Phosphate removing media in a tank,with macros?

[pyrocreep]

I'm curious about people's opinions on this matter. I just recently added some dragon's breath to my tank. I hadn't planned on adding any macros, but it was a good deal so I aded some to both of my tanks, but now am begining to wonder about what will happen with running phosphate removing media and carbon in a tank that has macros? Will the macros starve? Will they simply grow slower? Will it depend on the macros (chaeto and dragons breath is what I have) or will it not really matter in the long run?

 

I haven't seen the question asked before, but I know that macros are usually used to pull out nutrients so it seems like I may only need one or the other. So what is NR's opinion?

[Amphiprion1]

I'm curious about people's opinions on this matter. I just recently added some dragon's breath to my tank. I hadn't planned on adding any macros, but it was a good deal so I aded some to both of my tanks, but now am begining to wonder about what will happen with running phosphate removing media and carbon in a tank that has macros? Will the macros starve? Will they simply grow slower? Will it depend on the macros (chaeto and dragons breath is what I have) or will it not really matter in the long run?

 

I haven't seen the question asked before, but I know that macros are usually used to pull out nutrients so it seems like I may only need one or the other. So what is NR's opinion?

 

The idea is to have enough phosphate to keep from limiting the algae, but not so much that it allows opportunistic species to take advantage. I'd say that if you don't already have a phosphate issue and you don't have any microalgal problems, then I'd try it without the phosphate remover for the time being. But, yes, you can impede macroalgal growth with phosphate removal media (any limiting nutrient can cause this, however). On the other hand, running carbon will be fine and shouldn't really have an effect like the phosphate remover would.