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am I loosing the battle against brown algae?

I am thinking in changing the light bulbs above my fish tank. I know this won't resolve my algae and plant growth problem, but I just don't like them, the light is a bit dull.
How about T5 LED tubes which could replace the normal T5 bulbs. Does anyone has had any experience with those? How is the light? How different are they in PAR?
 
ceg4048 said:
You have to take a holistic approach to CO2.

Cheers,
Click to expand...

What's do you mean by this?o_O

Could you try to explain to me how "maybe" more current would dissolve more CO2 ?
I do think I don't get enough CO2 dissolved in the water column and I am going to improve my spray bars tomorrow...but how could I possibly get a better CO2 dissolving (if needed, I need to do a proper pH per 30 minutes check)?
 
Hi Martin,
In response to Victors query, when I mentioned the idea of "holistic", what I'm saying is that when you think about CO2, you have to see it as the central theme, let's say, as in a novel, for example. Everything revolves around the Carbon Cycle.

In a tank, there are more ways of getting CO2 to the plant than just turning up the injection rate, as we know. The distribution method being used is not just "can I punch the water jets to the front glass?" It's more about "can I move a large enough volume of water across the surface of the leaves in order to reduce the boundary layer thickness", or, "can I saturate the water column sufficiently to improve the CO2 partial pressure?" It can also be as simple as "can I reduce the need for higher partial pressures?"

I think I mentioned in another post that it's often the case that CO2 failures occur at the beginning of the photoperiod, and that at the tail end of the day, it's quite possible that the CO2 level is high, but by that time, the plants don't care because they have decided to do other things instead of fixing Carbon to make sugar. There is a schedule to be followed, so that Carbon delivery has to be made according to that schedule. The flow rate through the spraybars or the injection rate through the diffuser may not matter if the timing of the gas is off schedule.

That's why I thought it bizarre when you decided against adjusting the alkalinity of your water in order to more accurately measure the availability of the very thing that is responsible for the growth performance of the plants. Once you can more accurately determine the behavior of the gas then it tells you how to move forward. The pH data tells you how efficient the other things that you do are, so this information is fundamental.

Porting the gas through the filter, having an on-schedule gas delivery, being careful with the lighting, as well as flow energy and distribution patters all work together to produce the results you're looking for. The bigger the tank, the more important all these items become.

Cheers,
 
Yeah, CaCO3 is not very soluble. Not to worry. As the pH falls the solubility will increase.

Cheers,
 
Yep, some tanks have hardscape that contain CaCO3 which dissolves and raises the alkalinity. Coral sand or any limestone material is composed of CaCO3, so if you were bored with adding the powder regularly, you could just add crushed coral or limestone material in the filter or use it in the sediment.

Cheers,
 
Here we go....
I couldn't resist to up my CO2 yesterday...also already made new spray bars with smaller holes a few days ago, the power is so much that they spray out of the tank if the water level drops below them (I aimed them a little down, just enough so they wouldn't be able to spray outside the tank)

Here is my tank's pH chart during the day.

KH = 5

started the measure pH at 9:00 stopped at 20:30

Time pH Light CO2
9:00 7.8 off off
10:00 7.8 off off
11:00 7.8 off off
12:00 7.8 off off
13:00 7.5 off on (on for about 15 minutes)
14:00 6.8 off on
15:00 6.6 on on
16:00 6.6 on on
17:00 6.6 on on
18:00 6.5 on on
19:00 6.5 on on
20:00 6.4 on off (just went off)
20:15 6.4 off off

I really hope I got it right now...but I guess we have to wait now.....
 
Last edited:
You might need to add more as well as to reduce the time to reduce toxicity. This is an interactive procedure so you have to look at the improvements and decide from there

Cheers,
 
After two weeks with this "new" CO2 treatment and much better flow, my plants are still not growing as they should be...although the Crypts are doing great and the Staug. sp is looking a bit healthier, but it's not a happy fresh green tank yet.
Is there anything I missed?...I don't dare to give the tank more light (15 or 30 min)
 
still not really growing and brown algae creeping in again...it looked like it started to grow more just a little over a week ago, but now????...I didn't change anything accept for putting the inline atomizer from the filter outlet hose to the filter inlet hose, but the Ph readings are the same
I
2014-04-07155736_zpsf47ac138.jpg


Though my crypts are left alone by the brown algae
2014-04-07155759_zps39f059d9.jpg
 
Martin in China said:
still not really growing and brown algae creeping in again...it looked like it started to grow more just a little over a week ago, but now????...I didn't change anything accept for putting the inline atomizer from the filter outlet hose to the filter inlet hose, but the Ph readings are the same
Click to expand...
You should decrease your lighting even more. Try to cover yours light tubes with paper, use glue for this. This kind of algae benefits themselves from excessive light as Ceg said in another thread.
 
Hi Martin,
Can you tweak the gas a little more, or are you at the limit for fish?
Cut out the damaged sections and discard.

Cheers,
 
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