Couple of planty type questions...

[egon]

Hey, hows it going?

Ok, been reading and trying to take in as much as possible but i have questions....

I bought a JBL "permanent CO2/Ph" test kit, followed the instructions and by the looks of it i have a grand total of NO co2 in my tank.

er, why is that? i have 160L sand substrate tropical fish tank with 2x 36" arcadia tropical tubes in for 8h a day (4pm till midnight).Reading that 1w/gallon is "low" light, it looks like i have too much light. sound about right?
I'm dosing easycarbo 1ml/50L so about 3ml a day....

Would an airpump help matters at all? Is it going to add anything at all to help the plant life?
Looking at co2 kits but now thinking that the 2 2kg fire extinguishers i have might get called into play (thanks sr20det, will get regulator when i get paid!!).
I have the 18" pack coming from plants alive and i'm dubious about putting them in now, incase i'm doing it all wrong.

Any ideas gratefully recieved!

 

[Garuf]

The test kit in question will only tell you if co2 is present, you're dosing liquid carbon which isn't gaseous and won't be picked up by the drop checker.

 

[egon]

Ah,right, that makes sense i suppose! Should there be residual co2 in there? The retirn from the filtet agitates the surface a fair bit and i randomly use a powerhead thats in the tank. I do suffer with hair algae and some stubborn god awful black algae.
Plants eh?

 

[egon]

Anyone got any ideas? Did i put it in the wrong section?

 

[George Farmer]

Hi egon

36w T8 over 160 litres is about right. You should be able to grow most plants in that, providing other conditions are appropriate.

You're dosing liquid carbon. Are you dosing any other fertilisers?

How many plants do you have in there?

If it's not many, then the combination of poor nutrients and lack of plant biomass is likely the reason you're getting algae.

What fish load do you have? Apart from a 'random' powerhead, what filter are you using?

An airpump won't help your plants at all.

If/when you use CO2 injection then avoid excess surface agitation, as this drives off CO2.

Good luck with the 18" plant pack. What plants are included?

 

[egon]

Hiya george, thanks for that
plants need looking up before i can tell you! i know theres a vallis and an amazon sword but the others need id'ing!

Filter is a fluval 405 fish load is about 20" (6 harlequn rasbora, 6 neon tetra, 6 cardinal tetra, 3 chain loach, 1 bristlenose, 6 flame tetra, 1 grumpy gourami).
Glad to hear that the airpump is a non starter, other then looks, i've never really liked them!
The 18"plant pack is....
5 x Elodea Densa

1 x Aponogetum Crispus

5 Eleocharis Parvulus (dwarf hairgrass)

10 x mini Amazon Sword

5 x Bacopa Monnerii

5 x Twisted Vallisneria

10 x Sagittaria Natans

5 x Rotalla Indica

 

[niru]

Hi egon

from your pics it looks like you have BBA, hair and spot algae.

Since you dont use CO2 (gas) currently, the JBL kit will not show any reading for CO2. As I understood, the solution in the kit is a (4 kH water + a pH indicator) which senses the gaseous CO2 from the tank water. CO2 gas dissolved in water escapes pretty fast. Inside the JBL kit theres a small air-space which traps this gas, and it then reacts with the pH indicator to show the color. The color-scheme (blue, green, yellow) is mapped to the ppm CO2 levels because of the 4deg kH water in the kit. (Using a different known kH water changes this calibration, but is still valid none the less.) The liquid Carbon is a totally different chemical than CO2-gas, but can still be used by plants as a carbon source, though it wont affect the pH indicator readings in your kit because theres no "gas" to accumulate in the air-space.. Experts might shed a better light on this..

Looking at the hardscape etc, I would suggest that you either spot-dose Liquid Carbon on exposed parts during a water change when the rocks are exposed & filters are shut. Else simply remove the rocks and give them a good scrub with liquid Carbon, brush etc to remove the existing BBA etc. Remove all the affected leaves, not much point in salvaging them given the amount of algae infestation. Perhaps reduce your lights for now and for GSA increase PO4. As always, Master Ceg will advice on a good CO2 (or liquid carbon) and a proper flow in the tank. I have completely succumbed to his advices and would naturally abide by them.

As far as my limited understanding goes, lack of proper CO2 and ferts for a given light level, are the prime causes for algae. A 10X (or so) flow is typically used to maintain a proper circulation of these in the tank. I have had (minor) issues like yours in the past, and improving on carbon and ferts, AND reducing light has helped me. Hope this helps you too..

cheers
niru

 

[egon]

cheers niru, appreciate the help. the bba (is that black beard algae, i'm assuming?) will get a good scrub on next water change.
have removed the co2 indicator for the time being, while i figure out which way to go regards to co2. either extinguisher or fluval 88.
lights will be dropped to 6h and see if it improves....the postie tried to deliver my plants today but i missed him, so off to the post office i go tomorrow!!
Might help if i add the rest of my plant life, that should use up the algaes food!
Irecently changed to the sand substrate and cleaned up the glass so i think the bristlenose and other loaches are sulking with nothing to eat~!!!!!!
my ph is about 8-8.2 but i use 50% RO and 50% treated tap water. the RO i get is slightly acidic so it cancels out the high ph a bit!

 

[bigmatt]

Hi egon,
For the plants you've mentioned you could even afford to back off a bit with the light until you get your algae sorted!
You don't say what fert regime you're using - if you're adding liquid carbon then some fert dosing will help plant health no end.
Hope this helps
Matt
PS- I'd recommend FE C02 - it;s cheaper and it works!

 

[Bobtastic]

What I've learnt so far from my continuous reading of UKAPS and a splattering of practical application and failures is that you need to get a balance between Light => Co2 => Ferts <= Flow. From the teachings of Grand Master G. Farmer, The CEG and other knowledgeable uber gods we know that Light drives plant growth. The higher/stronger the light the faster the growth, the faster the growth the greater demand for Co2 and Ferts. Then add to that mixture the need to make sure that the Co2 and Ferts are distributed all around the tank and that's where Flow comes in. Most in the UK, or on UKAPS, aim for 10x flow. That would be 10x the total volume of your tank. This is more of a guideline than a rule, if you can ensure that your Co2/Ferts are distributed evenly throughout tank that's all good.

Also drop checkers show you the current pH of your tank water, the addition of Co2 to the water column lowers the pH and that is what the drop checker is showing u.

 

[egon]

Well, been busy on the tank in the last couple of weeks. Bought a reactor type CO2 unit (nutrafin) to see how it goes. It was cheap and appears to slowly be doing the trick. The drop checker has gone from utterly depressed blue to green. Its not lime green yet, but with my Ph as it is, i doubt it ever will!
Plants are in. Although, the 18" pack i bought from plantsalive was a giggle as i had ABSOLUTELY no idea what plant was what! I had to go through their catalogue and identify each one in turn from the pack. As to where to put it and how to put it in, well, improvisation is the key here....
Had a change of inmates too. My blue/3spot gourami started getting grumpy and battered one of my cardinals to death, so he had to go. Of to the LFS and a rehoming programme for him
And as ever, managed to come away from the lfs with more than i went in with, so have m+f dwarf gourami, 2 apple snail and another 6 khuli loach.
SO now i have a busy tank, with powerhead now rigged up to the lighting relay, so lights on=powerhead on, new plants, CO2 coming up, new inmates AND it looks like the algae is in remission....
I'll get some pictures up shortly...

Oh, and bob, is that an iaido kata in your avatar?