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A Fluval Flora Newbie

Its been a good day t'day, my Co2 kit and ferts have arrived :D

I've got it all set up now and have the solenoid synced with the sights, coming on at 3pm and going off at 9pm
Co2 is adjusted at 1bar at the cylinder and seems to be coming through at a steady 1 bubble every 6 seconds.
The bubbles are being nicely distributed by the flow too. :)
 
photo update

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Thanks matey, yup almost ready for a trim, plants are looking much more spritely now I've got the co2 running.

i'm starting to get a bit of algae on the wood and rock, non on the glass. Time for a snail or two?

Also another newbie question. With the drop checker the solution has turned blue, so I upped the co2, do I need to change the solution for it to check again or will it turn green when its ready?
 
Hi mate, tanks looking great. Will look awesome when it fills in nicely.
Regarding your drop checker solution, you don't need to change the solution again so soon, just ensure third a nice green/lime green at lights on. Most of us have co2 come on one hour to two hours prior to lights on. If this isn't giving you light green then each day adjust your needle valve a touch. If there's no fish then you can up it much quicker but remember the solution has a 2 to 3 hour delay. Are you using a 4dkh and Bromo mix
 
Thanks Alastair, yup im using the AE 4dkh bromo mix.
At present the Co2 switches on at the same time as the lights so i'll adjust the timer to come on 2 hours earlier.
The drop checker is more a teal/blue colour so I'll up the Co2 a bit too. there's no fish as the tanks only a couple of weeks old.

I'm also getting a lot of surface film, is this just to do with the new algae i'm getting? What can I do about them?
 
Yeah 2 hours earlier is good, you may not need to up the rate of co2 if it's coming on a few hours earlier. Just see what works best.
Surface film can be caused by a few things. Mine was caused by incorrect co2 causing my plants to become sick and cause this film. Once sorted it cleared. The only other time I had it was when I rescaped.
 
Alastair said:
Yeah 2 hours earlier is good, you may not need to up the rate of co2 if it's coming on a few hours earlier. Just see what works best.
Surface film can be caused by a few things. Mine was caused by incorrect co2 causing my plants to become sick and cause this film. Once sorted it cleared. The only other time I had it was when I rescaped.
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Could be because the tank is new and with fiddling with the co2 then, I'll wait it out :)

Thanks for the encouragement :)
 
Growth update

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I'm now getting quite a lot of algae growth pretty much everywhere and some surface film on the water, not sure if the two are connected?
The Co2 is all set up with the drop checker being a deep green turquoise colour, so not sure if the Co2 has been set up optimally but I am definitely seeing an increase in growth since I put it together.

Any tips on how to deal with the algae? I'm doing a 50% water change weekly.
 
I would knock the lighting down - I have the same tank as you and running one light and find that it's more than adequate and everything is growing just fine.

You could always ramp up the lighting in a few months when it's all a bit more established.
 
dazza said:
Bought some liquid carbon today and upped the co2 slightly.

Think 2ml of carbon daily would sort it out?
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I would put the lighting on to 7hrs then spot dose your liquid carbon with a syringe, start with the worst area and target the same part for 3 days or so, then move to somewhere else... when you do dose, turn your filter off for 5 minutes so the carbon does not get pushed off straight away.
 
Co2 ran out today. 500g canister used up in about 2 months, sounds about right or do you think I have a leak somewhere?

In other news I had my first trimming session the other day and have been removing some of the algae by hand and dosing carbon and ferts. Surface scum has disappeared completely and no new algae has appeared, although I've some discolouration on various leaves. i hope that with the pruning and a regular dosing regime that it'll start looking better soon.

New pic will be posted shortly :)
 
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