pjb9166

Hi everyone.

Im having a problem with my baby tear. Its all thining out far.
Also on my drift wood im getting this white milky or almost like cacoon
film on it. Any clues. I spent 40 bucks on the baby tear please help.

Thank You
Paul B.

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Newt

In my experience with HC if it gets too thick it falls apart. It loves CO2 and light.

The white film is a fungus. It may disappear on its own. Black Mollies will eat it. It typically shows up in new tanks.

pjb9166

Newt

Thank You. I'll try the black Molly trick. I got the baby tear last weekend .
I also started the Seachem daily ferutilize regiment. Today is the third day.
I hope it wil bounce back

pjb9166

I gave up on the baby tears . They just fell apart. The tank and all the plants had dying debris
all over the place. My other plants aren't doing so well. Im thinking of just giving up.
Reef tanks were so much easier. Im really bumbed out. So i threw out the baby tears..
I wanted to make this work for my wife. Not to mention my kids were loving it as well.

Newt

That's too bad. Your tank was really cool looking with that path. You shouldnt give up so easy. Your problem could be simple like fertilization or lighting level or duration. Give us more info on your set up such as type of lights, photoperiod, tank size, substrate, etc.

Tex Gal

Dont give up. Sound like you just needed some nutrients in you tank for your plants to "eat". Once you get he hang of it you will really enjoy it. Tell us what your lights are, how long they are on, what your substrate is etc. and we cam help you. You have a good eye for aqua scraping and that's usually the hardest part for people.

pjb9166

Thanks Newt and Tex Gal

29 gal tank
SolarMax H.O. 2x24w
10,000k
ZooMed FloraSun Max Plant Growth
on for 15 to 18hrs a day
Penplax Cascade 500 canister filter mostly used as bio filter
H.O.T. Magnum filter with carbon
20lb pebble gravel
40lb Eco Complete
Pressurized Co2 system with DIY bubble counter and Co2 reactor
Co2 around 38ppm
Full line Seachem ferts "only been using for five days
Seachem Neutral Regulator Regulator 7.0 to condition tap water

Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Chlorine 0
ph 6.8
kh 8 143.2 ppm
gh 13 300 ppm

Now I'm having this white film on my drift wood.

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Tex Gal

Your light is on way too long. 8 hrs max. Your substrate isn't known for being very nutritive but th eco does have a good CEC. I think you are starving your plants. Nitrate shouldn't be zero. That macro nitrient (nitrogen) is needed in the largest quantity than any other. That is what happened to your baby tears. Make sure you provide NPK & trace minerals. Seachem does make them all. I'm really surprised you haven't had algae with such a long photo period.

It might help if you read the stickies in the fert section.

The whit film is common with new driftwood. It's probably a fungus and will go away on its own.

pjb9166

Tex Gal
Thanks for the advice. Will shorten the lenght of time for ligh untilts. So should i add more of the nitrogen until it reads on a test? If so how much if its reading 0.

Tex Gal

I would. Read the stickies in the fert forum. Once you decide what fert method your are following then you can decide what to do. I never test. I watch my plants. If I see things slow down in growing then I know I need more ferts. Depending on what the plants look like I know what to add. If you need nitrogen you probably also need P & K. They go together.

Some people run a VERY lean tank. They have all the nutrients in the substrate. Since you don't have that, they have to come from somewhere.