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Determination

RossMartin

RossMartin

Member
Joined
2 Nov 2007
Messages
358
Location
Hemel Hempstead
Hi All,

I've had a few planted tanks with no real success but i never give up. I brought the tank 7 years ago and have never had fish in it apart from two ottos who i rescued and then moved to another tank. I seem to be having algae issues that i can't get to the bottom of.

The details are below:

Setup Date: 01/11/2016
Tank: TMC 600 60x45x30
Light: 1 x TMC 1500Ultima at 30% for 6 hours no ramp
Filtration: JBL CristalProfi e1500,
Hardscape: Lava Rock
Substrate: Complete ADA Amazonia powder
CO2: 2Kg fire Extinguisher though with Bazooka diffuser (As my up inline atomizer broke). I'm unable to count the bubbles in the bubble counter. I also add 2.5ml of EasyCarbo each day as well
Water: 100% London Tap Water. 2 x 50% water changes a week
Plants: Monte Carlo, Staurogyne Repens and Didiplis Diandra
Fertilization: EI:

Macro Solution

4tsp Potassium Nitrate
1tsp Potassium Phosphate
6tsp Magnesium Sulphate
500ml Water

Micro Solution

1tsp Chelated Trace Elements
500ml Water

Dosing:

Macro 3x a week. (10ml per 50ltr of Aquarium water) i dose 15ml
Micro 3x a week. (10ml per 50ltr of Aquarium water) i dose 15ml
20-50% weekly water change.

The problem:

I had the lights at 25% on both channels so dropped them to 10% two weeks ago as i was getting algae on the plants. After a bit of reading that the lights might be too low i have upped them to 30%. I removed the plant leaves that had algae on them but they have come back! Not too sure what i am doing wrong.

The tank is like a glass of coke as i have so many bubbles in there. The drop checkers are green/yellow at lights on ..i have no fish or clean up crew so i inject CO2 at a high rate.

I have doubled the Potassium Phosphate to see if that helps with the algae. I have started adding 1ml of Iron on each Micro dosing day as well.

I am thinking of replacing the light with something else as i think it is too powerful, but also too focused to the middle of the tank.

Also i had HC in the tank before the Monte Carlo and like the Monte Carlo it went brown and didn't grow, it did nothing, not even root!

I did run a full length spray bar across the back of the tank with an Up Inline atomizer, however this broke, but i have noticed a quicker CO2 diffusion using the Bazooka and a lily pipe.

I can't help but think there is an issue with the CO2 or lighting. I can see bubbles all around the tank, they get everywhere. I've even considered if the CO2 i am getting isn't CO2 at all!

I also thought could this be an issue with the maturity of the filter. I always use tank water to clean the filters which i do perhaps once every six weeks. I clean the pipes every week. I have added some friendly bacteria into the tank to help as well.

The Full Tank Shot:

FTS.jpg


The Brown Monte Carlo:
MC.jpg


The Brown Repens:

SR.JPG

I have added some Limnobium laevigatum as i read that this is a good indicator of problems. I am getting curling leaves on it and leaves appear to be going yellow/transparent and dying. I opnly got it on Friday and can see a decline in it.

Floating.jpg


Any advice as to why i've got algae on the plants would be greatly appreciated! I really want to get a decent tank going. Just comparring this to some others tanks is really fustrating!.

Kind Regards

Ross
 
Hi Hogan,

Thanks for the quick reply!

I have literally just cleaned the filters again. I have some coarse sponge in the bottom tray, ceramic rings in the middle and four pot scrubbers in the top.

I got the ferts from Aquarium Plant food. I do have some Tropica Specailsed that i was considering to start using as i did have a niggle about the ferts.

What do you think the problem could be?

Thanks again

Ross
 
Hi Ross
I would double dose both Macro/Micro....for 2 weeks!
Observe what affect this may have....try cleaning the plants with a long bristle paint brush!
Remove some of the ceramic rings...reduce your lighting to 5 hours!
Your frogbit may be lacking Nitrate uptake!
hoggie
 
This is the recipe I use for basic Macro/Micro!
Although I use a All in One solution now!
Macro Solution
33g Potassium Nitrate
7.2g Monopotassium Phosphate
250ml Water*

Trace Mix Solution
10g Chelated Trace Element Mix (TNC Trace, CSM+B)
250 ml Water*
0.25g E300 Ascorbic Acid
0.1g E202 Potassium Sorbate
hoggie
 
I'm going to give you the opposite advice ;)

RossMartin said:
Substrate: Complete ADA Amazonia powder
Click to expand...
Consider the recommended protocols from ADA for tank start up - daily water change, very light fertilizer (Step 1, 2 etc)


RossMartin said:
Light: 1 x TMC 1500Ultima at 30% for 6 hours
Click to expand...
look back at George Farmer journals - I don't think this is that intense a light ...
(I believe he ran near 100%)


RossMartin said:
Plants: Monte Carlo, Staurogyne Repens and Didiplis Diandra
Click to expand...
These 3 plants oten tend to have a settling in time, before establishing typical growth - can you add something from Tropica's auxiliary plant list - with good light & CO2 you should see daily growth of cm's

Otos - to clean up those brown diatoms
Shrimp - 15 Amano, 30- 40 cherry
(sounds as if your filter is "cycled" but you might add in a Seachem Ammonia Alert if you're not doing the daily water changes re ADA soil)
 
Hi Ross
As Alto has stated ADA Amazonia substrate needs to be given multiple water changes to remove ammonia spikes which can be a pain!
So you have two plans of action given......you can use either, its your choice!
Good luck!
hoggie
 
Thanks all!

Hoggie - How did you come across your fertiliser recipies?

Alto - Yeah i did water changes daily for the first week and then ever oyther day the second week and so on unitl one a week. I'll start that up again!
 
alto said:
look back at George Farmer journals - I don't think this is that intense a light ...
(I believe he ran near 100%)
Click to expand...

Hi Alto,

George had his hung from the ceiling, where as i am on the TMC stands so there is only about 15cm from the light to the surface!

Lights.jpg


My other half hates the light on this tank so was thinking to replace it with something else, maybe a Chihiros Aquasky or similar! Something more asthetically pleasing!

Thanks

Ross
 
Hi Tim,

I did whack it to 80% on Thursday afternoon and i got some pearling in the evening, but i also noticed agae on the glass that i hadn't seen before so i dropped it back dow.! This was when i had the Up Inline diffuser on the spraybar that ran along the back of the tank..the hose connector broke on Saturday when i cleaned the filter! :banghead:

Thinking about this, the algae on the glass was BGA....so this would point to low nitrate according to James' Algae guide. So doubling my EI dosing as Hoggie suggested would perhaps help this. It is only at the substrate level and there wasn't much of it. I doubt flow would have been the issue as it was only at the front of the tank and you could see the Monte Carlo moving with the flow.

I think the one thing i have struggled with is how much it too much light?! As i kept seeing algae i kept the light low but then read that the light could be too low. I'm happy to up it, but should i do it now or give the tanks dome more time?!

Thanks

Ross
 
If it were me, I would up the light to get the plants growing, increase maintenance w/c's glass and hardscape cleaning, manual removal of algae, once the plants are growing well algae will recede, sometimes takes some time for a tank to settle in, I'm having a bit of an algae battle in my 60p scape at the moment, just have to keep at it mate.
 
OK so i have changed the filter media to get more flow. I have a medium sponge on the bottom tray to catch any large debris. Then i have two trays of ceramic rings, both are one fifth full. Finally i have the top tray that has nothing in it!

I have created an All in One Fertilizer Solution as per James' guide here: http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/allinone.htm I should be dosing 10ml for 80 litres but i am double dosing for now so 20ml.

My thoughts are to up the lighting once the floating plants have stopped dying off.

After chatting to Hoggie i'm thinking of moving to RO water as i have the ability to create my own RO and moving to a 25% tap water 75% RO Water mix. Not sure when i will move to this but will see what happens with what i am doing now as i don't want to make too many changes at one time.

I'm also looking at getting a smaller tank and setting up a tropica setup. I have the Tropia ferts, Topica substrate, JBL e900 filter and heater already. I was thinking of something like the Dennerle Scapers tank. Not sure which size yet but probably the 50l. I want to see if i did a Tropica setup with RO i would have more luck!
http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/allinone.htm
 
I feel your pain. I've got the same tank and filter and for about two years I had similar results. i similarly ended up with no critters and throwing loads of co2 at the problem, but the insipid creep of browning leaves, general diminishing plant health and the accompanied rise of bba algae seemed inevitable. I've bought a lot of plants and cleaned a lot of bba off rocks but for all my restarts, tweaking of flow and co2, the same results. I notice you have been a member for a long time, I suspect that like me you have become dogmatically blinkered in regards to difficulty of getting co2 right and danger of light (not naming any names but a certain influential and previously active member of this forum was, in my opinion a little too 'black and white' in his advice). Have a little faith in your drop checker if it yellowy green this implies that there is probably enough co2 and i've got the same filter so i'm sure flows not an issue, especially with such an open tank. That leaves fertilisation and light. Your using EI so assuming you've done your maths right that really only leaves light. If you look at other successful tanks such as George Farmer's the only meaningful difference with your tank the amount of light. Its a shame that decent par meters are so expensive, I've made a lot of misguided (and equally expensive) assumptions about the amount of light my plants were getting. My advice whack the lights up to 100% see what happens. The reality is that given the dire health of your plants algae is likely, but at least the algae may be accompanied by the beginnings of healthy plant growth. There you go, the shocking truth... Plants need light.;)
 
I totally agree with Tomfish; given you setup the results should have been completely different, even if I've heard that Didiplis Diandra is a bitch :D the missing link is light ; so take the bull by the horns and LET IT BE LIGHT ; or change it ; Chihiros can grow plants, that's for sure, I've seen it with my own eyes and Kessil ! my man, have you seen George Farmer's scape ?
 
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