New Planted Tank Help

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jonesy

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Just started my first planted tank about 4 weeks ago and have loads of questions as some of the plants dont seem to be doing so well but it might be me expecting to much too soon,

tanks specs are rio 125 (33 us gallons) arcadia 4x t5 over tank luminair with 2 x t5 plant pro lights and 2 x marine white 14,000k as recomended by charterhouse aquatics(are these marine ok for a tropical planted tank), d&d co2 system with small glass diffuser which works off a timer with the lights and they are on for 8 hours a day, tetratec ex700 filter, argos play sand as substrate with api root tabs.

plants in the tank are 2 x java ferns, java moss on driftwood, amazon sword, Bacopa caroliniana and Bacopa monnieri, 2 x anubias nana and Nymphaea lotus

did have the co2 set up to around 22 bpm and doseing 15mill of easy carbo and 15 mill of tpn each week but currently have the co2 switched off as the red sea indicator shows yellow after about a day and ahalf but stays green before then, is this normal or should it stay green all the time if the correct amount of co2 is in the tank, so im unsure on what to set the co2 at using the bubble counter.

the amazon sword has started getting holes in some of the leaves with some going yellow,my java moss has brown growning from it and the Bacopa caroliniana has lost some leaves near the middle/bottom with the stems going abit yellow towards the bottom, both these plants have been for about 2 weeks and the other plants seem to be doing ok.

water ph is 6.4 ammonia/nitrite is 0 and nitrate is 10-20, so are the lights ok, am i dosing too much or too less easycarbo and tpn what should i set the co2 at in bubbles per minute and am i expecting too much too soon after planting these plants. really sorry for the long post just want to get things right :) cheers steve
 
thats a LOT of light! i'd just run half of those, which is still a decent amount.

really the drop checker should be a "lime green" at lights on, slightly yellow @ lights out. but keep and eye on fish, if any signs of distress then its too high!
you should really switch co2 on a couple of hours before lights and off a couple of hours before lights out!

the co2 is the hardest to get right, the more light the more important it'll be along with getting the flow right! (dont underestimate the importance of flow)
in my case it needs tweaking up every couple of days, as plant mass increases over the week then co2 uptake increases and flow decreases, so a double hit for the co2 levels. conversely after a large trim the co2 needs tweaking down again!
it never going to be a case of setting the BPM to a certain amount and leaving it again!
 
thats a LOT of light! i'd just run half of those, which is still a decent amount.

really the drop checker should be a "lime green" at lights on, slightly yellow @ lights out. but keep and eye on fish, if any signs of distress then its too high!
you should really switch co2 on a couple of hours before lights and off a couple of hours before lights out!

the co2 is the hardest to get right, the more light the more important it'll be along with getting the flow right! (dont underestimate the importance of flow)
in my case it needs tweaking up every couple of days, as plant mass increases over the week then co2 uptake increases and flow decreases, so a double hit for the co2 levels. conversely after a large trim the co2 needs tweaking down again!
it never going to be a case of setting the BPM to a certain amount and leaving it again!

Hi thanks for the reply, so to start with im best stick with one T5 plant pro and one marine white and look to order a Hydor Koralia 1 to increase the flow of the tank, does this sound about right ?

also do the bubbles from the glass diffuser need to desolve before they reach the surface or doesnt it matter, they are reaching the surface now but they are tiny. cheers steve
 
Hi thanks for the reply, so to start with im best stick with one T5 plant pro and one marine white and look to order a Hydor Koralia 1 to increase the flow of the tank, does this sound about right ?

also do the bubbles from the glass diffuser need to desolve before they reach the surface or doesnt it matter, they are reaching the surface now but they are tiny. cheers steve

i'd see what others say about the 14k white but from what i can gather the 10k white i use is not ideal!

i'd say lower the lights, remove damaged leaves etc and try and get your diffuser so the bubbles go into the flow of the spray bar/outlet.
the recommended flow is about 10x tank vol per hour.
i wouldnt want anyone to spend money on my opinion alone, but if i were you i'd get the powerhead.

have a read up on EI "estimated index" too if you haven't its not for everyone, but seems one of the better ways of organizing the dosing of ferts.
 

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