plant article- great info

[Reefkeeper]

just read a great plant article in tropical fish hobbyist mag. I would encorage reading it, if you have the mag. the author did a study on the nitorgenous waste use of plants in aquariums, lab setting, etc. EVEN used some saltwater grass. WOW. the persons findings were that many plants actualy prefer to use ammonia over the processed form nitrate. It also had several graphs showing how rapidly ammonia was utilized by the plants compared to nitrite or nitrate. and also stated that plants utilize ammonia more through leaf absorbtion, while the roots utilized nitrates more effectively. Although this study did not include any species of alge- like calerpa, I would assume that the preferences would be the same. SOOOO, as a hobbiest, that would mean to me:
if I were setting up an emergency quarentine tank, I could use calerpa alge to keep the ammonia in check- or at least help from building up high levels.

ammonia spikes due to overheating /disaters that we bring upon our tanks / dead critters behind the rock, could be made less toxic by the algae in your tank.

preferance to ammonia may also be why larger alges like the calerpa sp. work so well at our competing problem alge- they get rid of the fish waste before it becomes nitrates.

anyway, sorry for rambling.... and the bad spelling.... one of those insomniac nights!


Gene

That would make sense,since macros require more nutrients than micro algaes. Once you get nice macrogrowth it should strip nutrients depriving the smaller ones till an equilibrium is established. The Nitrogen forms along with Phosphates and other stuff are always going to be present in your tank, it seems the trick is to get the right organisms to utilize it either by consuming it on many levels, such as a wide variety of detrivores in the sand bed or by Macro algae binding it up in plant tissue so that it can be manually removed or used as fish food. I believe Tom mentioned earlier that some of the compounds in question are converted to bone and tissue mass.
Keep in mind when you are experiencing a major algae bloom, you have high levels of the essential nutrients, you just may not be able to detect them with your test kits as they are being taking up and utilized by the algae as fast as they are produced. This is a real common scenario we see on these BB's alot. Algae running amuck, everything tests OK, whats wrong. Basically nothing, that time wont heal, esp if you add, herbivores and detrivores and have the patience to wait and go slow while the little ecosystem you are creating has a chance to establish itself.
I will be looking to add more varieties of macro algaes since I will have a sump thats like 2/3 the size of my display tank and shift it to the Reverse Daylight mode

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