I seem to be running into some trouble with dosing...
I've had some very nice tanks in the past, but I've stepped out of the loop for a bit and I'm trying to get back in. Shaking the rust off!
Here are some of the basics:
#65 gallon tank (48x18x18")
#all flourite substrate
#4x55 watt 6700K CF lighting (about 3.4wpg) - brand new bulbs
#injected CO2 with a PH monitor/regulator
#photo period - 10 hours (and near no windows)
#water movement is provided by two spray-bars - one from the XP3 filter and the other from the mag drive (for the CO2 reactor).
*UV sterilizer on for a few minutes every day (10ish), in the early morning before lights and before ferts are added.
i'm dosing all flourish ferts (all are brand new):
#nitrogen
#phosphorous
#potassium
#iron
#trace
other notes:
#water changes are usually on the weekend, about 20%
#temp = roughly 80
#PH = 6.8
#no other food is added! Once or twice a week at most I drop in a single algae wafer (size of a nickel).
#fauna consists of 6 otos, 5 SAEs, some MTS and cherry red shrimp (moderate amount).
#somewhat heavily planted
I wrote down the recommended doses from seachem to figure out a rough ratio. From there, I figured I would dose and watch how the plants reacted and make changes according to that.
First, I was dosing the following 3 times a week (MWF):
N - 5ml
P - 5ml
K - 12ml
Fe - 10ml
Trace - 20ml
after doing multiple tests, I found I never had any nitrates. The kicker, though, was when BGA devoured my aquarium. After a successful blackout, it died completely... but quickly came back with the same regimen. So, to quickly combat it, I began dosing the above amounts DAILY! the BGA finally went away and some of the plants finally started growing gang-busters. However, at the same time, some other plants started to die (ludwigia repens, corkscrew val, and bacopa). Also, I have a large patch of e. tennelus... and it grows quickly and spreads equally fast, but seems to be a little on the white side. It's very pale...
I've had to maintain the daily dosing just to keep N and P above 0. If I skip two days, BGA comes back. Even after dosing daily for over a week, my levels were always near 0, but no BGA.
I've also begun to have a nasty fight with the hard green algae that grows on the glass. I'm definitely losing that fight now, but it's considerably better than BGA! But I know I can do better...
I'm wondering if by dosing the 20ml of Trace daily (or every other), I'm putting way too much Cu into the tank. I've had a FEW shrimp deaths, but really not more than I could possibly attribute to natural (non-poisoning) causes. I cannot test for Cu so I was just trying to keep the same basic ratios from seachem.
I know a lot of people have similar setups and also dose Trace... what has everyone's experience been? And can anyone chime in about Cu poisoning, or should I be considering other sources for my misery?
Perhaps I need to continue dosing the other ferts at the same rate, but drop back on Trace?
JP
I've had some very nice tanks in the past, but I've stepped out of the loop for a bit and I'm trying to get back in. Shaking the rust off!
Here are some of the basics:
#65 gallon tank (48x18x18")
#all flourite substrate
#4x55 watt 6700K CF lighting (about 3.4wpg) - brand new bulbs
#injected CO2 with a PH monitor/regulator
#photo period - 10 hours (and near no windows)
#water movement is provided by two spray-bars - one from the XP3 filter and the other from the mag drive (for the CO2 reactor).
*UV sterilizer on for a few minutes every day (10ish), in the early morning before lights and before ferts are added.
i'm dosing all flourish ferts (all are brand new):
#nitrogen
#phosphorous
#potassium
#iron
#trace
other notes:
#water changes are usually on the weekend, about 20%
#temp = roughly 80
#PH = 6.8
#no other food is added! Once or twice a week at most I drop in a single algae wafer (size of a nickel).
#fauna consists of 6 otos, 5 SAEs, some MTS and cherry red shrimp (moderate amount).
#somewhat heavily planted
I wrote down the recommended doses from seachem to figure out a rough ratio. From there, I figured I would dose and watch how the plants reacted and make changes according to that.
First, I was dosing the following 3 times a week (MWF):
N - 5ml
P - 5ml
K - 12ml
Fe - 10ml
Trace - 20ml
after doing multiple tests, I found I never had any nitrates. The kicker, though, was when BGA devoured my aquarium. After a successful blackout, it died completely... but quickly came back with the same regimen. So, to quickly combat it, I began dosing the above amounts DAILY! the BGA finally went away and some of the plants finally started growing gang-busters. However, at the same time, some other plants started to die (ludwigia repens, corkscrew val, and bacopa). Also, I have a large patch of e. tennelus... and it grows quickly and spreads equally fast, but seems to be a little on the white side. It's very pale...
I've had to maintain the daily dosing just to keep N and P above 0. If I skip two days, BGA comes back. Even after dosing daily for over a week, my levels were always near 0, but no BGA.
I've also begun to have a nasty fight with the hard green algae that grows on the glass. I'm definitely losing that fight now, but it's considerably better than BGA! But I know I can do better...
I'm wondering if by dosing the 20ml of Trace daily (or every other), I'm putting way too much Cu into the tank. I've had a FEW shrimp deaths, but really not more than I could possibly attribute to natural (non-poisoning) causes. I cannot test for Cu so I was just trying to keep the same basic ratios from seachem.
I know a lot of people have similar setups and also dose Trace... what has everyone's experience been? And can anyone chime in about Cu poisoning, or should I be considering other sources for my misery?
Perhaps I need to continue dosing the other ferts at the same rate, but drop back on Trace?
JP
