This month's article will be on the types of freshwater red algae that are common and are often the bane of many planted aquarists.

I was instrumental in determining the role of CO2 and ruling out the often suggested high NO3 and PO4 as possible causes in conjunction with Steve Dixon namely, Neil Frank and others for the old hey day of the APD mailing list.

Steve approached the BBA he had by attempting limitation, the tap water is almost like RO water, he had few fish and used Lamotte test kits.

I went the other way and added PO4 from the tap and then KNO3 as well.

This article will address the Red algae's recent research, there's very little with respect to plants however.........

It's far better to address such lackings through doing test as aquarist rather than waiting for relevant research from Academia. You might have to wait many years for that

The methods for testing for algae are not things that aquarist cannot do, they are actually quite simple t rule out causes for various species of algae inducement.

My hope is that rather than merely believing me, that you take it and try these test out yourselves.

I can give a starving person a barrel of corn, but if I teach them to grow corn, then they will never go hungry again

Same deal here, if you folks learn to rule things out and test, rather than merely follow others, believe what I or anyone else says or claims, follow mere observations without an active role in testing the questions you might have.

This will greatly help the hobby.
And after all, isn't that the goal???
Learning, Knowledge, seeking a better understanding.

Not more of the same bad approaches........again and again..........repeated every few months for the next new batch of newbies or the other folks making the same mistakes over and over again.
I really hope you all can break the cycle and move beyond that!!
It's not nearly as hard as you might think.


Regards,
Tom Barr