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10 days away from the tank... algae mess

Jamesbaa

Seedling
Joined
28 Sep 2018
Messages
24
Location
London
Went away for 10 days and came home to a tank that had been completely taken over by algae. Lights were only on about 40% intensity and for about 5 hours a day and running pressurised CO2. Must have had about 2 or 3 litres of water evaporate aswell. I've cleaned the tank and started dosing liquid ferts and CO2 now.
 

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Son has been there with his tank loss of water reduced tank flow/turnover , no ferts and blocked filter he had loads of BBA. Might be worth doing a 5 day blackout, no peeping ;).
Might be worth cling filming most of top of tank up next time to reduce water loss next time
 
The drop from the spraybar can remove CO2 ( it should be at the waterlevel, just below and horizontal).
Did you ever do a pH profile to see how effective disolving is?
In anycase it shows CO2 isn''t an easy cure, it needs carefull evaluation to get it right.
 
The drop from the spraybar can remove CO2 ( it should be at the waterlevel, just below and horizontal).
Did you ever do a pH profile to see how effective disolving is?
In anycase it shows CO2 isn''t an easy cure, it needs carefull evaluation to get it right.

I usually monitor the water level to have the spray bar level with the water, I did a check on the PH level tonight and it's 6.5. What should I be seeing? The drop checker is usually a greeny/yellow colour
 
It looks like there is not enough flow to get the CO2 everywhere (In CO2 enriched tanks the general advice is to use 10x tankvolume as filtervolume)
Having the water drop in from above the surface 1) doesn't give enough flow, 2) will drive out CO2 ( surface agitation wether it is from airstone, splashing water or a drop in a sump will remove CO2).
It looks like your filter isn't hefty enough to get that output. Using low light might allow that.
 
So going on that formula I need a 220LPH filter. I currently have a 200LPH filter, would the use of a power head help bring up the flow? Or am I better off buying a high flow filter?
 
I forgot I had a mini 200l/h pump that was sitting in a box doing nothing, I've positioned it to hopefully distribute the co2 a bit better and get some more movement in the bottom of the tank.

What do you think?
 

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I forgot I had a mini 200l/h pump that was sitting in a box doing nothing, I've positioned it to hopefully distribute the co2 a bit better and get some more movement in the bottom of the tank.

What do you think?

That should do the trick! Let us know how it goes.
 
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