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Deficiency or Algae?

EA James

Member
Joined
22 Jul 2019
Messages
573
Location
Staines-upon-Thames
Hi all,

I've got a few unknown issues going on in the tank that are making a few of the plants look dirty and not as nice and lush green as I would expect/want!

Tank and routine details are-

The tank is an EA freshwater 1200, FX4 filter, APS surface skimmer, Eheim Pre-filter.
One Fluval Aquasky 33w
2 x stock EA LED tubes both 20w each
7 hour photoperiod
co2 art pro duel reg, co2 on two hours before lights on, DC green at lights on, co2 off two hours before lights off
Dosing Ei ferts- Copy and pasted from my 'Will APFUK suit my needs thread' sorted by @X3NiTH :)

The weight of salts required to add to 5L of RO water for 100ml per dose to a 300L tank and their resultant concentration increase in parts per million ppm (1ppm = 1mg/L) to the tank total volume per dose is as follows -

21.5g KH2PO4
Per 100ml dose - [PO4 = 1ppm] [K = 0.41ppm]

506g MgSO4.7H2O
Per 100ml dose - [Mg = 3.33ppm] [SO4 = 13.17ppm] [dGH = 0.77]

81.5g KNO3
Per 100ml dose - [NO3 = 3.33ppm] [K = 2.10ppm]

Per week total addition (3 doses) =

PO4 = 3ppm
Mg = 9.99ppm
NO3 = 9.99ppm
K = 7.53ppm
SO4 = 39.51ppm
dGH = 2.31

Micro nutrients APFUK trace, dosed as per the instructions (60ml every other day in my tank)

Also been using Microbe lift bio co2, dosing every other day with Macros (6ml)

At least 50-60% WC every week, glass cleaned and prefilter cleaned, surface skimmer cleaned and new floss added, filter gets a clean once a month/6 weeks. I try and keep everything as clean as possible, dead leaves removed etc every week.

So basically as the title suggests, somethings not right and I don't know what it is so some help/advice would be great. Lots of the plants have slightly black edges on them, some look dirty, The bolbitis is really going black but the new growth looks nice and green and its pumping out loads of new growth too. Some plants, mainly the Buce's have some holes in a few of the leaves too.
I'll post some photos below so you can see for yourselves. Really hooping something can be done as I love the tank and the scape is really starting to get it where I want it to be but this is starting to make me feel like I'm failing....which I hate!!

Cheers everyone for reading all this, I just wanted to put as much info as possible, anything I've missed just shout and I'll add it up.

Thank you :)
 
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Hi all,

Do the new leaves <"look a bit pale">?
f8df7229-12bb-460f-b4cb-e616f7553f0a-jpeg.jpg


If so it might be an iron (Fe) issue.

You could try adding <"another chelator", one that is better in hard water? It will take a while for the plants to perk up, if it is iron.

cheers Darrel

When I’m preparing my EI micros using APFUK I’m also adding on top those
And Chelated Iron EDDHA 7% - Highly Soluble - Aquaponics / Hydroponics | eBay

The recent one tints the water so only 0.1ppm per week
 
Do the new leaves <"look a bit pale">?
Some on the Anubias sp. do but I don't know if that's because they're compared against the 'dirty' leaves. I'll get some more pics when the lights come on. so you can cast your expert eye over them!
Could it be an Iron deficiency that's causing the plants to look like that then? Would it made the Bolbitis look black?

Cheers @MrClockOff, so do you add this to the micro mix or dose it separate?
 
Nice looking tank James.

I don't have the experience to comment on the nutrient side of things, but to me the overwhelming problem I'm seeing here is to much light. I know the aquasky 2 will be putting about 45 par (assuming 18" distance) at the substrate and then you've got an additional 40w (40~50 par guesstimate) on top of that.
I don't think that's mega level light territory, but its a fair amount, especially if your co2 and nutrients aren't bang on.

I can't cure your tank but would suggest you dim the lights a bit, if nothing else it should give you some breathing space to focus on any other issues.
 
Your dosing seems extremely lean with the amount of light you have over the tank.
I do agree. Looks like the half of recommend EI
Really? I don't really know a lot about that side of things that's why I got some help on here. So would I make the mix stronger or dose more? I dose 100ml of macro and 60ml micro on alternate days, rest day is WC day.

but to me the overwhelming problem I'm seeing here is to much light.
I'm quite surprised at this as I always thought my lighting wasn't very strong. Even my red root floaters don't really go that red and they're as close to the light as can be?! And some of the affected leaves are in the shade from other plants so surely the light wouldn't affect them if that was the case?? I can dim the Aquasky though and give it a try, I don't have much to lose I guess.
 
Hey @EA James

Are you using tap water, rain water, RO or a mix?

If it’s tap water do you have a comprehensive water report for your area from the water company? Helps to roughly know what is coming in with that 50-60% WC every week.

Also, what amount of surface agitation is the tank receiving? There’s no picture that shows how much gas exchange is taking place.

2 x stock EA LED tubes both 20w each

Any PAR data on these tubes?
 
Really? I don't really know a lot about that side of things that's why I got some help on here. So would I make the mix stronger or dose more? I dose 100ml of macro and 60ml micro on alternate days, rest day is WC day.

Even myself not dosing full EI dose but my weekly amounts are (almost x2 than yours):
  • Mg: 15ppm
  • NO3: 20ppm + about 10ppm from tap water
  • PO4: 3ppm
  • K: 13.86ppm
  • Fe: 0.52ppm

I’d double check the CO2 levels too. I have 15dGH water from the tap which makes gas dissolving quite difficult. Initially I thought that my CO2 level was OK as drop checker was lime green but I saw bad CO2 deficiency in my plants.. which did not make any sense until I did ph profile. It turned out that I had to increase injection almost x4 times to get 1ph drop.
On top of that too much light will require even more CO2.
 
I'm quite surprised at this as I always thought my lighting wasn't very strong. Even my red root floaters don't really go that red and they're as close to the light as can be?! And some of the affected leaves are in the shade from other plants so surely the light wouldn't affect them if that was the case
I only run low tech so probably obsess about light more than I should.

On the face of it 73w in a 1200 long, deep tank, with added co2 wouldn't be considered "high lighting", but if we dig a bit deeper and realise the lights are sat fairly close to the surface, the style of your scape means the plants are all raised, so a lot closer to the light, and you possibly have a lid on the tank (which would stop any light escaping?), If all the above are true then to me 73w suddenly shifts from low light to not so low light.

You've then got to look at the evidence of bba, gsa and possibly leaf melt, all good pointers of to much light.

I'm sure if you follow the advice above and do a ph profile you'll probably find it needs to be dialled back in, and then the light won't be as much of an issue.
 
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Morning guys,

@Geoffrey Rea thanks for the reply. I'm using tap water, I do have the water report on a very detailed thread that I've tried to link to this thread but I don't know how to do so! I'll tag you in it so you can see if that helps?
I've just taken a short video of the surface agitation so I'll upload that from my phone in a minute (Excuse my baby twins in the background of the video being rather vocal 😂) As for PAR data on the tubes, I've searched about on the net but can't find anything I'm afraid

Thanks @MrClockOff, that's interesting as my water is near enough the same as yours hardness wise. Perhaps its the same issue, I thought a green DC would be all good! This planted tank malarky is hard work haha!
I did have a PH pen but didn't ever get it to work properly (was only a cheap one from Amazon) Can you recommend a decent one?

Thanks @John q yes the tank does have a lid and the lights are probably only 5cm away from the surface, good point. I'll try and sort out the PH profile 👍

@dw1305 I'd say paler but probably not smaller, I'll try the above suggestions to up the Fe though and see what happens. Thank you
 
So @X3NiTH being an absolute legend has already adjusted for your tap water to get to EI dosing. Your surface agitation is good and the drop checker indicates green. Plants from December last year until now have been deteriorating.

One Fluval Aquasky 33w
2 x stock EA LED tubes both 20w each

Why so much light for low light plant species?
 
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