Okay, background info--55g, 70#'s lr, 40#'s ls, Fluval 305, RO HOB Skimmer, 4 T5 bulbs, 9 fish, and different inverts.
H2O params: NH4-0, NH2-0, NH3-10, PO4-0, SG-1.025-6, Tmp-78-80, Alk-3.4 meq/L, Ca-460.
I have been fighting algae’s since I set the tank up at the beginning of Sept. When I say fighting, I do not mean diatoms and normal tank cycle blooms. I'm talking about 7-8 different species at one time from macros to micros, with dinos thrown in even. I have changed water, picked crap off of rocks, sucked junk off, scrubed garbage off, reduced feeding, changed photoperiod and still couldn't get my NO3+ below 10ppm or the algae’s to go away. The worst was the green snotty looking stuff full of bubbles. From research, I believe it is/ was a dinoflagellate mat.
Okay, so, I went to Gerwin and told him my concerns about my nitrates and the algae. Obviously, I had high nutrient levels. We talked about vodka/ sugar dosing, algae mat scrubbers etc. Gerwin then offered a product called AZ-NO3. He told me that he researched it and all of the reviews on it averaged 4 out of 5 stars, but he had never used it. I decided what the hell, didn’t really have anything else to lose. I followed the directions to a “t†and below are my observations while dosing. Note that I did not test every day because I did not expect a sudden change.
Day 1—2 drops dosed—NO3 10ppm
Day 2—4 drops dosed
Day 3—8 drops dosed
Day4—16 drops dosed=1.5ml
Day 5—32 drops dosed=3ml—NO3 3.5ppm
Day 6—Dosed 5.5ml
Day 7—Dosed 8ml—NO3 0ppm
Day 8—Dosed 8ml—NO3 0ppm
The directions say to dose at 8ml until you get 0ppm then cut the dose down to 4ml. Starts tomorrow.
Very important to note--NONE of the fish or CUC showed any adverse reaction to the dosing. I do have a large feather duster and it seems to be drawn in slightly however. I think that may be due to reduced nutrient load in the tank though rather than the dosing.
I will add some pics soon.
Again, thanks for the great recommendation Gerwin!
Wes
One thing I forgot to mention was that this stuff makes a hell of a lot of skimmate, so if you use it make sure your skimmer is set up correctly and be sure to keep an eye on your collection cup because it WILL overflow. I'm emptying my at least once a day and if I have it set too wet I've emptied it twice a day.
