Plants And Small Brown Algae Outbreak

[Spiceweasel69]

Here are a few pics of some plants in my tank.

Currently i have light planting but intend to get much heavier planting when i order a new diffuser. I have all the co2 pressure system set up but not running until i have an efficinent injection method. I have 50mm of black roman gravel over 10-12mm JBL aquabasis pro.

I am currently using Leaf Zone until i get the co2 diffuser, when i intent to buy more plants and dose with EI. I have 4x80w T5 daylight tubes but am only using 2 tubes at the moment as i dont want an algae outbreak from high nutrient content and excessive lighting.

Question is:

I can see brown algae beginning to grow on the uppermost fronds of the plants - im sure you can too. They look reddish, but its brown algae. Is it better to cut this off or will it die off naturally when co2 is injjected - hopefully next weekend. What other methods would you undertake to stop the algae gowing further

Also, i love the cabomba looking plant, cant remember its name. What i dont like so much is the fact its stem is growing so tall between branches. Does it do this for a reason - poor or incorrect nutrients? I like the bottom of it as it is dense and bushy, but the top is growing rather lean. Can this be countered??

Thanks

Iv not yer finished bu a long shot - loads more wood to get, more rocks and far more plants, but full tankshot is on the other forum where it should be.

 

[BenPursglove]

Your water looks very clear Brown algae (if that's what it is) is a result of a new tank settling in, apparently helped along by the silicone used to put tanks together. Go figure.

Anyway Leaf Zone is a plant fertilizer and does nothing to aid CO2. If you are using the Leaf Zone with no CO2 then maybe the plants cannot take up with the nutrient provided and the algea is yomping on it instead.

I would get hold of and use either Flourish Excel or EasyLife EasyCarbo (it's the bees knees) - these are both sources of carbon that the plants can use. Some have even reported pearling whilst using these products. It will also, as a side effect ward off hair algae (not sure about the brown stuff). I use the Excel in a tank that has DIY CO2 - made a big difference.

My 2 cents.

 

[mooey65]

I just leaf zone in my 120l with home made co2 and the result's I get are very very impressive all the plant's I have taken of like wild fire.

 

[Spiceweasel69]

Your water looks very clear Brown algae (if that's what it is) is a result of a new tank settling in, apparently helped along by the silicone used to put tanks together. Go figure.

Anyway Leaf Zone is a plant fertilizer and does nothing to aid CO2. If you are using the Leaf Zone with no CO2 then maybe the plants cannot take up with the nutrient provided and the algea is yomping on it instead.

I would get hold of and use either Flourish Excel or EasyLife EasyCarbo (it's the bees knees) - these are both sources of carbon that the plants can use. Some have even reported pearling whilst using these products. It will also, as a side effect ward off hair algae (not sure about the brown stuff). I use the Excel in a tank that has DIY CO2 - made a big difference.

My 2 cents.

Cheers. The algae was on the plants when i bought them, only very slight but it has grown with the excess nutrients. The leaf zone im using isnt to compensate for lack of co2 rather compensate fot the lack of ei dosing which i hope to begin next week when the co2 bits arrive. Looked again this morning and saw the start of some hair algae on some of the leaves so i will get some flourish excel to sort that out.

ta

 

[Spiceweasel69]

It seems to be sorting itself out.

The tops of plants are lighter and yellower than the bottom. What is this a defciency of?

 

[aaronnorth]

It seems to be sorting itself out.

The tops of plants are lighter and yellower than the bottom. What is this a defciency of?

nitrogen (nitrate)

the lighter colour may just be new growth but yellow is a defficiency

 

[Spiceweasel69]

It seems to be sorting itself out.

The tops of plants are lighter and yellower than the bottom. What is this a defciency of?

nitrogen (nitrate)

the lighter colour may just be new growth but yellow is a defficiency

Thanks - ill get a test done.

Ta

 

[Underwurlde]

^ why get a test done... plants are already telling you what they need, no?

 

[Spiceweasel69]

Id like to know how deficient it is to see how much i need to compensate for.

 

[Underwurlde]

OK, let me put it in another light then... so you test, you get a result: a number of ppm's.... then what?

Plants are not an exact science and things cannot be tested in isolataion. Use instead observations: i.e. know the signs of deficencies... you see a sign, you correct it by adding a little (more) of the correct food... still bad? Add a little more. Do this over time & like I said, plants will tell you what they want, not some meaningless test kit result perhaps?

GL with that,

Andy