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Tank is going down, and im out of ideas

Lindqvist81

Seedling
Joined
20 Oct 2008
Messages
9
Location
Denmark
Hello every1

The last couple of months, my plants has started to look awfull and im also getting BBA algea (think its BBA atleast).

Setup is as follows:

Tank ( been established since june ´08) : 260 liters
Lights: ati sunpower 4x54 w, with 9 hours of photoperiod total, split on 6 hours of 2x54 w and 3 hours of 4x54w.
Ferts.: 3x a week., macro 3/4 tsp KNO3, 1/4 tsp KH2PO4, 1/4 tsp K2SO4. micro easylife profito 3x 15 ml.
Co2: via glass diffusor. 1 hour prior lights come on, and 1 hour before lights go off. Dropchecker is limegreen/yellowish the whole time lights are on.
Flow: tetratec ex 1200, tunze nanostream 6025 powerhead. ( cleaning the canister every 45 days apprx.)
50% waterchange every sunday.

The plants are looking rly dull, and all the new leaves they make soon gets curly and brownish. I thought about magnesium diffiency, but according to my watersupplier, the tap water should contain 20 mg/l. So that should not be a problem after all?

picture of the curly leaves on my brown crypt:

http://s480.photobucket.com/albums/rr16 ... 8x1056.jpg

Whole in leafs:

http://s480.photobucket.com/albums/rr16 ... 8x1056.jpg

http://s480.photobucket.com/albums/rr16 ... 8x1056.jpg

a pic of the BBA:

http://s480.photobucket.com/albums/rr16 ... 8x1056.jpg

What can i lack or do wrong?

Cheers from Christian, Denmark.
 
Oh, I hope you don't give up on it. Your specification list sounds great.

It does seem to be quite a lot of light for the tank, but you say that for most of the day you only use half of it. It looks like the tank is getting more light than the fertilising and CO2 can support. CO2 should be good with the turnover you have and your checker readings. Have you tried increasing the amount of fertilisers you're using? I'm not an expert on fert amounts, so I'll let someone else analyse your dosing strategy.

I think the the crypt in the first picture is meant to have brown leaves (at least under that much light), but you're right, they don't look really healthy.

Are you changing 50% of the water per week? you could try twice a week. Is the filter maintained? [Edit: sorry, I read your initial post again - you've covered this. M] Have you tried omitting the bright 3 hours and just having the lower lights on for 9 hours?

You've probably thought of all, this, these are the only suggestions I could come up with at short notice form the info and pictures. I hope with some help from the experts on this forum you can turn this tank around. Hopefully people will help you come to a decision about what to try and change first - it's usually easier to change one thing at a time and let things settle down before you move on to the next.

Good luck with this tank, I'm sure you'll have some more informed help and suggestions here soon.

Mark
 
I'd go along with that - cut out the additional two tubes and maybe add them again when it turns around.

Even though your drop checked looks OK, it's only a "spot" measure. Move to the other side of the tank and see how it looks the next day. Then move it somewhere else. This way you'll get more of an idea of an overall CO2 level.
 
Is the drop checker the same colour all day long? With you having high light and a 'noon burst' I would expect the level of CO2 needed not to OD in the first 'darker' period to mean that it goes lighter slowly until the noon burst when it should then be peaking. this would then of course deplete a little before coming back up in the second dark period.

Lots of people seem to suggest their DC remains exactly the same colour all day but this would suggest to me something wrong!!!

As per above I would move it around a little day by day. see if there are any areas that are dead. Try new solution each time and let it go from bright blue to the lime green each time.

There are some suggestions that one of the parameter changes that Crypts don't like is inconsistent CO2, so much so that some people run 24/7 because they say their crypts react better when the CO2 is on all the time.

Yours does look to me like it is melting rather than just dull. Its a very light colour and looks a little fragile.

AC
 
Thx all for ur advice :)

Weekend went by, and i changed 75% water and have totally cut 2 of the tubes. So now theres only 2x54 giesemann midday running. Things doesnt seem to have worsen, so i have to wait and see. My DC is changing during the day, and i have tried to move it around. I have added come easy carbo also, just to be sure the plants gets suffiecient co2.

I wonder if 2x 50% wc a week, would be more ideal. Wouldnt I have to change my ferts dosing then? I mean with 2 wc, I would reset the tank twice.

Christian
 
Hi Christian,
Not to criticize your photography but due to out-of-focus it's not really clear whether that algae is BBA or something like Oedogonium. Compare what you have with JamesC's Algae Guide to determine what it is that you have.

If you are trying to solve an algae problem then doing multiple changes per week is always better than single changes but as you suspect, you must dose immediately after the water change otherwise you'll starve the plants and make the situation even worse.

With a tank size of 260L and high lighting I suspect that water flow and distribution may be a factor I think the Tetratec is rated at 1200LPH but I don't know the flow rating of the Tunze powerhead. For your size tank, a high light environment will require close to 2600LPH worth of flow rating. It could easily be that you need to double the nutrient dosing under the high lights and improve your flow/distribution. It was a good idea to cut your lighting for now because that gives you some room to maneuver. The more light you add the more of everything you must improve. You may also need to turn on the CO2 even earlier before the lights come on to give the water a chance to get saturated with CO2.

Cheers,
 
The Tunze 6025 delivers 2500 l/hour. So I figure it would be enough with the 1200l/hour from the tetratec?
I agree the pics are kinda wack, but thats what the mobilephone and me could manage that day :? According to the linked page, it is BBA.

I will try to do 2x wc´s a week, and maintain only 2 bulbs for now.

Again thx

Chr
 
OK, fair enough. Well as you have no doubt read from James' page this is fundamentally a CO2 issue, so we need to figure a way to improve the CO2 at that location. It appears from the photo that these are plants near the bottom of the tank correct? Does the BBA appear at higher levels in the tank? If no this gives you a clue that you have poor or unstable CO2 levels at the bottom. You could try placing the CO2 diffuser directly under the Tunze and point it in the general direction of those plants that are suffering BBA. You might also try to add Excel dosing to clear the tank of the BBA. Excel is also a CO2 source so it kills algae while feeding the plants. It's expensive though so you would only want to use it as a temporary measure while you fix your distribution problem on this size tank... :(

Cheers,
 
I have added easy-carbo the last week, so thats covered. My diffusor is placed right under the Tunze, and the bubbles are blown all over the tank. The BBA is not only at the bottom. Maybe I need to up the co2 abit more?
 
Yeah, sure sounds like it. Maybe even turn the gas on an extra hour earlier? You nay have to overdose Excel to get rid of what's there now.

Cheers,
 
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