Does GFO leach iron?
- Thread starter ROR
- Start date
I think it remains an open question whether enough soluble iron is released or not. Wild guess, I'd say yes.
ROR
New member
Thanks!
The reason I asked is because I've been getting some extra brown algae growth since starting a Phosban reactor (strange, I know). Took me a while, but it finally dawned on me that perhaps this was caused by too much iron in my system. I'm going to cut out the iron supplement and see what happens.
Rob
The reason I asked is because I've been getting some extra brown algae growth since starting a Phosban reactor (strange, I know). Took me a while, but it finally dawned on me that perhaps this was caused by too much iron in my system. I'm going to cut out the iron supplement and see what happens.
Rob
SimilanRocks
New member
I have similar experience witht the GFO. The instruction says I don't need to wash it. It created iron cloud that precipitate quickly to the bottom of the sump. Next day I saw a lot of cyano on where the iron was.
I'm wondering what caused the cyano. The iron itself, or the phosphate/silicate that binded to the iron?
I'm wondering what caused the cyano. The iron itself, or the phosphate/silicate that binded to the iron?
Started running GFO last weekend and suddenly the cyano is going wild on my rock. It blows off easy enough with a baster but still looks like heck.I can't guess as to why there's a cyanobacterial outbreak in these cases. Maybe it's iron, or perhaps there's some change in the ecosystem due to the change in the balance of nutrients. I don't think that GFO products are likely to release phosphate or silica very easily.
Usually I run GFO if I have nuisance algae. After the GFO, cyano is the only one remaining, but it's grow does seem very limited I had assumed that compared to other algae it isn't particularly P limited, but it would be interesting if there was something else going on as well.
acrylic_300
New member
Any chance that the cyano are more adept at living without phosphate than other bacteria that compete with them?
Most cyano will produce (fix) nitrogen from N2 rather than consume it. I've found some good articles related to this topic, but I haven't had a chance to read through them more thoroughly. A preliminary scan of these articles suggests iron may be more limitting for cyano than other bacteria/algae. So, I could be on to something, but I'm not sure.Unfortunately I will be away most of the day, but hopefully I'll get caught up on my reading early next week.
In the meantime, if you are intrested in more detailed info try searching google scholar with keywords phophate, iron, limitation (hint: particularly look at the cyanobacterium Trichodesmium)
In the meantime, if you are intrested in more detailed info try searching google scholar with keywords phophate, iron, limitation (hint: particularly look at the cyanobacterium Trichodesmium)
ROR
New member
Hmmm... My system is low nutrient, I always register 0 for nitrates with a test kit (for what it's worth), but since starting GFO I've also had some persistent patches of Cyano. Perhaps iron somehow aids Cyano in fixing nitrate.
I've just done a 2 day total system blackout. After 2 days of having the lights back on again with no iron dosing I have no Cyano yet.
I've just done a 2 day total system blackout. After 2 days of having the lights back on again with no iron dosing I have no Cyano yet.
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe cyano has mechanisms to utilize forms of iron that would not typically be biologicaly available. If it could utilize iron hydroxide, for example, then might it also utilize an attached phosphate group?
As to nitrogen fixation, logically, it would only fix N2 if inorganic N was low.
However, I'm not sure this is always true. However, its not entirely clear to me under which conditions cyano does fix N2 either.
