Plants Aren't Growing And I Have Algae Issues

[Ryefish]

My 125L tank seems to be at a stand-still. Plant's aren't growing - more like dying slowly. I think i have around four different types of algae growing at the minute.
Some new stem plants that were split from some in my biorb have started to get holes in them. I had a problem with this before and didn't know if it was because of snails or nutrients, but i do have a snail problem at the minute. I think the plants that are in my biorb are fine and havent had any nutrients at all yet - need to rig that up today.

I've been dosing 10mls of TPN+ every day for a while - do you think i should change it? I'd rather not dose more, its going to cost me a fortune Ive been using the CO2 unit that was mentioned in my journal - can find the name in a bit, its been (as far as i can tell) keeping the CO2 levels stable.. i've also been dosing flourish excel

ALGAE:
BBA - worst i've ever had it. my poor anubias is being consumed by it

Green spot algae is all over the glass

The wood in my tank has turned green and im wondering if its blue green algae?

there is brown algae on the lower half of the glass

Plants:
turning brown, not growing new shoots, leaves have holes in them. Im going to pull out all the vallis and see if any of it is still viable. Considering the leaves on it were lush green and 34" long, this is all that remains

Water stats are fine, but i don't know if i have any nitrates test left to check them

Any advice, opinions or comments will be appreciated

 

[lljdma06]

I do think you need to adjust the dosing & perhaps the flow as well.

Will get back to you later, getting ready for work.

 

[Ryefish]

i forgot about flow. I have an Eheim Classic 2213 which does a measly 400lph. It hasn't got enough room inside it for filter media (ive had to add coral sand to stabilise my PH and have a bag of purigen in there too). Because of the rubbish turnover of the filter i added a powerhead that does, i believe, 600lph. It causes my tank to turn in to a whirlpool so ive got it ont he back of the tank pointing towards the front, on the opposite side of the tank to the spray bar

 

[KittyKat]

What is the lighting? Water changes how often and how much? Stocking?

This will be interesting to follow..

 

[Ryefish]

lighting is two 18W T8's. Water changes are weekly with about 30-40% depending on how dirty everything is and how much cleaning the filter takes.

 

[KittyKat]

One for the CO[sub]2[/sub]/fertiliser experts: what happens to the plants if someone overdoses on those two long term?

Ryefish, I can only offer help from one point of view here.. when you do a water change, do you get a lot of mulch and other crap landing on the leaves of the plants? That can cause lots of small holes appearing on the leaves by blocking light to those areas. The solution is to try and remove more crap or to "dust it off" after you finish the water change.

 

[Ryefish]

no, there is no dust or debris on the leaves of the plants after a water change. the powerhead blows enough water around to push any dust towards the filter inlet pipe. its only the stem plants that get these holes in their leaves

 

[SuperColey1]

Personally I would think it is to do with flow and increased plant mass.

Not sure where the coral sand keeping Ph stable comes into play. do you have fluctuating Ph from the tap? I would just put whatever the tap water is in and not worry about it.

AC

 

[pauld]

cor you are haveing it bad , i would check all the basics , lighting times , flow , doseing , co2 distribution , i would remove all the worst affected leaves do 50% water changes every other day . i would change doseing to EI method and save some money . most algae is caused by poor distribution and fluctuating co2 levels , i would limit the lights to a max of 6hrs a day plants need no more then this . move your drop checker around the tank daily checking for dead spots . increase your flow and filtration if you can . if you cant afford a new filter add a koralia .

 

[Ryefish]

Personally I would think it is to do with flow and increased plant mass.

Not sure where the coral sand keeping Ph stable comes into play. do you have fluctuating Ph from the tap? I would just put whatever the tap water is in and not worry about it.

AC

The PH from my tap is at 7.4 and always has been. The tank keeps crashing well below 6 after around three days, the CO2 has been named the cause. I was boosting it back up to 7 to have it crash below six a few days later. The low PH is affecting the shells of my snails and when im trying to sell them it doesn't do me any good. Ive had a lot of health issues in my tank lately aswell and the only issue has been the PH bouncing all the time.

I don't know if the PH crashing like that would affect the plants too?


Pauld, I couldn't afford a new filter or koralia which is why i purchased the powerhead i have at the minute which seems to do too good a job. It blows some of my fish around like a hurricane. Lights are on at 8hours a day, set to a timer so it is exact, the lighting has been exactly the same for god-knows how many months ive had the tank set up now. I was wondering if EI dosing would be cheaper in the long run. Since upping to 10mls of TPN+ the 500ml bottles only last me 50 days whereas it used to last me 100 days. A student budget doesn't cover too well for those kind of costs, and work don't stock Tropica things, only Seachem, so i can't get it cheap. CO2 levels have been most stable the last two months at least and im still having issues. i will move the drop checker tomorrow and see what readings im getting. Ianho suggested using the liquid carbon to try and buffer the CO2 fluctuations a bit and it worked for a while but now my tank is going crazy

 

[Whitey_144]

Personally I would think it is to do with flow and increased plant mass.

Not sure where the coral sand keeping Ph stable comes into play. do you have fluctuating Ph from the tap? I would just put whatever the tap water is in and not worry about it.

AC

The PH from my tap is at 7.4 and always has been. The tank keeps crashing well below 6 after around three days, the CO2 has been named the cause. I was boosting it back up to 7 to have it crash below six a few days later. The low PH is affecting the shells of my snails and when im trying to sell them it doesn't do me any good. Ive had a lot of health issues in my tank lately aswell and the only issue has been the PH bouncing all the time.

I don't know if the PH crashing like that would affect the plants too?


Pauld, I couldn't afford a new filter or koralia which is why i purchased the powerhead i have at the minute which seems to do too good a job. It blows some of my fish around like a hurricane. Lights are on at 8hours a day, set to a timer so it is exact, the lighting has been exactly the same for god-knows how many months ive had the tank set up now. I was wondering if EI dosing would be cheaper in the long run. Since upping to 10mls of TPN+ the 500ml bottles only last me 50 days whereas it used to last me 100 days. A student budget doesn't cover too well for those kind of costs, and work don't stock Tropica things, only Seachem, so i can't get it cheap. CO2 levels have been most stable the last two months at least and im still having issues. i will move the drop checker tomorrow and see what readings im getting. Ianho suggested using the liquid carbon to try and buffer the CO2 fluctuations a bit and it worked for a while but now my tank is going crazy

I've only just started dosing TPN+, but isn't the dosage 10ml per week, rather than per day? (or maybe im getting confused and thats only for 50Litres)

 

[SuperColey1]

Hmm That Ph thing is strange but above my 'pay grade' lol. So can't offer advice there. Seems strange it jumps and fall so much though.

I used a normal powerhead prior to the Koralia. It was a 400lph and was too much for the fish but not enough to get full circulation. It had the flow but the unidirectional flow wasn't spreading the flow around. I went to a 1500lph Koralia after giving up on it and the BBA and staghorn disappeared within 2 weeks.

That was with pressurised CO2 so not a stability issue as you can but not necessarily always do get with DIY.

There are cheaper options than the Koralia around. My Koralia actually sold for £12 on ebay which is a third of some retailer's prices so there are bargains to be had

AC

 

[Ryefish]

I've only just started dosing TPN+, but isn't the dosage 10ml per week, rather than per day? (or maybe im getting confused and thats only for 50Litres)

For the amount of plants i have in there i would get a severe nutritional deficiency in my plants just dosing 10mls per week. My plants have always done better being fed daily than they did when they were fed once a week.

I need to re-think my circulation... The powerhead has different attachments to change the flow output so i think i will put a different one in and place it inline with the flow of the spray bar.. somehow... Might have to wait until thursday, but i will keep an update. I'll take pictures of the tank tomorrow so i have something to compare to in a few days.

 

[SuperColey1]

You may find with top circulation you can reduce the ferts. They may not be getting spread around a lot and thus some areas running out.

I used to dose 5ml TPN+ and you know how high I like my plantmass. lol

If you are wanting to keep experimenting with the powerhead I would forget all those attachments. I tried all those.

Rather than plumbing it into the spraybar why not get one of those cheap £5 Fluval spraybars and put the powerhead directly into that. Then position that spraybar below the other one but half way down the back wall?

AC

 

[Ryefish]

After writing my previous post i was thining about dosing back down to 5mls per day, and now after your post SC i think i will try dropping it back down.

As for the spray bar attaching to the powerhead - brilliant idea. I will definately give it a try. I'll see what we have lying around at work and see if i can experiment with it there - will be able to get some help from my co-workers who have a heck of a lot more aquarium experience than me lol