Boyd's Chemi-pure

[dougz]

Anyone use it in their FW tanks?

A fellow aquarist with decades worth of experience with heavily planted tanks swears by it, and uses it in his tanks to keep the algae at bay and improve clarity by removing excess dissolved organics.

He even doses with liquid ferts (small doses of Flourish) at the same time as he uses it.

Just wondering if anybody else uses it, as I had heard that activated carbon was a no-no (gets rid of the good - nutrients, ferts - along with the bad).

You can't argue with success I always say, so I'm more than willing to give it a shot..

But like I say, I'd like to hear the opinions of others.

[Anti-Pjerrot]

I guess the obvious thing to say is: How about thouse others that have great succes doing without?

[dougz]

How do you measure "great success"?

Me, I sure wouldn't mind crystal-clear water, as opposed to tea-coloured or greenish water with little floaties..

But some people don't mind that at all, or even prefer it, so....

[waterfaller1]

More people seem to use Purigen by Seachem, than Chemi-Pure.

[dougz]

Yeah, I was looking at Purigen, but my mentor buddy has no experience with it, and I'm trying to stay within his realm of expertise so he'll know exactly what's going on in my tank as we go along..

[Anti-Pjerrot]

If crystal clear water is the goal, it can be achieved by good filtration and lots of plants. I always have problems with dusty water in the first few weeks, but then, when the tank has matured, it becomes crystal clear and with no kind of dust/protein layer.

[dougz]

Yeah, I plan on doing plenty of water changes, and planting heavily..

But I'm a little worried about the initial few months..

I'm hopeful the plants will flourish and will starve the algae out, but a little insurance couldn't hurt..

I won't even start dosing for a month or two.

Maybe after the first 3 months I won't need it any more..

It will be interesting to see what changes after it exhausts itself after those 3 months..

I have a feeling that at the very least, the driftwood will continue to leech tannins into the water..

[Anti-Pjerrot]

Well, i always start with the full dosing regime right away. The thing is that you cant "starve" out algae. It can grow on practically nothing, while the plants need the ferts right away (or at least after a few days). I take the filter and hook it on a nother tank to let it mature for at least 2 weeks.
I have the best succes with cleaning the tank (Glass) and making 50% wc every other day, dosing ferts (both micro and macro) after each wc and on the day without.
Then after a few days after the startup, diatom algea starts to come, along with some GDA and also some fuzz algea. If i dont use AS i just add amanos (20pcs/50L) and otos (10pcs/50L) and let them do the job. No food. With AS i just leave it.

After the first week, the plants have grown to the top of the tank and I trim them almost all the way down. The bottom of the plants are usually covered with diatom algae and fuzz so i want new fresh shots to form.

I run the lights at 8 h a day and with plenty of CO2.

This method boosts the plantgrowth and is more important for me, than focusing on algae.

If there are any signs of BBA or staghorn, i kill it with an excess dose of EasyCarbo (Excel).

[dougz]

while the plants need the ferts right away

Really?

I'd read that the plants needed to establish themselves before they would benefit from liquid fertalizers, and that any addition of excess ferts would be under-utilized and would only feed the algae..

The Eco-complete should have enough nutrients for the plants for the first couple weeks, I should think.

How much lighting do you run?

I have several "high" light plants (A. Reinickii, Riccia), so I went and got 220 Watts or 2.9 wpg of t-5 lighting.

I may just use one light, and have the other turn on for just 2-3 hours at noon for the first couple weeks..

and making 50% wc every other day

Aren't you supposed to wait until the tank is cycled before you do a water change?

[Anti-Pjerrot]

The filter is already fully cycled, and there are no bacteria in the water. All the bacteria is on the surfaces, filter, substrate, plants ect.

I have 3 x 24W T5 on my 63L

[dougz]

All the bacteria is on the surfaces, filter, substrate, plants ect.

That's true enough..

But all I hear is that you're supposed to leave it right alone while it's cycling..

[Anti-Pjerrot]

Yeah people say a lot of things

[dougz]

Yeah people say a lot of things

And they're all different from what everyone else says.. LOL

Makes it hard to devise any unbreakable rules or methods..