I am new to CO2 and fertilizing. I have 3 wpg of (6700K) light. My 125 g tank is heavily planted with stem plants and rhizome, bulb plants. This is not a new tank. It has been set up for over 3 years. For about 3 weeks I have been trying to adjust fertilizer dosages, light, & CO2. I began with no algae. Now I have BBA starting on my plants. I think trying to learn has caused this to happen.

The info out there says to keep your Nitrates from 5ppm (Chucks Planted Aquarium page) to 10 ppm (Gregg Watson) 15ppm (Dusko Bojic) to 20ppm (Rex Grigg and others). These amount are the upper range suggested. What is right?

I think I have my lights on too much 11 hrs. I will cut that back.

I think I have my CO2 at 30 ppm (drop checker). It may be a little strong as the color is a light green. My pH is down to 6.5 to keep it there. GH (5.50) KH (4.48) I'm afraid to increase the CO2 because my pH will go lower. CAN I ADD FLOURISH EXCELL TO HELP KILL BBA along with CO2?

I had my Fe at 1 according to the Hagen test kit, which I understand is not an accurate measure. I just had an episode last night where my Plecos were in dire distress. I lost one of them. Did a 50% water change and within 10 minutes they where noticeably improved, (fine this am). Thought maybe I had too much iron. I have not added back any Plantex CSM+B because of my Plecos and because I just put the Nitrates, Potassium and Phosphates back. (BTW had just been to the LFS and they had checked my water and said it was "perfect" PH 6.8, nitrates 20ppm, ect.)

Current Levels:
KH - 4.48
NO3 - 10
PH4 - 2
NH3/NH4 - .01
CA - 60
pH 6.5
NO2 - 0
CO2 - weak green

How do you get water circulation in the tank? With a canister filter outflow? With powerheads? or what? CO2 that measures out to 30 ppm at the glass at a certain height may not mean there is that much amoung all of the plant mass. We rely on good water circulation to all areas of the tank to get the CO2 delivered to all of the plants.

You shouldn't be able to measure any ammonia in the water. Either the test isn't quite correct or you have a bigger than usual source of ammonia in the tank, such as a big dead snail.

I have plenty of filtration. I have 2 Rena XP3 canister filters. I have plant current action in my tank so I know the CO2 is getting mixed up.

I did have a dead fish. I found my pleco dead and partly decayed when I did the water change, it was in all my plants hiding. I will check the ammonia level again and I guess I should change more water if I have any. I could have a bad reagent. The first test kit I got I had to exchange (that was why I was in the LFS earlier that evening).

I read some old threads about CO2 and Excell so I have added Excell tonight in hopes that the BBA will die. I also think I should probably do the clorox thing with some of my plants. I don't know when I should add excell again. Do you?

I really want to know about the CO2 being turned up with my pH already at 6.5 (I have a pH indicator hooked up to my solenoid, which was calibrated so I know the pH is correct.) BTW my drop checker is a vivid green tonight. Without raising my KH my pH will continue to go down. Of course I have also read that since I dose other solids that is also making my water harder so the GH is not a true measure, right?

Any ideas, anybody?

If the drop checker has 4 dKH distilled or DI water in it, you have from about 25 pm to about 40 ppm of CO2 in the water, so that should be enough. But, adding more, and having the pH drop below 6.5 is not a problem due to the pH, but the added CO2 could cause the fish some distress. GH is a measure of the ppm of calcium and magnesium in the water, and the test for that is usually accurate when expressed in degrees of hardness.

When I allow my plants to grow and grow and grow until the tank gets really full of big healthy plants I get BBA, because the water can no longer circulate through all of that greenery, even though I use a powerhead too, just for water circulation. I have seen this happen several times now. It is disappointing because I really enjoy the look of a tank filled with healthy plants. That is why I wonder if you are seeing something similar.

Vaughn thanks so much for helping me. It's hard to catch on to this high tech system - there is so much to watch and understand!

My drop checker is with the 4dKH. My plants are not that full. There is plenty of circulation. I have read the threads here about that and seen pxs of the tanks. I think maybe I just had the ferts out of balance.

I checked the Ammonia again and it is 0. I wish I knew what was going on with my plecos. They were in such distress. I surely don't want to repeat that again. I ended up loosing a white spot and a queen arabesque. Not cheap! I had had them for about 2 years.

I feel like I need a UV filter in case there is some weird pathogen in the tank that is affecting them. I had recently gotten some fish at a LFS of which every single one of them died (and no I didn't quarantine, shame on me). I have been looking at the Coral Life Turbo Twist and the Aquamedic Helix Max 36 Watt. I don't know which to get. Does anyone know which is better?

While is may seem overwhelming initially, it's not that hard later.
Some prefer a lower tech hands off approach also, not too much to fret over with that method.

CO2 is the main issue to worry over, nutrients and water changes, pruning are about the rest which are not hard as long as you do them.

Regards,
Tom Barr

Tom-

I've had a low tech tank for decades so I'm ready to go hi tech. I want to grow some of those difficult plants I've always dreamed of having in my tank. I WILL learn this. I am highly motivated. I'm sure I will make mistakes in my learning curve. I appreciate all the advice and work you have done for others in the hobby. People like me depend upon all the knowledge you all have accumulated.

I am going to use the EI method. Loved Greg Watson's dosing guide! His statement that we don't all have to be chemists took a lot of weight off my shoulders!

One question for me still remains.... I dosed Flourish Excell yesterday to help with my BBA outbreak. When should I dose again? My CO2 is at green (drop checker).

Also, if I may..... You state that GH should 17-40ppm but mine is 5.59. I thought I already had pretty hard water. You say to add GH booster at a water change. I thought the CSM+B was providing the trace minerals. Do I just need more Calcium and Magnesium which the GH booster provides?

The instructions for dosing Excel are on the bottle. You dose a major dose at each water change, then dose about 1/4 of that dose every day or every other day. Seachem does not acknowledge that Excel does anything to algae, so you wont find anti-algae dosing instructions on the bottle. Some of us dose double what the bottle says, some dose 1 1/2 times what the bottle says, and Tom says to just do as the bottle says. The choice is yours. The bigger the dosage the more likely it will harm shrimp and certain plants like vals and anacharis.

Your GH is either 5.6 ppm or 5.6 degrees of hardness. The former is low, the latter is normal. If you feel you need more magnesium or calcium, use GH Booster or Equilibrium per the bottle dosing instructions.

Vaughn - my GH is 5.6 ppm. (WRONG: it was degrees of hardness) I guess should get some GH Booster, right? What do you recommend it should be?

Fighting BBA:
Well I have been using Excell and upped my CO2. I also dipped some of my slow growing plants in 20:1 water/bleach. I trimmed some of the tops of my Java and the BBA seems to be slowing down. Don't see any new spots. I read completely through a thread on APC about algae and excell. It was very interesting. I will continue doing excell for the next week and a half.

IRON issues:
I have been dosing EI for about a week now. Wondering if I should dose a little extra Flourish Iron on top of the CSM+B? I don't want to get too much. My red plants are getting some of their color back but are still not as red as they were when I got them. I don't see any other symptoms of iron deficiency like white veins, yellow plants, etc.

CO2 issues:
My 10 lb CO2 tank ran out! I thought it was supposed to last 6 months. I have had it for about a month. My tank is 125g. Does that seem right? I have been running it with a drop checker and a pH indicator. It turns my CO2 off when my pH reaches 6.7. I guess I really need 2 tanks so that I will always have one to switch off.

PEARLING issues:
I still don't see any of my plants pearling? What do I need to do to get them pearling? I have searched the threads to find out if this question was answered and I don't see any answer. Does anyone know?

If you have enough CO2 and nutrients, only thing left is biomass (plants) and/or lights.