55g planted tank

[Dingsda]

Hi, I have a couple questions about the EI method. First, some background:

I've been keeping fish since early 2007, have had four tanks so far, and am now back down to one: a 55g planted community tank. I got the 55g nearly a year ago but have only had it set up to keep plants since the end of August. Here's what I have on/in my tank:

55g tank
4x65w (can turn off half)
75 lbs. onyx sand
10# CO2 tank
Eheim 2236
Penguin 350 HOB (temporarily on there to keep the surface of the water clean)
Potassium nitrate, Potassium phosphate, and Plantex CSM+B (using EI method)

I've been having some problems with algae...specifically the brown stuff that forms in clumps around my plants. Thus, I turned down my lights (using only half of it) and leaving them on only 5 or so hours a day. The CO2 is running at about 2 bps. I've been fertilizing consistently. Also, there is a weird film of something on the surface of the water when the HOB isn't on, so it is running 24/7 along with the CO2.

I'll have to post pics of the tank later on; I'm at school (college) right now and have no access.

1. What can I do about the algae problem? (I've read a couple articles here, but they are way over my head at this point.)

2. What can I do about the weird layer of stuff?

3. How do I know that my CO2 is at the right level? (I have a drop checker, but I was told to test the pH...however, I don't know what it should be at.)

I'll probably come up with more later. I can also list the plants I have, but will have to wait until I get home. Thanks.

[dutchy]

Although I'm hardly an expert like some people here, I think your CO2 is low at 2bps. My tank is the same size and I'm running around 3 times that much, keeping my 4 dKH dropchecker at a constant of 40 ppm.
I was doing around 2 bps too and had BBA and staghorn algae. Tom gave me the advice to increase the flow and the CO2. I had around a 100 gallon per hour effective flow (not pump capacity) and I increased it to 500 gallon per hour effective flow (10 times my tank volume) and doubled the level of CO2 injection. I used Excel to get rid of the algae in normal dosage.
I'm 99% algae free now. No new growth.

Determining CO2 levels by Ph/KH is not very accurate, since these values can be influenced by other factors. I use a dropchecker with a 4dKH solution, which I think is more accurate and I can move around the tank to see if levels are consistent. Still, I only use it as a consistency check, watching my fish, pearling of my plants and the development of any algae as the main factor.

There are different kinds of surface film. One that creates a kind of whitish transparant film is a Fe bacteria. You can break the film by creating enough surface agitation. (not just temporary) Anyway, that's all what I do.

Regards,
Dutchy

[Dingsda]

Thanks for the info. How do I know what my drop checker is at? I was only told green is good, blue is too little and yellow is too much, lol.

What should I do about the film? I really don't want to leave my HOB on there since the whole reason for getting a canister was so that I wouldn't use it. Plus, it's evaporating a ton of water and CO2.

I'm at school again (lol, I'm here way too often,) but I'll get pics tonight or tomorrow.

[Daniel Morris]

1. Agree with Dutchy - low CO2 and perhaps not enough water flow. Do you have powerheads in the tank? Whats the water flow like?

My solution is usually to research the hell out of these things. There are some really fantastic threads that have been posted re CO2.

Here is my go to CO2 post that may be a good starting point for you Dingsda:

CO2 issues? Read this


2. As for the surface slime - yikes... I'm not sure what that is, and perhaps some of the more technically proficient members such as Dutchy and others may be able to help identify the issue and solution there. The only thing I'd say about surface agitation is that I believe that may complicate your CO2 problem, because, as I understand it, surface agitation may result in faster CO2 release from the water into the air above your tank (as you have noted). I'd put the penguin to bed and keep it for a hospital tank - i used to have one b4 i got a canister and thats what i did ultimately.

When i have mysterious film buildups, I generally do large water changes (within reason) and make sure there aren't any unfortunate fish that may have sunk to some corner of the tank to die. I have also partially* cleaned the filter in these cases. Want to make sure not to over do the filter cleaning in my opinion though. There are a bunch of good critters and bacteria in the filter that are critical to the health of the tank in there that you don't wanna wipe out.

3. Again I always have to research these things because I haven't internalized the information like many of the experts here have done. I'm also getting back into the hobby after a 1 year respite. Check this out re Drop checkers


Drop Checkers/CO2 Indicators-Why and How

Here's the same post (i think) but with some discussion afterwards that may be poignant


Hopefully the links above contain some discussion that relate to your issues with measuring.


-Daniel

[dutchy]

You can get the dropchecker to turn kind of lime-green, so almost yellow. That should be enough. More important is that you watch your fish and plants.

About the film; Enough surface agitation will dissolve the film. I'm using an extra filter just to create surface agitation. At the same time in increases the flow in the entire tank. Create agitation, but don't break the surface. That way you don't waste to much CO2.

Regards,
Dutchy

[Dingsda]

No powerheads (wanted to have at least one, but I haven't been able to save enough...then again, if I really need it, I can get one now.)

Basically, the intake for the canister is in the middle of the tank (back glass, of course) and the output is in the right corner. I set the output so it blows across the diffuser bubbles so they spread around the tank. So the current is flowing across the back of the tank. Then the HOB sits on the left and creates a current that goes foward, down, and then back to the HOB.

The surface doesn't break (because it's filled up all the way, I have too much evaporation going at time, yay for living in AZ) but the agitation doesn't reach to the right side of the tank. So basically, the right side of the tank is a huge dead spot...

I really want to ditch the HOB...would getting a power head and turning the output of the canister toward the surface replace it? But then the diffuser's CO2 bubbles won't spread...

Gah, so complicated! I wish I had more time to read up on these things, but with school and everything, I've resorted to only asking questions. However, I will take a peak into the links posted tomorrow.

[dutchy]

Well, I'm doing it this way. Maybe I'm even overdoing it, but I get results. I have three pumps, of which two are external filters, and one an external pump that's driving the CO2 reactor.
One filter is blowing down the background straight to the substrate to get flow to the lower leaves.
The other filter is creating surface agitation in manner of a real good ripple and a circular surface flow
The external pump from the CO2 is blowing diagonal through the tank. I can see the bubbles even hit the substrate and they don't come up until the hit the other side of the tank.

So maybe you ask yourself, why not one big pump. I chose this setup because I can use more smaller pumps, so I don't bend my plants to one side. I can use multidirectional flow patterns which are easy to change if I don't like it or plants grow higher.

Plants grow like crazy, no falling lower leaves and no algae.

[Dingsda]

Hmm, that's an interesting solution. Got some links of what you have (pumpwise) and an estimate of the cost?

[Dingsda]

As promised, here are pics.

My tank: (I would like to point out that this is a little old...some of the plants on the left are nearly twice as tall, and the unidentified plant (below) has been cut and replanted four times now.)


My algae:




My unidentified plant (if you know what it is, tell me, that'd be great!):

[dutchy]

I think it could be helpful if you check this link:
http://www.barrreport.com/you-new-aq...cle-dusko.html

I had the same algae that's on your third pic. That's in the past now. Definately a CO2/circulation issue.

Regards,
Dutchy.