sewingalot

My GDA is gone!!!!!! Thank you so much.

Christian_rubilar

Newt

Me too!

Thanks so much for such an easy method and all the time you took to explain things.

My plants look so much healthier.

Christian_rubilar

I am really glad about that!
Regards

nkambae

Sticky status for this thread?

I admit to some confusion here as I am seeing references to gsa and gda. I don't have any green dust algae in any of my tanks but I do have green spot algae in two of my tanks. Especially on (can anyone guess?) my anubias and the older leaves of crypts and a large crinum.

Is this a method for removing/controlling gsa, gda, or both the previous and other types of algae? Or, rather, is it a method for finding a more optimum method of fertilization and the side benefit is a reduction or elimination of gda, gsa, et al?

Now it is time to light a pipe of toasted cavendish, reread the thread, and think a bit. Thanks to all and good luck.

stu

Christian_rubilar

I undertand your confusion. This is because I resume the MCI in a few sentences. I should translate the complete thread, it will take some weeks. Meanwhile you can use google translator. If you go down in the first page you will find many algae pictures, there you have specific protocols to deal with them:
http://www.drpez.net/panel/showthread.php?t=154436

One of the ideas of the MCI is that we are fertilizing plants instead of tanks. Each specie has a different uptake. Anubias and crinums needs extra Po4. GSA is a bio indicator or an imbalance about Po4, a lack of Po4. The protocol for the GSA is:

1. 50% water change.
2. Stopt fertilizing at all.
3. Clean the GSA (We are going to use it as a witness) every day.
4. Add Po4 every day. The doze is a gram every 500 gallons.
5. Repeat #3 and #4 until GSA doens't show up again.
6. The amount of Po4 you needed to stop GSA is the doze you should use per week.
7. 50% water change on the 7th day.

The MCI is a method for control any kind of algae and for fertilizing. I believe that fertilizing and algae control are 2 faces of the same coin. The algae are bio indicators of your failures, You can't separate fertilizing and algae control.
I look for the GSA in the same way that a blind man looks for the wall at the street with his walking stick. As soon as I find the GSA I know where I am. If I stay close to GSA there will be no other algae. This is the main idea about algae control.
About fertilizing, the idea is that every plant has different needs, so for me rules like 10.1.15 or TB idea about non limiting resources makes no sense. I propose to use the generic protocol of the Kno3 as a way to know the real uptake of your plants about No3. You can use the Po4 protocol against GSA to know exactly how much Po4 you need.
It's just common sense, if you have guest to dinner you should ask how many in order to know how much food you need. You don't ask about how many square feet is the house. The approach that is use in fertilizing is like this, people talks about how many gallons has the tank instead of taking care of the species you have.

Regards

Bert H

Very interesting stuff, Christian. Some questions and comments for you.

So if I understand you correctly, you are espousing doing a major water change on the tank, then adding only nitrates daily during the week until you see the appearance of green dust algae (gda) on the glass. At that point you say you know how much NO3 your tank needs for a week.

Let me use an example of my 10 gallon tank (which has been ignored and I have a near algae farm on now). Let's say, after a major water change and clean out, I would then add 0.2g of NO3 to the tank per day. No other macros or micros at all? If after 3 days, I start to see the appearance of gda on the glass, I will know that my tank's needs are approximately 0.6g of NO3 for the week (assuming I do my 50% water change at week's end). At that point, then I could dose 0.3g at water change, and a second 0.3g midweek to meet the tank's needs, correct? If by chance, I cannot do a water change for 2 weeks (vacation or life getting in the way), then I would add 0.3g of NO3 every 3 days or so, correct? I did read in your reference Spanish thread that you recommend dosing 3x/week - is this a must or can it be modified as needed?

More to follow on another thread...

Newt

Until GSA is reached not GDA. This will eliminate GDA then you do the same with phosphate dosing for dealing with the GSA.

Bert H

...continuing...

The 10 gallon tank I refer to on the above thread is an 'experimental tank' for me, run on city water which I obtain from a friend, as I have well water at the house. My other two tanks, both 50 gallons, are run on my house water.

Being on well water from a limestone aquifer, means I have high kh and gh, mostly from calcium carbonate. My water does not have NO3 or PO4 which I can measure. According to your proposals, high Ca is a problem. This is a 'problem' I cannot do away with, as I have no plans nor desire to purchase an RO unit. I deal with this issue by adding Mg to my tanks twice a week. I have learned that certain plants just will not thrive in my water, and others are marginal, with a little tinkering in my part, ie addition of Mg.

To get away from algae issues temporarily, how do you deal with stunting issues on plants? If I don't add Mg to my tanks, several plants (Rotalas, Proserpinaca) will stunt considerably on me. As it is, I still get a little stunting on certain plants, but it is much less with the Mg addition.

In addition to the above, I have always found that I could not run a 'lean' tank with my water. Nutrient uptake/requirements are different with hard water as opposed to soft(er) waters. Any comments you'd like to direct to that? Or can you direct me to any portions of your Spanish threads which deal with this (I speak Spanish also).

Interesting stuff...

Bert H

I thought the main reference was to GDA and NO3 uptakes. I thought a similar approach was used for GSA with PO4 - adding PO4 until GSA was gone.