Please check my dosing and offer advice

[ShadowMac]

Hello,

I have been dosing EI on my recent 37 gallon scape. I am starting to suspect dosing issues.

Here are the symptoms: One week ago there were holes in hygrophila corymbosa "compact" with yellow at the edges of the holes. Similar holes found in older leaves of pogostemon stellatus without yellow edges.

My rotala macandra green recently went through some stunting of the tips and poor growth.

I am also experiencing algae of all kinds, primary problem algae is staghorn. I have thread algae in the stems. Recently been having a little more GSA than before. GDA was gone and returned with the return of the reflectors. It is difficult to tell if it is staghorn or BBA on the E. parvula.

Equipment:

Filtration: eheim 2217, i just added a small nano korlia to increase flow, although I thought it looked pretty good before.

CO2: pressurized through inline atomizer 3 bps maybe more. I routinely see a pH drop of around 1 throughout the lighting cycle. I know it isn't a precise way to guage CO2 but lets me know I'm putting in a fair amount. If I press it much higher my Rams go to the surface or hide.

Lighting: 2x24Watt T5HO's(one zoomed 6500k daylight and one zoomed plantgrow bulb) on an icecap 660 ballast. I have played around with the reflectors a bit. Without reflectors algae definitely dissipates, this is what helped the GDA go away.
My issue with this is that I do not get good color in my stems. Is this a dosing issue or lighting in regards to the colors? I am currently running one reflector on the bulb over the stems and took the reflector from the daylight bulb which is above the foreground and front half of the tank. This is where I had a nasty outbreak of staghorn, on rocks, and all over older growth of E. parvula, staurogyne repens, even blyxxa leaves.

Dosing routine: I increased my dosing last week to 1 tsp KNO3, 1/8 tsp KH2PO4, 1/8 CSM+B+FE DTPA (this mix is 1:3 Fe to CSM+B), I also add 1/16 tsp FE DTPA a couple times a week. I usually dose all of them at the same time. On water change day, Sunday, then Tuesday, then Thursday. Should I spread my dosing out? Break it up to daily? Or does that not matter?

I use RO water at water change and add 1 tsp GH booster as well as 3-4 tsp freshwater aquarium salt.

Steps I have taken to deal with this recent outbreak of algae: increased dosing, added koralia nano pump, I will try to up CO2 over the course of the week, decreased lighting by removing one reflector (I am concerned about growth in some species without the reflector, it is a deep tank, 20"), I put some activated carbon pad in my filter and am currently recharging purigen which I will add to the filter today.

The purigen was saturated, could that have been releasing DOC's?

Anyways, that is the situation. A lot of info, but hopefully will help some of you help me. I would really like some feedback on my dosing as I think there was or is an issue with it. Any other advice is welcome. Thank you all.

[chopsticks]

I'm not very smart or have enough knowledge but it sounds like a CO2 issue to me, mostly after you increased your dosing, it is hard think there is a nutrient deficiency, maybe you moved the limiting factor from nutrients to CO2?

I got lots of staghorn and BBA on I was forced to take the non-co2 route on my 5gal nano.

Too much light maybe?

-juan

[Biollante]

Hi Shawn,

Before I start, CO2, as in increase the CO2 is usually the answer, so bear with me (or not) as I explore other possibilities.

Could you refresh my memory on the critters you keep? Specifically are you keeping Apistogramma, Mikrogeophagus ramirezi?

Any really sensitive plants?

What is the GH Booster you are using?

What jumps out at me is the high (even by my Nutrient Type standards) level of Nitrates and phosphates; I would back off to ¼ teaspoon KNO3, three times a week and go with 1/8 teaspoon KH2PO4, once a week.

Are you aerating (air stone, vigorously mixing/stirring, so forth) the RO prior to use?

The Calcium content may be low. For the RO conditioning,

• I probably would lose the aquarium salt and increase the Calcium.
• In RO water I prefer Calcium chloride, but plaster of Paris is okay,
  
  • (some of this depends on your GH booster)
• A dash of Epsom salts
• a teaspoon or so of lemon juice would not hurt either.

How long to saturate the Purigen?

• This could be an indication of organic problems, with everything going on, something is out of whack and likely the plants are contributing a lot of material.

If you happen to have some Potassium permanganate or an ORP, conductivity or TDS meter you might be able to get some indication.

Biollante

[ShadowMac]

Thanks for your response Biollante.

My fauna and flora list: Electric Blue Rams (Mikrogeophagus ramirezi), porkchop rasboras (trigonostigma hengli), cardinal tetras (Paracheirodon axelrodi), Otto cats (Otocinclus vestitus), Fire shrimp (neocardina heteropoda var."fire"), amano shrimp (caridina multidentata). All of the fish have been doing very well. Two of the rams have paired off, so I may be moving the other two to another tank. Although the Rams are at the height of their tolerance to CO2 levels. Much more and they are not happy. I had to turn on my airstone at lunch when I saw one at the top and the others hiding.

plants: rotala macandra "green", staurogyne repens, blyxxa japonica, pogostemon stellatus, hemianthus micranthemoides, didiplis diandra, pogostemon helferi "downoi", eleocharis parvula, eleocharis belem

This act of increasing decreasing dosages gets frustrating. I constantly hear about too little of this or that and this is how it manifests. I've heard, "its tough to over due it", so I side on the high end, but the high end varies on who you talk to. I ran it through a dosing calculator, it is likely I didn't run it through right. Anyways, it put me at the higher end of the EI scale. I didn't think it an issue, but will bow to your wisdom and follow the routine you have suggested. I was a bit uncomfortable using the amount I was, but thought "hey, no deficiencies"

CO2 could be an issue, i've found that the spraybar impacts the CO2 coming from it quite a bit ( as measured by .2 degrees pH or so) depending on how much surface agitation it is creating. I need to watch my water level. I cannot press the CO2 further. Mainly ensuring that the bar does not break the surface too much as my diffused CO2 is part of the output.

My GH booster is "Barr's GH booster" from aquariumfertilizer.com. It contains Potassium Sulfate, Calcium Sulfate, and Magnesium Sulfate. Should I be adding more than the 1 tsp. Dosing suggests one tbs will raise GH 3 degrees. Looks like I'm a little lean here, especially with RO water. I will look into some CaCl, maybe mix it into the existing GH booster. What would be a ratio you would recommend? 3 parts GH booster:1 part CaCl?

I have to ask, why the lemon juice? I know it is summer, but I dont think it would be a refreshing drink....

It had been several months since recharging it the Purigen last and the jar it is currently in now looks pretty vile, it is a vile vial. I do have some KMnO4, I could take a sampling of tank water and see how it reacts. Should I do this towards the end of the week? The water was changed yesterday and I added the carbon filter pad. I plan on swapping out the carbon pad with the newly chaged purigen. Should I leave the carbon in? I am concerned with it binding chelating agents in trace minerals like Fe.

So, for now I will ensure a consistent CO2 level and follow this dosing routine for several weeks.

[Left C]

Hello,

... on my recent 37 gallon scape. I am starting to suspect ... issues. ...

Equipment:

Lighting: 2x24Watt T5HO's (one zoomed 6500k daylight and one zoomed plantgrow bulb) on an icecap 660 ballast. I have played around with the reflectors a bit. Without reflectors algae definitely dissipates, this is what helped the GDA go away. ...

Any other advice is welcome. Thank you all.

Hi ShadowMac

I have an idea. Your 660 ballast overdrives your 24w bulbs to around 40w each. So, instead of 48w, you have around 80w. Would it be advisable to replace your 660 with a T5HO ballast like an Advance model that doesn't overdrive your bulbs.

Something else to consider is that when some fluorescent bulbs are overdriven, their color spectrum can change.

Just a thought. Good luck!

Left C

[ShadowMac]

I have been seriously considering replacing the ballast. That may be my best bet. I will wait and see how the single reflector works.

I have noticed the "quality" or "richness" of the bulbs is different in the overdriven bulbs. I actually get better color in my 20 gallon with the same bulbs on a different setup. It isn't just appearence, however. If I take the stems out and compare the same plant from two different tanks, the 20 has always developed better color.

would 48 Watts be adequate over the a tall 37 gallon?

[Left C]

2 x 24w is what folks told me to use for my 37g. Did I listen? Mostly.

I purchased a 3x24w T5HO IceCap DIY kit (w/o IceCap ballasts) and three Workhorse 3 ballasts plus a 660 ballast. My bulbs are Giesemann Midday 6000K and Aquaflora. Plus a UVL 10,000K T5HO/VHO bulb that can either run at 24w or be overdriven to 40w. I can either use a Workhorse 3 or 660 with this bulb. Each bulb has a separate ballast, power cord and timer.

I'm planning on running two bulbs with the third as a burst down the road when the aquarium fills in (if needed). Or, I can run my choice of bulbs (1, 2 or 3) and their durations.

I'm putting it together right now as I have some plants for it already. So, I can't tell you if my plan will work or not.

I have a 2217 for it like you plus a pump for misting.

[ShadowMac]

I would like to see how your lighting works out LeftC.

I like the idea of the pump for misting. I may put my CO2 on a seperate line as well.

[ShadowMac]

Biollante,

I forgot to add what I did with my RO water. I do not do much to prepare it. The water gets mixed well when I add it. I pour it through a plastic breeder partition with suction cups so the water spreads out and does not disturb the substrate while I'm pouring. Is this adequate mixing?

I have ordered some CaCl. Would you recommend adding that to the RO water? How much per 5 gallons as my RO is stored in 5 gallon jugs?

I have a TDS meter, several actually. What numbers should I be shooting for?

[Left C]

I'll keep you informed.

I've been following your lead for some time now. I've had all of my stuff for this 37g tank for over a year or maybe even two years. I took all my tanks down over a year ago. Now, I can start setting different ones up.

I already have three types of plants for it growing in a pan. I should have water in the tank by tonight or tomorrow to test for leaks.

I'm not going to start the tank with the T5HO lighting. I have a 2x65w PC fixture to use until I get the canopy wired with the DIY T5HO kit.