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1 week old tank, algea and other

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dawidmNS

Member
Joined
11 Mar 2009
Messages
158
Location
London
Hi

My tank is now about 1 week old.
Juwel Rio 180
2x36W for 6h
CO2 from 2kg FE bottle
EI all in one mix plus 3ml of easycarbo all daily.

First water change made yesterday.

Problems with algea started when for unknown reasons my timer swich stopped working and for whole night light was on. From that day there is more of them and I can see them especially on glosso and stones.

Sorry for quality of the pictures.

Day 1:



Today:





The other problems is glosso, instead of growing to the sides it is growing up. So I added today 1 more 36W so it makes 3x36W in totall for 6h. Was it good choice? Blyxa is ok, I can see new roots as few times they just went out from gravel. The amazons, I cant see any difference, but I noticed that the edges os some leaves are getting brown, or maybe it is natural.


Algea:






Regards
Dawid
 
Hi Dawid.

The algae looks like diatoms which happens in most new set ups. Manual removal and plenty of water changes will help.
This type of algae usually disappears after a few weeks on it's own.
dawidmNS said:
Problems with algea started when for unknown reasons my timer swich stopped working and for whole night light was on. From that day there is more of them and I can see them especially on glosso and stones.
Click to expand...
The above statement should give you a clue ;)
dawidmNS said:
So I added today 1 more 36W so it makes 3x36W in totall for 6h. Was it good choice?
Click to expand...
This is not a good idea on a newly set up tank. All you will do at this stage is increase the algae production.
I would remove this additional light for now.
If you have no fish in the tank, you will be able to crank up the CO2. This will give your plants the best possible start, then reduce it before you add any fish.
 
Hi Chris

Thank you for your reply.
I will switch off the other light for now and wait about 2-3 more weeks.
There are no fish at this moment but I was thinking about shrimps, good idea?

At this moment co2 is about 3 boobles per sec. Up to how many should I increase? And for how long?

Regards
Dawid
 
dawidmNS said:
There are no fish at this moment but I was thinking about shrimps, good idea?
Click to expand...
This is the ideal way to start a planted tank. No livestock. You can then concentrate on plant health first and foremost and introduce the fish or shrimp when you have everything under control.
Shrimp do very well in the planted tank environment, browsing on all sorts of micro organisms on the plant leaves etc. Some even eat some types of algae :D , but this should not be used as an excuse to let algae take hold in your tank. Prevention is better than cure.

dawidmNS said:
At this moment co2 is about 3 boobles per sec. Up to how many should I increase? And for how long?
Click to expand...
This is difficult to judge, because every one's CO2 bubbles are different diameters, which makes your injection rate different to the next persons.
However, without livestock, you are in the perfect position to add as much CO2 as you like. The plants don't mind. In fact they positively thrive on it.
 
Hello again!

Alge seems still increasing there is more and more. CO2 is increased but situation is getting worse. Also some cyhano (not sure how to name it properly) brought on the rock from previous setup starts to grow in different parts of the tank as I tryed to remove it from the rock and some pieces went all around. Light is like before 2x36W.

Tomorrow Im going to do 50% water change and start to adding dry powders as my all in one mix is finished.

Glosso still growin up, amazon getting worse, hairgrass hmm maybe small runnings and blyxa is getting better it looks like all of them are getting bigger and getting new leaves.

Any advice guys?

Regards
Dawid

PS when I bought that glosso it was already high and condition wasnt fantastic so how about if I will take off all glosso cut it into small parts and plant it again? As the new plants at the top all of them are giving new roots so maybe thats the reason?
 
Hi Dawid
dawidmNS said:
Alge seems still increasing there is more and more. CO2 is increased but situation is getting worse.
Click to expand...
Sounds like you haven't got enough CO2 for the level of lighting you have :(

dawidmNS said:
Also some cyhano (not sure how to name it properly) brought on the rock from previous setup starts to grow in different parts of the tank as I tryed to remove it from the rock and some pieces went all around.
Click to expand...
You need to get your dry salts going on the hurry up. Your 'cyhano' is cyanobacteria or Blue Green Algae (BGA). This is easily solved by upping your Nitrates :D
 
Hi

Will do that with glosso, maybe thats the good idea.

I thought co2 is on the good level as it is all around the tank, Im just waiting for drop checker so I will be able to control co2.

I thought that EI all in one mix together with traces will do very well, I was adding as on the instructions but it looks from your advice that it is better to make own one or just add dry salts.

Im lucky there is ukaps forum :D
 
I can't tell from your picture what your distribution method is? What filter are you using? Is it from a stray bar or other? Do you have any additional power heads or pumps? Flow is key for most planted tanks, be that flow of Co2 or ferts.
 
Ive got stray bar on the left top of the tank, the water is going like in a cricle from top to the bottom. Like on the picture:






My filter is ehem 2217 so should be strong enough. There are no others pumps etc in the tank as I think flow is quite good now all plants are moving and I can see co2 boobles everywhere.
 
Hi Dawid

I would be inclined to run the spraybar, full width, across the back of the tank facing forward.
You will have more chance of getting the CO2 to the bottom of the tank.
In your current configuration, the flow will have lost most of it's velocity by the time it reaches the glass on the right hand side.
Your current filter is only rated at 1000lph, and that would be without media :wideyed:
This will not be good enough for the Rio 180, you need to get some more flow going on, whether you use an additional filter or powerheads is up to you.
To give you some idea, on my Rio 180 I'm running a 1200lph filter with a 700lph filter and a powerhead rated at 1500lph.
I started this tank with the 2 filters only, but due to plant mass increasing, they were just not cutting it. My problems disappeared when I added the powerhead :D
 
Hi

I looked on your journal and I feel jelous!
Im not sure if my spray bar will be long enough as it is just normal size about 20cm?

The flow in the bottom is quite good as all blyxa are moving like in windy day :D But I was looking also for some powerheads at ebay and the prices are not bad. So for how many lph should I increase? 1x1500lph? or more? Would you recommend any specific one?

Thank you for all your help :)


PS 1 more question, once I will replace my spraybar at the back where should I place CO2 diffussor? Right in the middle under the spray bar?
 
I think there are a couple of options on extending or even replacing your existing spray bar. The easiest is to buy an extension piece for you existing spray bar, it is basically the same as the bar you have but is open at the end. You would then use a length (x) of standard Eheim hose to connect the two bars together.

Another option is to buy the Eheim Installation Set 2, this will give you a longer spray bar in a gray colour. There are also Extension Kits (2) to make this even longer. I believe the you can also use the Fluval brand spray bar too.

The final option (that springs to mind) is to DIY bend a length of clear acrylic tube. This way you can make a spray bar that is customised to your personal style, tank length and is not the glaring Eheim green that can be distracting.

You are wanting (if you subscript to the belief) to have 10x your tanks total liter-age per hour. So that can either be done with additional filters or power heads. I think power heads are pretty standard, but Hydor's Korillia are popular.

Co2 diffuser placement is something that you'll have to play around with till you get the best results. Tho there is the option to place in underneath your filters inlet so that the bubbles are pulled in, further chopped and dissolved and then pushed around the tank with the regular water flow. Tho some are concerned by the possible damage to seals with the filter that could be caused by carbonic acid. Alternatively you could invest in an inline defuser or reactor. With these you get a high percentage of Co2 being dissolved into the water flow.

And... breathe...
 
Hi guys

Some update:

Firstly i just bought Koralia 2 with flow 600gph or 2400lph. Should recieve it maybe by saturday.
Secondly i was removing algea manualy and trim glosso but the only way to do it was to take all glosso out remove algea and then cut it into small pieces. I started to plant it but I didnt release there will be so many of them so I hope I will finish it today.

About the spray bar I might have spare one I will check later if not then maybe make one as Ive got lots of different things in my garage. However, one I will add Koralia 2 Im not sure if placing sprawy bar at the back will make any difference? As Koralia flow is quite high.what do you think?

Finally, last thing that will need improvment is my CO2 diffusing, the place and method. Leave it like that with normal co2 diffusor and place it under the Koralia or how should I do it? To make it most effective?

Once again thank you for your advices, without this forum I would be back to natural biotopes like central and south america etc and keeping cichlids :D

Regards
Dawid
 
You'll need to place the Korilia so that it compliments the current flow that you have. You need to make sure that it's not in a position that it's flow will interfere or fight against your filters flow. So... I guess... it's best underneath but in the middle of your current spray bar?

I personally would start off with either adding the Korilia on it's own and see what different it has. If there is no visible difference after a set time think about moving/extending the spray bar. This was if you have problems you can isolate it to that one "change".
 
Hi Dawid

A lot of people are using them with great success on here.
I don't use them myself, as I can't be doing with millions of bubbles all over the place, but some people like that effect :D
 
Small upadate:

Plants are doing better, amazons leaves are getting bigger some of the leaves are near the surface. Blyxa is doing really good, all of them are getting new leaves and growing quite fast, same with tiger lotus which is getting bigger . I can see new running from hair grass which are also growing quite fast. Still waiting for glosso as after triming and re-planting it is too early to say anything. Still algea but I think thet are not progressing as before, their growth rate is slowly or might even stopped.
Today I did 50% water change, and from thursday Im making own trace and macro mix. Will post some pictures maybe next week, depends from changes.

Regards
Dawid

PS Im still waiting for Koralia 2, but I tryed different configuration with spray bar, it is still in the same position but more towards the bottom, it looks like there is a really good flow as all plants are moving like in really windy day.
 
hiya dawid, have a read of this regarding flow in planted tanks, and look at clives post 9th down. he explains why its better with spraybars along the back etc and has changed his eheim bars to fluval ones. viewtopic.php?f=38&t=1167

Also, if you have no luck with your koralia, i have a very soon to be spare tetra tec ex1200 that ill gladly give you if your willing to pay postage mate and maybe a little donation to ukaps ;)

thats way you can run both spray bars along the back

Cheers

alastair
 
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