Hey there,
just wanted to update bout the tank, the water has finally cleared up completely today and i can see across my 4 feeter from the sides. But i still havent figured out wot caused the algae to disappear without anything intervening,
no ferts, no water changes for 3-4 weeks (since the bloom appeared), no co2.

Question remains, wot happened to the algae?

Regards
Mohit

Hey there!
After much thinking this is wot i cud come up with to try n understand wot exactly happened to the algae.

1. Algae bloom woud be because of any of the nutrients thrown off track of the equilibrium levels. (althugh in my case i believe it was the excess photoperiod dat triggeredthe bloom)
2. The bloom will remain till the nutrients are back to the equilibrium levels.
3. Since algae grows at a considerably fast rate, it will consume the excess nutrients at the same rate and if the tank parameters r untouched, the excess nutrient would deplete at that rate. (offcourse if its NH4 or some other nutrient that is converted, then bacteria etc would have to be taken into account n this logic would get a lil more complicated!:P)
4. After a while when the nutrients get to the equilibrium levels, the plants start competing with the algae and beat algae!
5. Now your tank is clean of algae.

In my case, i was not dosing co2 or ferts before the bloom, so not starting to dose these after the bloom, helped me. (or so i believe!)
But in case of others who have started dosing co2 and ferts, it would be advisable for them to continue dosing at lower levels.
However, if one continues dosing one would have to do water changes (especially if EI dosing is followed) to avoid choking the tank with ferts.

So by that logic do u think it would be a good idea to stop dosing ferts and co2 when the bloom appears, change water for a while and then stop changing water completely for best results?
I say this because i've normally come across ppl who have only succeeded fighting bloom after 2-3 months on an average (without blackout or diatom filters) whereas in my case it took bout a month.
Please Comment

Regards
Mohit