# is reducing NO3 & PO4 to 0 an effective algue control?



## swake (Mar 2, 2007)

Hi from Belgium,

No food for algues means no algues... 
But, would recuding NO3 and PO4 to zero stop algues?


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## Laith (Sep 4, 2004)

Welcome to APC!  

Tell me, what will happen to your plants when NO3 and PO4 are zero?  

N and P are also food for the plants. If you drop them to zero, you starve the plants. With the plants starved, algae take over the tank.

Many of us add NO3 and PO4 to our tanks because the plants eat it all up!


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## swake (Mar 2, 2007)

Thank you for your answer Laith.

Yes it will harm the plants for sure, but this is another discussion. For the moment let's make the assumption of having no plants at all as is the case for some aquariums.


Ps: I too add my own mixtures of KNO4, KH2PO4 and others to my tanks.  Sometimes I'm amazed at how much ferst i've to put in them to keep levels decent.


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## hoppycalif (Apr 7, 2005)

An aquarium will have something besides water in it, or it is just a tank of water. If it has fish it will have nitrates, phosphates, and some traces in the water. If it has invertibrates, the same will be true. And, of course, if it has plants, the plants will be consuming those nutrients. Algae require a bare minimum of nutrients to grow. If the level of nutrients is too low for plants to do more than barely remain alive, the algae will still have enough to grow well. So, in the real world of aquariums it isn't possible to starve algae to death. Algae control requires something besides reducing the availability of nutrients.


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## mrbelvedere138 (Jan 18, 2006)

Unless you use distilled water, an inert substrate, very low lighting, and a light fish load, algae might not grow. However, cyanobacteria will thrive and prosper in a nutrient devoid tank.


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## Edward (May 25, 2004)

Hi
You can not starve algae, it will always find something to eat. For example Nitrogen entering water from atmosphere, etc. But you can poison algae by keeping healthy plants doing the job. 



Thank you
Edward


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