I've kept aquariums for many years and finally started using CO2 since about 6 months. Always had larger blackwater tanks but decided it was time for a nice, small planted aquarium.
One of my tanks is doing very poor, the other seems to be doing okay, they're both the Superfish Qubiq 30 with the stock lighting. I'll refer to them as tank 1 and tank 2. Also another clarification, because both tanks were badly affected by staghorn and bad growth, I couldn't take it anymore and did a complete restart. Cleaned all surfaces and substrate thoroughly and bought new plants.
Plants:
Tank 1: dwarf hair grass, Cyperus helferi, Pogostemon erectus and some Cryptocryones. No problems here. Grass is doing really well, as are the Crypts. The Pogostemon isn't doing anything. Not dying off, not losing any leaves but not growing either.
Tank 2: Pogostemon helferi, Limnophila sessiliflora, Hygrophila corymbosa, Alternanthera sessilis (not 100% sure if it's sessilis) and again some Crypts.
What are the problems I'm seeing?
- Algae: tank 2 has some staghorn that simply won't go away. I decided to keep 1 plant that seemed to be doing well and had just a tiny bit of staghorn left. Figured it wouldn't be that problematic because of the restart. There's quite a lot of current throughout the tank, no junk at the bottom and the filter is only cleaned when it's drastically affecting the current. It seems to be growing on 1 plant only at the moment and not spreading towards other surfaces.
- Plants: tank 2: helferi is turning yellow and losing lots of leaves. Corymbosa also has some yellow leaves, algae and small holes in it. Alternanthera again has holes in it and leaves are melting. Limnophila is growing fine but they aren't nice and 'full', there's quite a bit of space between leaves.
I'm aware that these plants still need time to acclimate, since it's been only 2 weeks. However, the problems I'm seeing now are the same I've seen for months. Eventually plants just stopped growing and seemed to not be dying either. They just did nothing.
Dosing
Alright, for dosing I'm using the EI method:
Mondag - Wednesday - Saturday: trace elements (1 ml per dosing, used to be 2.5 ml)
Tuesday - Thursday - Sunday: KNO3 & KH2PO4 (1 mp per dosing for each, used to be 2.5 ml each)
I'm doing weekly 50% water changes on friday. Used to dose 2.5 ml each dosing, but that caused my Po4, NO3 and Fe to explode. Since it wasn't causing nice plant growth and did seem to cause algae, I toned it down a bit.
I'm using pressurized CO2 at about 3 bps which shuts off at night and the lights are on for 11 hours a day.
Substrate consists of plain gravel with homemade clay (mixture consisting of Fe, loam (?) and minerals) and laterite pellets.
Both tanks are in the same room and get the same amount of indirect light from outside (never direct sunlight). Tank 1 honestly doesn't have that much problems. I included it though, because it's basically the same tank, same care, just different plants. Never had any problems with it until a sudden staghorn out break that didn't go away.
Apologies for the huge post, I tried to include all necessary information. Hopefully someone can help me, everytime I tried asking for help (not on this forum) people simply told me they didn't know either.
One of my tanks is doing very poor, the other seems to be doing okay, they're both the Superfish Qubiq 30 with the stock lighting. I'll refer to them as tank 1 and tank 2. Also another clarification, because both tanks were badly affected by staghorn and bad growth, I couldn't take it anymore and did a complete restart. Cleaned all surfaces and substrate thoroughly and bought new plants.
Plants:
Tank 1: dwarf hair grass, Cyperus helferi, Pogostemon erectus and some Cryptocryones. No problems here. Grass is doing really well, as are the Crypts. The Pogostemon isn't doing anything. Not dying off, not losing any leaves but not growing either.
Tank 2: Pogostemon helferi, Limnophila sessiliflora, Hygrophila corymbosa, Alternanthera sessilis (not 100% sure if it's sessilis) and again some Crypts.
What are the problems I'm seeing?
- Algae: tank 2 has some staghorn that simply won't go away. I decided to keep 1 plant that seemed to be doing well and had just a tiny bit of staghorn left. Figured it wouldn't be that problematic because of the restart. There's quite a lot of current throughout the tank, no junk at the bottom and the filter is only cleaned when it's drastically affecting the current. It seems to be growing on 1 plant only at the moment and not spreading towards other surfaces.
- Plants: tank 2: helferi is turning yellow and losing lots of leaves. Corymbosa also has some yellow leaves, algae and small holes in it. Alternanthera again has holes in it and leaves are melting. Limnophila is growing fine but they aren't nice and 'full', there's quite a bit of space between leaves.
I'm aware that these plants still need time to acclimate, since it's been only 2 weeks. However, the problems I'm seeing now are the same I've seen for months. Eventually plants just stopped growing and seemed to not be dying either. They just did nothing.
Dosing
Alright, for dosing I'm using the EI method:
Mondag - Wednesday - Saturday: trace elements (1 ml per dosing, used to be 2.5 ml)
Tuesday - Thursday - Sunday: KNO3 & KH2PO4 (1 mp per dosing for each, used to be 2.5 ml each)
I'm doing weekly 50% water changes on friday. Used to dose 2.5 ml each dosing, but that caused my Po4, NO3 and Fe to explode. Since it wasn't causing nice plant growth and did seem to cause algae, I toned it down a bit.
I'm using pressurized CO2 at about 3 bps which shuts off at night and the lights are on for 11 hours a day.
Substrate consists of plain gravel with homemade clay (mixture consisting of Fe, loam (?) and minerals) and laterite pellets.
Both tanks are in the same room and get the same amount of indirect light from outside (never direct sunlight). Tank 1 honestly doesn't have that much problems. I included it though, because it's basically the same tank, same care, just different plants. Never had any problems with it until a sudden staghorn out break that didn't go away.
Apologies for the huge post, I tried to include all necessary information. Hopefully someone can help me, everytime I tried asking for help (not on this forum) people simply told me they didn't know either.
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