Putting a cut piece of a dead fish in the water as a form of a fertilizer for macroalgae

[HAAAAAAAA]

Ok fair enough, but wouldn't nitrates at 80 and say phosphate at .5 grow it ?

Yes, but not as fast, I'll also start dosing phosphates with the ammonia.

I am doing all of this because I am planning to add fish next month so I want the macro to establish enough as to maintain the bioload (i am not really a fan of doing a lot of water changes) since there's no fish right now I can experiment as much as I can to see which yields better results

 

[I never finish anythi]

What i am trying to achieve is macroalgae growth. I've personally found that the type of macro algae species which i am growing consumes ammonia more readily so i am letting it grow as big enough to be able to consume all my nitrates

Oh right thank you for helping me understand that . I ain't trying to be funny of nothing, just trying to understand.

 

[HAAAAAAAA]

Oh right thank you for helping me understand that . I ain't trying to be funny of nothing, just trying to understand.

No worries at all! I appreciate you trying to understand since it is a little confusing, it gets confusing because it is widely believed that macro only consumes nitrates, but not many know the fact that some plants use nitrates and convert it to ammonium to absorb it better

 

[Miami Reef]

Nitrate is at 80ppm? I did not know this. I think ammonia dosing is not needed.

 

[HAAAAAAAA]

Nitrate is at 80ppm? I did not know this. I think ammonia dosing is not needed.

ill see if I can grow the algae faster by ammonia dosing since the rotting fish worked wonders overnight

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Phosphate is quite low at 0.03 due to there not being any fish for about 1 or 2 months and quite high nitrates at about 80 since I didn't do any maintenance in that time, i believe the less phosphate levels was the reason I am currently having a bloom of cyanoalgae on my sand bed

I don't agree, or see any rationale for low phosphate to cause blooms of cyano. Organic matter can.

 

[HAAAAAAAA]

I don't agree, or see any rationale for low phosphate to cause blooms of cyano. Organic matter can.

Can plant matter cause cyano? I read on some threads here that those who had low phosphates also had a cyano bloom so i based it off of that

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

@Randy Holmes-Farley

I can’t find our conversation from years ago when you said buying actual ammonia isn’t really possible. If my memory serves me right, you said something like actual ammonia is a pressurized vapor in a glass container.

Can you remind me the chemical state and storage of actual ammonia?

Pure ammonia is a gas at room temp and pressure. You can buy cylinders of it, but that seems over the top for a reef tank. Maybe a huge coral farm...

Airgas

www.airgas.com

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Can plant matter cause cyano? I read on some threads here that those who had low phosphates also had a cyano bloom so i based it off of that

Decaying organisms of any type release organics.

 

[HAAAAAAAA]

Decaying organisms of any type release organics.

Now i know where I got my cyano from, i really appreciate the info, i had decaying plant matter settle below a rock so that might've been the reason, can macro remove organics or should I solely rely on water changes?

 

[Miami Reef]

Pure ammonia is a gas at room temp and pressure. You can buy cylinders of it, but that seems over the top for a reef tank. Maybe a huge coral farm...

Airgas

www.airgas.com

But what’s the point of a huge coral farm buying ammonia when the pH will change its composition anyway?

Does it not work like that?

 

[Reefering1]

Hmmm.
I would wonder if you compromised your fallow period by adding a dead fish...

 

[Miami Reef]

Hmmm.
I would wonder if you compromised your fallow period by adding a dead fish...

No. It doesn’t work like that. Fish parasites need live fish to reproduce and feed.

 

[HAAAAAAAA]

No. It doesn’t work like that. Fish parasites need live fish to reproduce and feed.

Can increasing my phosphates enable nitrate reduction?

Can lower phosphate levels disable plants from taking in nitrates?

I wonder this because the moment I added the dead fish my plants grew about half the size the next day despite my methods of adding chaetogro, though chaetogro does not contain phosphates so I believe that the plants might've taken the phosphates from the dead fish, what do you think?

 

[Miami Reef]

Can increasing my phosphates enable nitrate reduction?

Can lower phosphate levels disable plants from taking in nitrates?

If phosphate is limiting, increasing it will allow nitrate to become consumed.

However, at 0.03ppm PO4, I doubt Phosphate is limiting.

 

[HAAAAAAAA]

If phosphate is limiting, increasing it will allow nitrate to become consumed.

However, at 0.03ppm PO4, I doubt Phosphate is limiting.

I believe that the only reason it's at 0.03 is because of the dead fish I added, otherwise I would assume that it's lower and close to zero

I'll do another test tomorrow and see where my phosphate levels are at

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

But what’s the point of a huge coral farm buying ammonia when the pH will change its composition anyway?

Does it not work like that?

I’d only use it if it was cheaper than other sources. At home it wouldn’t be, but at some large scale it may be.