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Another user with CO2 Issues

Update-
So things have been moving slowly and not particularly well (shocker). I've now taken out the glasswear and put in 16/22mm eheim intake and spray bar. The spray bar runs the length of the aquarium (more or less) and the two powerheads are mounted below. I've noticed that the flow from the spraybar is pretty poor and certainly not as vigorous as the previous 12/66mm one.

The in-line diffuser is now placed on the intake to the filter and cleaned regularly (I clean my filter at least every 2 weeks and the pipework when it starts to get visible dirty).

Doing a pH profile is difficult but I'm hoping to do one tomorrow when im finally at home during the photo-period stage.

I've also decided to completely remove the right hand side section of wood. The plant im having the most issues with is still the stauro, it generally lives for a couple of weeks but never roots and eventually the leaves drop off. Hopefully removing this piece of wood will increase flow to that area. The Stauro in the dead center of the aquarium does slightly better than the plants on the right which is guess is due to there being no obstructions.

I think my main issue with this tank is that i still struggle with 'easy' plants. I was hoping that even without CO2 plants such as hygrophilia would do well but their growth isnt exactly impressive. The Hydrocotyle tripartita is doing ok and showing some signs of improvement.

I also increased the lights slightly, when i originally set up this tank i had good growth with the stauro and the intensity then was 27 percent so ive gone back to this in an attempt to replicate conditions. My feeling is that the flow is still too low, when I have the funds I'd like to upgrade to an Eheim 600T.

Just as a re-cap here are the current parameters, cheers for reading!

CO2 on between 14:00-23:00
Lights on between 17:00-00:00
Light Intensity @ 27%
Dosing EI
 
u6y5ubuq.jpg
 
Hi

In also purchased the Eheim inflow and outflow sets some weeks ago. In my opinion they are excellent in terms of quality, but the spraybar has a very large diameter (larger tan the pipe diameter). That means that you need a short spraybar section (it looks like it's done to be placed on the sides... You don't probably want this option) or a filter with a lot of muscle to really keep or have a decent flow velocity.
What I did is to adapt my previous spraybar to the outflow piece/elbow issuing some tubing... And it works excellent.
Cleaning the filter every two weeks looks quite a lot to me... It would be much better to use a coarse sponge on the inlet to avoid plant bits in the filter. Let the microbes in your filter work at ease. IMO tank husbandry is very important (if you put the sponge clean it frequently... It takes some seconds) but I try my filter rest at least a month or more.
Can you see at least some plant growing? If you have healthy growing and no visible algae outbreak I would increase plant biomass and/or light very slowly. You want plants growing, and as much as possible, that's the challenge.

Jordi
 
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Cheers for the reply. I did originally have it as a much shorter section mounted centrally but the plants on either end of the aquarium seemed to suffer.

Cheers for the advice on the cleaning. Currently my maintenance is pretty meticulous both in tank (removing an dead plant leaves etc) and out. As you've said perhaps I could do a bit less on the external filter cleaning. Ive currently got the eheim coarse pre-filter sponge and a finer pad of foam which I clean during maintenance. I also have one tray full of the mech-pro and one empty tray.

Generally the plant growth is pretty pitiful. Like I said in my previous post even some 'easy' plants seem to struggle in my tank such as ludwigia and hygrophilia. My drop checker is always a light green/yellow colour so i think it must be down to the effectiveness of how i supply the CO2. The taller plants at the rear of the tank mostly suffer from poor/dying growth towards the bottom which again i think can be equated to the poor flow from the spray bar not reaching low enough after deflecting off the front glass.

I did pull on a couple of stems of the Stauro last night and was surprised to find that some had grown roots. Hopefully that will continue.

Im going to get some fish today to try and take my mind of the tragedy that is this tank. It currently only has 6 pygmy corys so some cardinals should be great in there.
 
I have the eheim 2176 (450) in mind with a rated output of 1650ltr, do you think that is sufficient with a 65ltr tank?
 
1650 litres per hour for a 65 litre tank seems like overkill to me? Flow is super important and I have no way of knowing what would happen for sure, but I think such a filter might make your tank like a whirlpool!

P
 
I'm guessing the actual flow rate would be considerably lower than advertised. I think that model has an electronic flow controller too. My feeling is get something powerful and have the option to turn it down. I could lose the additional power heads too hopefully.
 
I was under the impression that most filters operated well below their stated output. I currently have an eheim 250T which is rated at 950ltr per hour and I doubt it does anywhere near that despite being very lightly loaded with media.
 
Even if it runs at half the quoted flow rate your still pretty close to 10x rule
With my experience with canister filters my eheims seem to perform just as well when crammed full of media as when they have hardly any. Which is more than i can say about any of the others. If you want to make a big difference to your flow make the hoses as short as possible.
 
Great suggestion. I've shortened the hose by as much as I can and raised the filter on a short filing cabinet by about a foot.
 
No! filter wool is bad for clogging up and reducing flow i just have coarse sponges in mine i haven't cleaned the filter since i set the tank up in january and the flow still looks as strong as day one.
I cant comment on the 350t you would have to measure it and see if it makes a difference.
Shortening your hoses makes more difference than reducing media imo but if your below the 10x rule 'every little helps'
 
My last in a long line of attempts to get this tank sorted. I bought an eheim 3E 450 and got it set up, I removed the two pumps that were in the tank. Flow is very good and the 16/22mm spray bar running the length of the tank now hits the front face of the aquarium. Fingers crossed!
7upenupa.jpg


I do have a question regarding flow. Does it matter where the flow comes from? i.e should the 10x turnover rule apply to flow produced by the filter only?
 
Thank you. This may seem like a ridiculous question but seeing as the co2 was previously coming from the spray bar with the additional flow made up with power heads should this makes difference? I'm presuming if the flow carrying co2 from the spray bar isn't sufficient to hit the front glass with force then the gas will simply rise quicker....?
 
So the saga continues. Ive been persevering with the tank still and very nearly shut it down before I went on holiday. When I came back I decided to do the one thing I haven't tried yet which was turn the lights up. I know that this hasn't been the focus of my attention (flow and CO2 have taken precedent) but I thought that I should at least try everything. I cranked them up from 26% to 40% and some plants seem to have taken off especially the 'easier' plants that are essentially weeds such as hygrophilia and hydrocotyle tripartita.

The flow from the Eheim 450 is superb even with the 16/22 diameter hose and the spray bar running the length of the tank. Im almost certain flow is no longer an issue. Im still not convinced by the CO2 though. I cant seem to get the balance between getting a full point drop before lights on and gassing my fish. Ive tested for leaks numerous times with none found anywhere. The CO2 is still going into an inline diffuser (now set at the outlet of the filter since the Eheim didn't run well with it on inlet).

My main issue is still the Stauro and getting it rooting. It lasts maybe a week or so before the leaves start to drop off or become riddled with holes. Im determined not to fail with this plant, the flow is reaching down to it as I can see it all moving.

Anyone care to suggest what I can do to get this plant to flourish and what I can do to get a full pH point drop? My results here are from today, turning up the CO2 any more seems to result in very unhappy fish.

Test 11- 08/11/14
2.00-7.0
2:30-6.9
3:00-6.8
3:30-6.8
4:00-6.6
4:30-6.4
5:00-6.4
 
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