Am I Maintaining My Planted Aquarium Wrongly?

[mark4785]

I'll list all of my aquarium details in the hope that somebody can tell me what they would do or what they would do differently if they owned this particular tank in terms of providing plants their required nutrients, in the correct chelated form and in a way which will not encourage any form of algae growth.

Tank length: 60cm
Tank capacity: About 110 Litres.
Plants: 5-6 egeria densa strands, 3 very large x limnophila sessiliflora, 1 large crytocoryne undulata broad leaves, 2 x small off-shoots of the cryptocoryne, 7 x strands of bacopa monnieri, 1 x lilaeopsis brasiliensis.
Stock: 1 German Blue Ram, 5 Black Neon Tetra, 2 Dwarf suckermouths, 1 Dwarf Neon Rainbowfish.
C02 unit: Dennerle Comfort-Line CO2 Professional
Filter system: Cayman 05 internal filter.
Substrate: Caribsea Instant Sand - Torpedo Beach
Decor: Small pieces of bog wood.
Water parameters: Free ammonia 0 ppm, ammonium 1.0ppm, nitrite 0 ppm, nitrate 20 ppm. PH: 7.4, KH: 5dH, GH: 8dH, Iron: 0.2 ppm, Phosphate: 1.0 ppm.

Maintenance Regime: (feeding, nutrient dosing, cleaning etc)

-2-3 gravel cleans using motorised gravel vac per week.
-Daily dosing of 2 ml of Easycarbo
-Dosing of EasyLife nitro to keep nitrate level at 20ppm. I will usually apply 2.5ml if nitrate level goes low which it often doesn't
- Dosing of 2.5ml EasyLife Profito every 1-2 days. May also supplement with EasyLife Ferro too on the same days.
- Dosing of 5.0ml of Easylife Fosfo if Phosphate level goes below 1.0 ppm.
- 30-40% water change conducted every 4 or 5 days.
- Dennerle Comfort-Line CO2 Professional system set to release 1 bubble of c02 every 4 seconds.
- feeding of one quarter chunk of Tetra Tabimin once per day for cat fish. About 7-8 pieces of fish flake applied from the Ocean-nutrition product range 2-3 times a day for rest of fish.

Problem encountered:

Cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) growing on every single plant, the tank glass and the substrate. Growing extremely quickly and starting to effect the health of my fish.

HELP?!

 

[mbsqw1d]

sorry I'm not a huge expert here but will hopefully get the ball rolling somewhere!?

Just a few questions..

What type of lighting do you have, how long do you have it on for and what wattage is it?

Why are you dosing with additional easycarbo when you have a pressurised co2 kit setup?

Do you have a Co2 drop checker? If so how is this reading?

What test kit are you using? In particular to test for Nitrates? As such tests are usually quite inaccurate and with your Easylife Nitro.. I am wondering if your levels are truly stable.

Regarding your filtration. What do you have? What's it's turnover? Do you have any additional power heads? Flow is very important in a planted tank to ensure all nutrients are fully dispersed.

The important thing to do is one change at a time. Whatever anyone suggests next.. just do one change at a time!

Have you read this?

Sorry again if I havent helped.. if anything I've given your post a bump! Good Luck

 

[mark4785]

sorry I'm not a huge expert here but will hopefully get the ball rolling somewhere!?

Just a few questions..

What type of lighting do you have, how long do you have it on for and what wattage is it?

Why are you dosing with additional easycarbo when you have a pressurised co2 kit setup?

Do you have a Co2 drop checker? If so how is this reading?

What test kit are you using? In particular to test for Nitrates? As such tests are usually quite inaccurate and with your Easylife Nitro.. I am wondering if your levels are truly stable.

Regarding your filtration. What do you have? What's it's turnover? Do you have any additional power heads? Flow is very important in a planted tank to ensure all nutrients are fully dispersed.

The important thing to do is one change at a time. Whatever anyone suggests next.. just do one change at a time!

Have you read this?

Sorry again if I havent helped.. if anything I've given your post a bump! Good Luck

1. Lighting is manufactured by Phillips. I have 2 x fluorescent 24w bulbs on for 8 hours.
2. I'm dosing easycarbo in addition to the c02 injection because the drop-checker solution does not always turn to a light green which indicates enough c02 is available. Also, I'm following EasyLife's instruction leaflet which states that it is a good idea to dose Easycarbo on top of c02 injection if you have high lighting.
3. Most often shows a bluey-green. Occasionally, it will show a light green which is what it should be all the time.
4. I'm using the API test kit.
5. Well it's a cayman 05 internal filter. I don't know what it's turn-over is. I recently introduced a Hydor Koralia powerhead 900 which seems to do nothing but disrupt the fishs' ability to swim properly; it didn't stop the growth of cyanobacteria..

Thanks for your reply, I hope my answers help you and others to help me!

 

[SuperColey1]

4. I'm using the API test kit.
5. Well it's a cayman 05 internal filter. I don't know what it's turn-over is. I recently introduced a Hydor Koralia powerhead 900 which seems to do nothing but disrupt the fishs' ability to swim properly; it didn't stop the growth of cyanobacteria..

I've posted on your other thread but will answer on these 2.

Your filter turover is 350lph. Too low.

Your circulation pump is a Nano. I used a Koralia 1 in my similar sized tank and the fish had no problems. If you see problems you are probably seeing them 'enjoying' the exercise. If they weren't they would move out of the high flow areas.

Common myth with most (not all) fish that you can't have high turnover or flow. Put that pump in and they flock to the high flow and battle against it for periods of time. When they want a rest they will move away to a more calm area.

AC