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Advice Required - 180 litre planted not doing so well...

dfinn

dfinn

Member
Joined
20 Sep 2014
Messages
122
Hi everyone, I'm here looking for a bit of help with my tank.

It has been set up as it is for about 5 months now and I just don't seem to be getting much growth/ things are dying plant wise. Specs are as follows:

  • Tank - Juwel Rio 180 (180 litre)
  • Lighting - 2x 30W T8 with Reflectors on for 7 hours/ day
  • Substrate - Nutrasoil where plants are, sand at front
  • Filter/ Heater - Standard internals
  • Co2 - Easycarbo 3ml/ day
  • Ferts - Aquarium Plant Food APF Complete Plant Nutrition 15ml/ day
Can anyone advise as to changes that could be made to improve things?

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Thanks,

Dan
 
Hi,

Will get some clearer shots of the plants tomorrow for you.

Reflectors are now off!

Cleaning..honestly I would say a 20 - 30% water change every 2 weeks.

Thanks,

Dan
 
I would up the water changes I do at least X2 per week as I know my water has nitrates which I have to control and its useful to feed the plants!
There is always good minerals in tap water and everyone who has decent tanks do more water changes than I?
Read up on estimated Index fertz feeding (EI dosing it might help!)
Jay
 
hi dan from you picture seem that your filter has been blocked buy floating leaves ect this will reduce flow i would make sure that filter can do its job.
you could put the juwel 1500lph pump in you filter. and maybe a pump/internal filter opposite to your juwel filter. this will just help with more flow.
 
A few problems you might be having and their causes:

1- CO2 fluctuations. You need to off gas excess co2 from your tap water. This way plants dont have to adapt to different co2 levels, melting in the process.

2- Not enough flow. And not enough surface movement for gas exchange. Your co2 is going to come mostly from the atmosphere and the easy carbo of course.

3- The ferts that you are using might not be the best. As mentioned before read aabout EI powders (also in the link).

4- All this can be made less bad by lowering the light as suggested before.

Read this very thoroughly its mostly all in there: http://www.sudeepmandal.com/hobbies/planted-aquarium/low-tech-planted-tank-guide/

By the way, you can do water changes with this method but you need to let it seat in a bucket or something for 48 hours or so just to let the co2 in it off gas to the atmosphere.
 
foxfish said:
Hi Dan, are you getting algae issues or is it just not much growth that is the problem.
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This is the question,I'd like to see the answer to.
Personally I'd worry less about gassing off the tap water,and get more flow in there as suggested previously.
I run my Rio low tech,without reflectors.As well as the internal,I also have a Hydor Koralia Nano.Tank health,and plant growth is definitely better with both going,after experimenting.
 
stu_ said:
Personally I'd worry less about gassing off the tap water,and get more flow in there as suggested previously.
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If Tom Barr says co2 fluctuations arent good and melt plants then its a good idea to follow his advice. Also not all waters come out of the tap with the same ammount of co2. So some might get away with it while not others.
 
Hi everyone, thanks for all the replies!

I have attached some pictures, to me it seems as though the plants have a film of black algae on but the leaves just look like they are dying.

I will make sure I get 50% water change weekly and have removed the reflectors. I will look into different ferts and the flow issue, was thinking of adding an external filter for this.

Reading that guide Jose posted is interesting as it suggests no/ very few water changes?

Apologies for the rubbish photos

Thanks,

Dan

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The idea behind no water changes is to prevent co2 fluctuations from your tap water. As far as im concerned you can achieve the same by letting the water seat for a day at least.
 
Jose said:
The idea behind no water changes is to prevent co2 fluctuations from your tap water. As far as im concerned you can achieve the same by letting the water seat for a day at least.
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That guide recommends EI dosing alongside 0 water changes, it just doesn't sit right with me. It then credits an EI article but the link is broken so I couldn't read it. CO2 fluctuations are indeed bad, but I've only seen discussion around that topic referring to uneven injection rate (i.e. CO2 varying throughout the day, every day), rather than a few ppm increase once a week from a water change. Not sure the benefit of slightly more steady CO2 is worth the trade-off of no water changes.

The tank looks like one I had at my old job. Big tank, algae on everything (I think thats algae?!). We just had to improve flow and it stopped getting worse, at which point we cleaned it properly and it didn't come back.
 
Jose said:
The idea behind no water changes is to prevent co2 fluctuations from your tap water
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Or don't turn the lights on after water change. Simple. EI is supposed to be simple, no need to stand water, will gas CO2 off very quickly once in the tank. When I have accidentally gassed my fish, putting air pump on for a minute or two is enough to de-gas the CO2 a fish recover and return to normal.
 
Sacha said:
Jose, do you have a Tom Barr shrine in your house?
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Would be nice:p. Nah couldnt stand it hehe.

If you show me someone else who has experimented as much or has contributed as much to the hobby's science Ill be happy to go for that one as well.
 
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@Jose
my original comment about not gassing off, wasn't a personal dig,and i admit i haven't read the Tom Barr link ( who's work i respect).
I've read a lot about bba caused by co2 fluctuations at water change time.In my setups,i just don't see it,i've tried it before lights, after lights,and during lights.Maybe i've been lucky.
These days i just hose pipe it straight in from the mixer tap,right temp + dechlor.None of my numerous Crypts melt because of it.
Back on topic,if the OP wants an opinion,FWIW.
Reflectors off, consider upping the liquid carbon (currently 3ml in a 180L ?)
More flow.
Water change more often and larger amounts.Say 50% a week.
Keep the tank clean.Get those organics out.If i let maintenance slide, that's when i start to see problems
How much/ often do you feed the fish?
That's what i'd do.
 
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