Help is my Fe and PO to low???

2821 Views 17 Replies 5 Participants Last post by Sgtreef, Aug 29, 2004

Sgtreef

Discussion Starter · Jul 27, 2004

Hi well after reading the sticky on the subject here are my tank readings.

125 Gallon
5 -55Watt Pc compacts 10,000 K
1-55 Watt Pc at 6,700 K
2 Filstar 3's with added rings
Adding an 8 watt sterlizer soon.
5 bags of eco complete
5 bags of Tahitian moon
Plants include Crypts,Ludwigia Repens,Dwaft sag,One big sword, a bunch of those blub lilies,gloss,Dwarf hairgrass,Jungle val,Riccia just got it,Java fern,Java moss,Floating hearts,frogbit,Didplis Diandra,Giant Hygrophila,Moneywort.
More on the way!!

Fish
9 serpes,4 black neons,11 Rummy noses,5 marble hatch fish,6 otos,12 Harlequlin Rasboras,7 Cory cats.All for now
Any hints on other fish would be nice.

Test kits used red sea,Tetra,Salifert.
Fert.
A little Fluro when I remember.

Co2 pressure 1 bubble per second,run thru a Aqua Medic Reactor and Bubble counter left on all the time so 24/7 on that.

Mil.Ph meter.

Chiller set at 81 degrees.

Water change 25 gallons per week,Filters cleaned every other week.

Tank up 4 weeks.

Well the problem is ALGAE!!
can't seem to stop it here are readings taken today
plus can't get the PH down??

CO2 =8mg/L
O2= 13mg/L I think went off the scale getting the color to change??
Red Sea on that one

PO4=0
FE=0
NO2=<0.3 mg/L
Nh3=0mg/L.
Ph=7.5
KH=8
Gh=7

Any help would be appreciated>
Thanks again

Jeff

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1 - 18 of 18 Posts

gnatster

· #2 · Jul 27, 2004

Welcome to APC, sound like a nice setup you have going there.

From reading your posts I am thinking you want to take a multi-pronged approach. First off the CO2 level needs to come up, increasing the flow thru the reactor as well as turning up the amount of CO2 added should help in that. You also need to start doing fertilizers in an effort to have the plants out compete the algae for the nutrients.

There are lots of posts on how to fertilize effectively.

Sgtreef

Discussion Starter · #3 · Jul 27, 2004

Thanks for the reply.
I should say this is not my first tank,but first one with a medium set-up of lights so never had this algae problem.
Thanks again will start the turn up tonight.

Jeff

tsunami

· #4 · Jul 27, 2004

I would consider your 2.64wpg PCs 125g to be "high light," IMO.

You need to start feeding the plants, fertilizing every other day with KNO3 for nitrate and potassium, KH2PO4 for phosphate, and a commercial micronutrient mix for iron/micronutrients. Here are recommended ranges:

NO3: 5-15ppm
PO4: 1-2ppm
CO2: 25-30ppm

I see that you already have Flourish. Good. You'll want to start off dosing about 40mL per week (10mL every other day. Dose 10mL more in two weeks, and 10mL more after that --until you no longer see any improvement in your plants.

Carlos

Sgtreef

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jul 28, 2004

tsunami said:
I would consider your 2.64wpg PCs 125g to be "high light," IMO.

You need to start feeding the plants, fertilizing every other day with KNO3 for nitrate and potassium, KH2PO4 for phosphate, and a commercial micronutrient mix for iron/micronutrients. Here are recommended ranges:

NO3: 5-15ppm
PO4: 1-2ppm
CO2: 25-30ppm

I see that you already have Flourish. Good. You'll want to start off dosing about 40mL per week (10mL every other day. Dose 10mL more in two weeks, and 10mL more after that --until you no longer see any improvement in your plants.

Carlos

Thanks for the great reply.
Do you have an suggestions on what Fertilzer to use?

One other question anyway to bring ph down or will the Ferts take care of that?? :?

tsunami

· #6 · Jul 28, 2004

KNO3 for nitrate and potassium, KH2PO4 for phosphate...

www.gregwatson.com

Calculate how much to add of each to your aquarium with this site's Fertilator calculator --to reach the target levels stated in my other post on this thread.

Flourish, TMG, Kent work great for micronutrients. You already have Flourish, so you should be fine on that part.

Carlos

dennis

· #7 · Jul 28, 2004

Don't worry to much about your pH. Just make sure your CO2 levels are good. Use the Kh/pH relationship to figure it out. You can find this many places but the best one is Chuck Gadd's website, sorry I don't have a link at the momnet. You can download his Calculator for free. It is very handy

Just follow tsunami's advice, he knows

Other than that it sounds like you are off to a good start. Hope that helped

MatPat

· #8 · Jul 28, 2004

Here is the link to chuck's calculator that Dennis suggested you use. It should help out with your CO2 levels.
http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_aquacalc.htm

Sgtreef

Discussion Starter · #9 · Jul 28, 2004

Thanks for all the great Answers.
Greatly appreciated.

Will start on the routine tomorrow.

Okay on the PH then will leave it alone.

dennis

· #10 · Jul 28, 2004

Thanks Matt

Jeff,

get your ph down to 6.9 or 7.0. THat will give you optimum CO2 levels and a good pH also.

tsunami

· #11 · Jul 28, 2004

To get optimum CO2 levels, you will have to lower the pH in your aquarium. This is the FIRST problem you should fix. As Dennis said, you will want the pH to be around 6.9-7.0 to have your CO2 levels at 25-30ppm.

Gradually lower your pH by increasing the number of CO2 bubbles going into your reactor. Try adding 2 bubbles per second and measure the pH 24 hours later to see where you stand.

Carlos

Sgtreef

Discussion Starter · #12 · Jul 28, 2004

tsunami said:
To get optimum CO2 levels, you will have to lower the pH in your aquarium. This is the FIRST problem you should fix. As Dennis said, you will want the pH to be around 6.9-7.0 to have your CO2 levels at 25-30ppm.

Gradually lower your pH by increasing the number of CO2 bubbles going into your reactor. Try adding 2 bubbles per second and measure the pH 24 hours later to see where you stand.

Carlos

OKay starting now!
Thanks again :wink:
Okay increased it.
6:10 Am wed July 28.2004

Sgtreef

Discussion Starter · #13 · Aug 4, 2004

An update ph now at 7.0 at night so going down but algae coming on strong. :shock:

dennis

· #14 · Aug 4, 2004

Good, now you need to start dosing (actually already should have been dosing from the beginning) for N/P/K and traces. As tsunami recommended dose KNO3 and P at levels of 15 and 1.75 mg/l respectivly. You should break this down into a couple doses a week and dose a trace supploiment on the alternating days. There are lots of topics and info on this site, as well as many other sites, about dosing nutrients. Read as much as you can and dose away. Don't beto affraid of it. Most bad algae/plant growth problems are a result of nutrients levels that are too low or have hit 0ppm

Good luck

Sgtreef

Discussion Starter · #15 · Aug 12, 2004

dennis said:
Good, now you need to start dosing (actually already should have been dosing from the beginning) for N/P/K and traces. As tsunami recommended dose KNO3 and P at levels of 15 and 1.75 mg/l respectivly. You should break this down into a couple doses a week and dose a trace supploiment on the alternating days. There are lots of topics and info on this site, as well as many other sites, about dosing nutrients. Read as much as you can and dose away. Don't beto affraid of it. Most bad algae/plant growth problems are a result of nutrients levels that are too low or have hit 0ppm

Good luck

Okay only using Flourish as of now.
Got me 24 of those Armano shrimps from Frank{great Guy to do business with BTW}

So now that am at 6.9 at night and 7.0 durning the day what should I use to get the hair algae out and the one on my sword.

Sorry for all the questions but not much of a green thumb in Aquatic plants

dennis

· #16 · Aug 12, 2004

Your Amanos will take care of the thread algae nicely, as long as they don't get to much real food to eat (ie fish food or invert bites, ect). Try to remove as much of the algae as you can. This is actually a good practice in general as it helps prevent extra algae from taking hold. A toothbrush and tweezers are good weapons for this. You can twirl the brush around the hair algae and run it gently through the plants to remove bunches of the algae. Do this for your other algae problems as well. Trim leaves, spot treatments of H2O2, and basic manual removal of any you can will help later and make your tank easier to maintain and more apealing to you. Many species of algae really don't like constant picking and disturbance and will often "go away" if you work a little each day. This ofcourse only works if you have your tank parameters under control.

Hope that was helpful.

Sgtreef

Discussion Starter · #17 · Aug 14, 2004

dennis said:
Your Amanos will take care of the thread algae nicely, as long as they don't get to much real food to eat (ie fish food or invert bites, ect). Try to remove as much of the algae as you can. This is actually a good practice in general as it helps prevent extra algae from taking hold. A toothbrush and tweezers are good weapons for this. You can twirl the brush around the hair algae and run it gently through the plants to remove bunches of the algae. Do this for your other algae problems as well. Trim leaves, spot treatments of H2O2, and basic manual removal of any you can will help later and make your tank easier to maintain and more apealing to you. Many species of algae really don't like constant picking and disturbance and will often "go away" if you work a little each day. This ofcourse only works if you have your tank parameters under control.

Hope that was helpful.

Thanks again Dennis,will get on to that.
Real problem seems to be the Fert,maybe not enough or too much in the water colum. :shock:

Sgtreef

Discussion Starter · #18 · Aug 29, 2004

Update.
After increase in co2 and increase in Ferts Hair algae gone now to work on the little clumps of bush algae but looks like the Shrimp are going after them.
Starting to use potassium nitrate and Potassium Sulfate to increase both.
Looks like good stuff from Greg Watson
link herehttp://www.gregwatson.com/

Thanks again.
Will need a little help on the how much to add deal.

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