# GSA outbreak after increase in No3



## biffe (Nov 1, 2004)

First I had Staghorn Algae, then increased Co2 solved that problem, then my plants went lightgreen and looked "lifeless", so after reading at Chuck's site under Warning signs of Nutrient Deficiency I concluded that it must be because of low No3. after two weeks with increased No3 to 10ppm I begin to see alot of green spot algaes on the glass and crypts. So the question goes, should I cut back on the No3, or try to solve the problem with more PO4? acording to the Co2 table, the level should be in the greenfield (23ppm) with PH6,9 and KH6, so can't move that one much higher before it moves into the redfield.
The test kits i use is problerly not accurate since they are fairly cheap in the aquashop.

190G Tank
360w T5light ranges from 6000-6500Kelvin
PH6.9
KH6
Co2 23ppm
No3 10ppm <- not sure if its accurate since it range from 1-12,5 on the first color scale
PO4 dont have a good test kit there either, but fish population is 8 Altums, 30 rainbow fish and 15SAE's, they get feeded with bloodworms everyday and flakes later.
waterchange around 40% each week

Hope you can help me out, thought that I finally was getting on top of my algae problem, but then a new kind shows up 

Regards Kenneth


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## Mnemia (Nov 23, 2004)

It's quite possible you bottomed out on phosphate because of the nitrate addition (ie, you shifted the limiting nutrient from nitrate to phosphate). This seems likely since you aren't dosing any phosphate. You need to balance your nitrate/phosphate dosing so that you always have enough of each. I doubt your fish food will provide enough of this, since a lot of good flake food these days is actually quite low phosphate and it's not in the easily taken up inorganic form.

Start dosing some KH2PO4, and things should be fine.


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## SnyperP (Dec 10, 2004)

I agree with Mnemia. Sounds like you may have bottomed out your PO4 with the addition of NO3. If everything else is in order, GSA is a pretty good indicator of low to none existant PO4. If you need a quick and easy source of PO4, do a search on fleet enema.


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## biffe (Nov 1, 2004)

I just added 1g, this should give me around 0.9ppm, do you think its safely to raise it to 2ppm over a weeks time, so maby add another half g every second day or so?

Thanks for the quick reply, greatly appriciated

Kenneth


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## MatPat (Mar 22, 2004)

In addition to the increase in PO4, I would also increase the CO2.

You can *slowly* increase the CO2 *when you will be around to monitor the fish.* Once the fish show signs of stress, i.e. hanging around the top of the tank or gasping at the surface you can turn the CO2 down a bit. I would guess that with your test kits your CO2 levels may be a bit lower than what yor test show.


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

There is a ratio of NO3 to PO4 of about 10:1 that plants seem to like most. If you up nitrates you should always up phosphates respectively.


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## biffe (Nov 1, 2004)

Ok thanks for the inputs guys, ill keep you updated with the progress.

Kenneth


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