trouble when switching fert regimens? - Fertilizing

oregon aqua · 06-10-2008, 10:17 PM

has anyone ever had trouble when switching fert regimen types?

i switched from E.I. to pps pro. plants where looking good but now have a big algae problem.

just wondering if anyone has had this problem. im thinking it will clear up if i keep dosing and doing 1 or 2x week water changes.

im assuming my plants stunted for a bit while getting used to the change and algae went WOO WHOO.

specs:

lights: 130watts 6700k for 6 hours
265watts for 1 hours
7 hours total

U.V. sterilizer 24 hours

Co2: 30-35ppm

Excel dose: 10ml daily

pps pro daily

WC 1x weekly 25-50%

substrate: River Sand

Pictures:

the picture below is of plants i plan on using but are just waiting in pot they where fine 2 weeks ago

This is the only plant that shows deficiency symptoms but is was recently moved to the middle of tank to replace another plant

please help save my otto he/she is getting to fat

this is all a "just curious" question i am going to switch to mineralized substrate but the weather has not cooperated yet.

Mud Pie Mama · 06-11-2008, 02:52 AM

I had this kind of outrageous, serious algae outbreak when I tried to switch my 75g tank from E.I. to PPS pro. It was so horrendous, I had to throw the towel in on it!!!!!

I eventually trashed every plant from that tank; with the sole exception of one crypt. AND w/ the help of my local plant club, I had been collecting some pretty new and really hot, rare plants!!!!! BLAAHHHH!!!! @#$**!#@!!! TTTHHHHTTTTT!

ray-the-pilot · 06-11-2008, 10:19 AM

You have a pregnant female. All that algae is good for her. Hope you have a male so she can spawn for you.

MatPat · 06-11-2008, 11:13 AM

I had the same experience when switching from EI to the PPS several years ago. A lot of stunting, large amount of algae, etc. etc. While I like the idea of little to no water changes, I just couldn't take the algae and poor plant growth at the time since it was in my display tank. I assume there were things I did wrong but it was too time consuming for me at the time...EI is just so easy.

I've been wanting to try PPS again and probably will once I set up another plant tank. I'm not going to judge that fert regime on my one try at it since a lot of people have success with it.

Brilliant · 06-11-2008, 12:43 PM

I had the same issue. I dose "EI" per say but my tank is not overloaded with nutrients. I gave PPS a longer chance knowing about this transition but after 90% of my plants were taken over by that same algae you posted I quit and will never look back. I lost way too many plants and would highly advise people to avoid it if "EI" is working for them. If you want to go lean and change less water just cut your dosing down little by little instead of leaving the regimen.... If you ask me any dosing solution that contains calcium or magnesium is no good. If you decide to meddle with those two it should be in source water or substrate of aquarium.

Left C · 06-11-2008, 11:00 PM

I've read that some people double the amount of KH2PO4 used in the PPS-Pro solution to help with some algae problems.

Tom Barr has a solution version of EI that worked fine for me. I didn't have any problems with it at all: http://www.barrreport.com/estimative...ei-dosing.html

Edward · 06-12-2008, 09:10 PM

Yes you are correct, the plants are getting used to it. Some plants will need to re-grow new leaves while the deteriorating portions leak NH4 back to the water column making algae happy. Environmental changes cause such issues.
Have you used the right ingredients and quantity?

oregon aqua · 06-12-2008, 10:56 PM

the recipe i followed is

16oz distilled water
k2S04 28G
KN03 31G
KH2PO4 3G
MGS04 19G

dose 5ml pps-pro and trace in morning a couple of hours before lights on.

i just made second batch since i started.

I have 2 tanks on this regiment. my corner tank is doing pretty good its a really hard tank to clean (the top of the tank is at 5.5 feet im 5.9 ) so i have a little algae but nothing like my main tank.
i intend to stay with pps-pro on the corner tank and have been pretty happy with the results. it has a HUGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NYMPHAEA LOTUS (RED) in it. i couldnt control it if i wanted too.

Edward · 06-13-2008, 05:15 AM

Looks good. The 5 ml goes into a 50 gallon aquarium? The rate is 1 ml / 10 gallon.

oregon aqua · 06-13-2008, 08:03 AM

yes its a 50 gallon.