SAWALLACE PPS Feedback Forum - PPS Analysis and Feedback

SAWALLACE · 03-30-2005, 10:59 AM

Do you want a recurring post? or 1 post when we have the doses fairly constant? I'm guessing it's also very important to include equipment/plants/bioload etc.
Thanks Art!

discus · 03-30-2005, 03:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SAWALLACE

Do you want a recurring post? or 1 post when we have the doses fairly constant? I'm guessing it's also very important to include equipment/plants/bioload etc.
Thanks Art!

Yes all these are important factors including lighting in making a fully informed analysis.
Remember more is better as it give a better understanding of your unique sytem.

Thanks
Discus

SAWALLACE · 05-07-2005, 08:40 PM

Well, this first post took way too long, but after having to tear down the tank twice in the last two weeks (due to problems with the tank, not water params.) I didn't feel it would do any good to post.

Anyhow, here is my .xls file.

I do see pale new growth on some of my swords (almost white), and some slight "dust" looking algae on the glass. Those are the only visual signs I see.

I will be doing a 50% water change tomorrow, hopefully that will dilute my excessive PO4. I plan on doing 30-50% WCs weekly. (I will keep them consistent once I get a grasp on what's going on)

Still waiting on some stem plants, aquascape is a mess due to the tear-downs, I'm gonna replace the hairgrass with Lilaeopsis if the Lilaeopsis doesn't stay that neon green color.

SAWALLACE · 05-08-2005, 09:50 AM

FYI- the high phosphate is more than likely from the bags of Eco-Complete I added, not my dosing. Read about it here.

discus · 05-08-2005, 06:51 PM

Hi SAWALLACE

Yeah I'd agree that PO4 is way to high and CO2 on the low side.
I would suggest you dose only 5 ml PF for the time being and reduce your TE dosing to 1 or 2 ml per day. We have to get your PO4 down to a normal level. I suppose Eco is really leaking some stuff into your tank as your Ca and Mg is also rather high compared to your tap water.
Let us know what happens by next week and please include any water changes you do.

Discus

SAWALLACE · 05-09-2005, 11:11 AM

So you suggest Lowering the TE dose? Should I just add extra Iron? What else could be causing the near-white growth? Beside the high PO4, everything seems relatively decent. Does high PO4 limit something I'm not aware of?

The co2 reading seems suspicious. I'll check it in a few days, but I haven't changed anything and at last test it was at 36ppm. My plants are bubbling like crazy.

Thanks Discus!

discus · 05-09-2005, 03:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SAWALLACE

So you suggest Lowering the TE dose? Should I just add extra Iron? What else could be causing the near-white growth? Beside the high PO4, everything seems relatively decent. Does high PO4 limit something I'm not aware of?

The co2 reading seems suspicious. I'll check it in a few days, but I haven't changed anything and at last test it was at 36ppm. My plants are bubbling like crazy.

Thanks Discus!

Good Question SAWALLACE
And im not sure how to answer. Generally white growth is due to Calcium deficiency however in your case it seems like your calcium is relatively OK. The other thing could be iron but that usually gives you yellowish leaves and not white.
Other than that I dont know what to tell you. I did notice that you just began using PPS perhaps we can revisit in a weeks time as the addition of potassium may help in the plants uptake of nutrients.
Im also not sure if your going to be able to control the high PO4 content in your water column but if this doesnt come down you may consider dosing PF as it does not contain any phosphates for example dose only 5 ml PF which will continue to provide you with both NO3 and Potassium but zero phospahtes, again this is dependant if youre still at a high PO4.

SAWALLACE · 05-09-2005, 09:38 PM

Here is my plan for this week, let me know if it is way off.

Dose 3ml of PF: I obviously need th PF because of the eco issue, but I also want to increase the NO3 a tad and see what happens. (previously 5ml of NF and 2ml SS)

Dose 4ml of DS: Since I will not be adding a total of 7ml of macros like the previous week, I'll need to add enough K somehow.

Dose 6ml of TE: Since I'll be doing large water changes weekly, and There are no detectable levels of TEs in my tap, I'll have to add more TE. I'll slowly increase this until I stop seeing improvements. (previously 5ml)

SAWALLACE · 05-14-2005, 01:51 AM

OK, so that plan was thrown away. I have been changing 50% daily to "normalize" PO4 levels. I should have everything back to normal by Sun.

So... I need some opinions. I was thinking... because I'll do 50% water changes weekly, on the day of the water change, nutrient levels would be roughly (not exactly, but it's late and I'm tired), cut in half. So, I was thinking of dosing more on Sunday, to get levels back in range, then dosing less on subsequent days.

For example:
Sunday: 9ml TE, 15ml SS
Monday-Saturday: 1ml TE, 3ml SS

Otherwise, my levels may not be in range until Fri/Sat.

What do you think?

SAWALLACE · 05-21-2005, 11:09 PM

*Updated Spreadsheet
Will post pic soon.

Observations: I'm still noticing some white growth, now in the stargrass also. Green dust algae has taken over, but I do not think that is a dosing issue.