Help needed with 1 year old tank

[EvitaL]

Hi Everyone! I have a 180L Juwel Rio aquarium with 2 x T5 tubes, the original Juwel filter and an Eheim Classic 2217 filter. My problem are the plants. Before, I was running pressurized CO2 through a sodastream cylinder, but eventually got problems with BBA and at the same time the plants started to get worse. Old leaves got BBA and new growth had holes and disformed leaves. I wanted to try a more low tech approach, so moved the pressurized CO2 to my smaller tank and shaded the T5 tubes with foil rings. I also switched the EI fertilization to 20ml of Aqua Rebel Micro Basic per week and added some Borneo Wild BOOST tablets to the roots of the plants. I mainly have different kinds of crypts and swords. The substrate is fine sand with some Tetra Complete Substrate below. The water is very clear and the BBA problem has reduced significantly, only some can be found on the edges of the old leaves. But nevertheless, I still have the same problems with holes appearing on new growth. What could I be missing?

Here are some pictures of the situation:

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[EvitaL]

I have been using the new fertilization routine for only two weeks now. Before that I was a few weeks without adding any fertilization as I was pondering what step to take.

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[PARAGUAY]

Everything I have seen and read would seem to indicate your original BBA was caused by insufficient or more likely lack of CO2.So you would have needed to increase pressurised CO2 or likely improve flow of it around the plants so CO2 and fertiliser was evenly distributed.It appears you suddenly went low tech and stopped liquid fertiliser which could explain the dying leafs on your photos. I think the plants would need a good trim of bad leaves,smaller water changes and again it's just my take on this I would use a daily all in one fertiliser like Tropica premium or Nuetro increasing it as need be and add some fast growing stems were you can temporary till your plants recover

 

[EvitaL]

Thank you Paraguay for the advice. I actually tried adding some Hygrophila Polysperma to the tank, as it should be relatively fast growing and easy, but it also started to grow disformed new leaves soon after entering the tank. I do have some Tropica Specialized fertilizer that I use on my smaller aquarium. Could I use this together with the Aqua Rebel Micro Basic on alternate days, or would it be better to purchase the Tropica Premium straight away? I will take your advice and trim down all the bad leaves and do smaller waterchanges. Until now I have done 50% waterchanges every 1-2 weeks. I shall also purchase some new fast growing stems.

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[PARAGUAY]

Thinking about this I don't know much about the fertiliser your using,if it's got good reports it might be easier to carry on with it for now and change later if needed.I mentioned Tropica and Nuetro because I have used them with good results.Main thing increase the one you use and dose it daily.Maybe the polysperma was initially not healthy?You could add something else Egeria or some floaters,you don't need to put Egeria in the substrate either

 

[Jaap]

I would say stop making water changes now that you don't have CO2 injection and just do top ups. Do a water change once every two months or so.

Try to point your filter outlet towards the water surface to provide good water surface agitation so as to increase gas exchange. This will increase both your O2 and CO2.

Fertilization should be decreased also but I am unsure by how much. I would say have a read in the Low Tech section about low tech EI.

Thanks

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,
I'd try adding some nitrogen (N) and potassium (K), and possibly magnesium (Mg) and iron (Fe) as well. I'm not familiar with the micro-nutrient mix, but I believe it comes both with, and without, Fe?.

I'd up the light intensity and I like regular water changes low tech., although I change a small volume of water (~10%) regularly.

You can see definite leaf chlorosis on the Echinodorus in the third photo down, and the fact effects new leaves would suggest that a non-mobile element may be involved.

If your water is very soft it might be worth adding some calcium as well.

cheers Darrel

 

[EvitaL]

Thanks for everyone for your kind replies and help. Darrel, do you have any tips where I could purchase some calcium? My tap water is really soft, GH about 3. I havent measured the tank parameters in a while, but could check it out when I get home.

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[EvitaL]

I also do have some dry ferts from the Nutrient Company. Should have at least N, K and Mg and also Trace elements. But I am not too familiar with using them and how to make a solution for a low tech approach.

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[Clint Hewitt]

Hi

This could help: http://www.barrreport.com/forum/bar...tive-index-of-dosing-or-no-need-for-test-kits and this: http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/low-maintainence-long-term-sustrate.14400/

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

But I am not too familiar with using them and how to make a solution for a low tech approach.

You can use a dosing calculator, <"James' Planted Tank - Dosing calculator">. You can buy calcium chloride (CaCl2.2H2O), or just add a bit of "Oyster shell chick grit" to the filter etc. Plants only need low levels of calcium, so some should be enough.

cheers Darrel

 

[Jaap]

Doing water changes adds CO2 back to a CO2 limited tank.
Plants and algae both can and do adapt to low CO2 environments and induce genes to make enzymes that concentrate CO2 around Rubisco, the CO2 fixing enzyme. When we add the CO2 at higher levels back, this causes the plants and algae to destroy the low CO2 enzymes and start growing without of them since they no longer need them to fix CO2 form the KH ( the -HCO3).
Why keep all this machinery around if you no longer need it? Doing weekly water changes "fools" the plants and helps encourage algae more. Algae are faster to respond to low CO2 than plants.
Once the plants do adapt, they can do well.

This thread from Tom Barr can help: http://www.barrreport.com/forum/barr-report/articles-aa/487-non-co2-methods

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Doing water changes adds CO2 back to a CO2 limited tank.

I don't think they have to. If you have a reasonable amount of aeration (via whatever means) in the tank and use water that has been allowed to settle for a period, (to warm up and equilibrate with atmospheric gas levels), then CO2 levels should be similar between water change and tank water.

Personally I remain dubious about the whole <"fluctuating CO2 levels favour algae">, mainly because CO2 levels in vegetated water will naturally fluctuate in a cycle over 24 hours.

Having said that my main reason for the water changes is animal, rather than plant, related, and I'm convinced that water changes help fish health.

cheers Darrel

 

[zozo]

water changes help fish health

And remove algea spores..

 

[xim]

For low GH water, if you have TNC GH Boost, I would weight a 1tsp amount of it and divided
the result with 100 (from 1tsp/100 litres by instruction).

The result is dosage per litre that I would use with the replacement water when you do water
change. Not the refilled water you add to compensate for the evaporation.
This way, there is not so much accumulation for the low tech.

 

[Andy Thurston]

personally I would say that flow/turnover was your issue when you were running high tech leading to the bba and the other problems that you were suffering.
Now that your running low tech I would say that you have a bit too much light for the plant mass that you have. your pics look too bright compared to other low tech tanks that I have seen. perhaps some floating plants would help your situation until you have a much larger plant mass.

regarding fertz

I use this stock solution

For a low tech 10ml per 50 l of tank water once per week should be good