Carbon Dosing Just for Bacterioplankton Production...Is it also Growing my Algae?

[livinlifeinBKK]

So started carbon Dosing my nano with AF Pro Bio F a few months ago to take care of my high phosphates and I think it did its job well. While using this product I happened to read into the role of Bacterioplankton in the feeding of corals and found that carbon dosing helps stimulate bacterioplankton growth so I kept using the product and although I don't have too many corals yet I think they have grown a good bit and think my nitrates and phosphates are at pretty decent levels but is this likely the source of a little extra algae growth that I've been experiencing? It's not crazy or anything, just extra on the glass and a little on the rocks so it doesn't bother me too much but I'd still like to know. If so, I might experiment with using just a half dose since the tank is only 10 gallons (Pro Bio F is for nano tanks though btw). Other than that I can't complain...even if it does cause a little extra algae growth it hasn't been terrible...what do you guys think? Is this likely the source of my algae growth? Nitrates are about 3 and phosphates about .05 (it can be hard to tell an exact number with the color matching kits)

 

[lapin]

It contains both bacteria and carbon. Sort of self controlling the carbon.
Products such as vinegar and alcohol can be used to kill algae in strong doses.
I dont think the algae gets and nutrients form the product.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

It contains both bacteria and carbon. Sort of self controlling the carbon.
Products such as vinegar and alcohol can be used to kill algae in strong doses.
I dont think the algae gets and nutrients form the product.

Yeah, like I said it's not a huge issue anyway and I think it does help my coral with the bacterioplankton

 

[Arego]

Dosing a carbon source encourages bacterial growth which coral can use for food. It will also allow undesirable algae to feed on it as well, it completely depends on where your system is in it's life cycle I guess you could call it.

If you have good exporting of NO3/po4 then you could carry on until you find a so called sweet spot with algae vs. bacterial benefit.

 

[livinlifeinBKK]

Dosing a carbon source encourages bacterial growth which coral can use for food. It will also allow undesirable algae to feed on it as well, it completely depends on where your system is in it's life cycle I guess you could call it.

If you have good exporting of NO3/po4 then you could carry on until you find a so called sweet spot with algae vs. bacterial benefit.

I think I'll try halving the dose just for a week or so to see if it has any effect on the algae growth

 

[Arego]

Also try without it after a point as your corals get bigger, some people benefit from carbon dosing much more than others simply because their system is different, they all are.

Dosing just to do it isn't in my wheelhouse anymore, however, if you have tested with and without it over a range of time and see a difference with it, keep doing it if the potential pitfall of a bit more algae is within maintainable reason for you.

For me it turned into a nightmare, but I followed a program I said I would and it just didn't work out for me that well.