for a balance, to allow the plants to out compete the algae for all the elements that they both need. One of them was PO4 and I haven't had any problems with any type of algae since.
Find the proper balance for your tank and you'll be amazed at the difference.
Len

[Ordovician]

My kit (dry tab) only goes up to 10ppm, and when I don't add the phosguard, I have had serious problems with algae. Most of the time it was the Blue Green stuff that kind of forms a mat on your gravel. I don't have quite 2 watts/gallon, but I'm close at 2.75. I did get a iron test the other day, and it registered 0 for chelated iron. The instruction manual for the test said that I should have at least some in a planted tank.......However, I'm getting pretty good growth on all of my plants so I'm kind of hesitant to do anything different. Currently I add 1ml of Flouish once a week. Should I try some Flourish Iron to supplement my low iron content?

Thanks........

http://home.insightbb.com/~clayw26/75-3.jpg

[djlen]

Many people are afraid of phosphates(I was too) and will do most anything to get rid of them. But they are needed by your plants. If they don't get them along with the other two necessary elements....N & K, they slow down their growth which gives the algae the opportunity to take over.
Go to the search engine at the upper right part of the window. Type in Tom Barr and read everything he writes on the subject. I was having soooo many problems until I just started doing exactly what he prescribed, and it works.
Len

[djlen]

Scan down this page to "Do It Yourself CO2" and read the reponses, especially from Plantbrain(Tom Barr). I keep mentioning this stuff because his advice has worked so well for me.
Len

[Ordovician]

Thanks........My phophorous problem is quite complex though. you see Lexington has very phosphatic limestones that surround the area and as a result the water is extremely phosphate rich. Pretty much every pet store or in town will tell you as much. If I had the room and $$ I would get a RO system and end all of this, but I can't quite do it right now. I plan to do it in the future........ But for now, I just have to deal with what the city puts out.