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Hello from France

Niwils

Seedling
Joined
5 Sep 2020
Messages
9
Location
Saint-Etienne, France
Good evening there,

My name is Niels and I am from the French Alps (now living near Lyon).

I started this hobby four months ago during lockdown, as I found few videos on Internet on the aquascaping. My aquarium is kind of the beginner's aquascape: I tried to recreate a mountain peak near where I grew up (Les Trois Pucelles, Vercors), using Grey Mountain stone, and eleocharis mini, lilaeopsis brasiliensis, helanthium tennelum and cladophora aegagrophila. All in a 40L tank.

Living in there are now four Celestial Pearl Danios and two nerites. I tried to get more CPDs, from another LFS, but no one made it over the weeks they have been introduced.

Unfortunately, this aquascape is now being covered by BBA. Looking for answers, I found some quality threads, hence I joined this forum.

Thank you very much for all people giving their feedbacks and tips.

Cheers,

--
Niels
 

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:wave:Welcome
I notice that your drop checker is not light green, meaning your co2 levels are low. That could be the cause of your bba.
 
:wave:Welcome
I notice that your drop checker is not light green, meaning your co2 levels are low. That could be the cause of your bba.
Thank you :)

One of my question on BBAs is currently "is my injected CO2 exchanged too fast with the surface?". I tried by changing the position of my diffuser on the left side of the tank. This is when BBA became stronger. Now it is back to the same place on the photo.

For the colour, my drop checker uses the manufacturer solution which reacts to 30ppm CO2, while my injection is set at 16ppm. This latter comes from recommendations from Tropica. However, as far I am searching on this forum, I am planning to make my own 2dKH solution to ensure diffusion is okay.

EDIT: I am however thinking about reducing my fertilisation. I use both Tropica Premium and Specialised, 4ml/each per week, as I found that over the days, my NO3 were decreasing and Fe levels were too low (less than 0.05ppm). I was thinking about maybe reducing Specialised to 2ml/week and increasing Premium to 6ml/week.
 
Hi and Welcome :D

Surface agitation looks great - maybe too great. Would also help if the CO2 bubbles came up directly below the output of the filter or skimmer, but can be hard to get right in small tank as hardware can tend to take over the tank.

But a blue Drop Checker is a nono esp if lights have been on for 2hrs.

What time does the CO2 come on before the lights - about 2hrs is normal, plus a pH profile would help check if your CO2 levels are stable, unstable [CO2] during the the first 4-5hours of the photo period is not good for the plants.
 
Thank you very much to all of you for such a warm welcome :)

Hi and Welcome :D

Surface agitation looks great - maybe too great. Would also help if the CO2 bubbles came up directly below the output of the filter or skimmer, but can be hard to get right in small tank as hardware can tend to take over the tank.

But a blue Drop Checker is a nono esp if lights have been on for 2hrs.

What time does the CO2 come on before the lights - about 2hrs is normal, plus a pH profile would help check if your CO2 levels are stable, unstable [CO2] during the the first 4-5hours of the photo period is not good for the plants.

Surface agitation was one of the possible problems I had in mind. Unfortunately, I think flow control on my filter is at its minimum (Oase Bioplus, set with only the central hose working).

I'll put the new drop checker solution tomorrow. Please do not take in account the photo as it is now a month old. At this moment I was having a 10 hours light, with CO2 starting 3 hours before.
Now I have a 8:30 hours of light, and CO2 starts 4:30 before (I got a very few amount of daylight reflecting straight to the tank on mornings).

For BBA removal, I am planning to use Seachem Excel, by their guidelines. Is it a stupid idea?

I'll let you know how things progress over the next days.

Again, thank you very much for your tips :)

--
Niels
 
10hrs photo period to quite a lot for high tech. My tank which is over three years old only gets 7hrs and that includes a ramp up and down of the light intensity..

In a high tech tank plants have had their fill after 4-5 hrs of high intensity light, the rest is mainly for viewing, so after 4-5 hours of high light it may be worth considering a lower light intensity whilst you get the BBA under control
 
Thank you very much to all of you for your warm welcome :)

10hrs photo period to quite a lot for high tech. My tank which is over three years old only gets 7hrs and that includes a ramp up and down of the light intensity..

In a high tech tank plants have had their fill after 4-5 hrs of high intensity light, the rest is mainly for viewing, so after 4-5 hours of high light it may be worth considering a lower light intensity whilst you get the BBA under control
Yup, I am now at 8 hours and a half of light (presence of light in the room + enough time when I get back from work to feed and enjoy them).


I attached a photo of my warzone this evening. I changed the drop checker liquid to go green once the 16ppm are reached. I also fixed my CO2 distribution that had quite decreased. I also reduced my nitrogen ferts and increased the ferrous one. I also started to treat with Seachem Excel, but I met a little problem with parasites at the same time.

However, there is some slight improvements ;) Thank you @Zeus. for your counsels.

--
Niels
 

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