Plants Not Looking Too Good...

[JasonMichael]

If you have algae on plants, it means that they are not at optimal health levels. This could be caused by many things including not enough ferts or co2 or both - not enough flow to get the fert's/co2 to the plants - not enough water changes - not enough cleaning/ gravel vacs - too much light. Or a combination of all of these.

Think of your plants like fish, if you don't feed them properly and clean their home enough their immune system becomes weak and they get attacked by desease.
In the plants case 'disease' would be algae

Alright, so what would or could you suggest? It's weird because I have enough flow, co2 seems fine drop checking is showing green in different spots, ferts seem good as my plants are growing great... hmmmm

 

[levahe]

Its difficult to say what the exact cause is but you could try improving things one at a time until things improve. I would start with light, reduce length of photoperiod and/or light intensity, and then look at the flow, there needs to be a decent flow all round the tank. A lot of people use a spray bar along the back of the tank which creates a rolling type movement of water. If you already have one it might need more flow through it. Increasing your co2/ferts would be a good idea even if you think its OK, the plants might not think so!
Do you do at least 50% water change per week?

 

[JasonMichael]

Hi guys - here are some pics I just took of the algae issue, any thoughts on how to get rid of this, quickly?
 
I've done everything which people have suggested but just can't seem to shake it off!
 

 

 

Its difficult to say what the exact cause is but you could try improving things one at a time until things improve. I would start with light, reduce length of photoperiod and/or light intensity, and then look at the flow, there needs to be a decent flow all round the tank. A lot of people use a spray bar along the back of the tank which creates a rolling type movement of water. If you already have one it might need more flow through it. Increasing your co2/ferts would be a good idea even if you think its OK, the plants might not think so!
Do you do at least 50% water change per week?

 
I've just posted up some photos to give you an idea of the scale of the issue.. the water changes yes, I have tried a lot of different things, and its really strange as the issue has only presented itself from around May, this hasn't happened on this level before... 

 

[levahe]

That's bba, its caused by low co2 levels. The best way to get rid of this is to increase the co2 levels and start dosing easycarbo/Excel liquid co2.
The liquid co2 can be spot dosed to items and plants if you can take them out the tank. Just mix up a 10/1 solution with water in a spray bottle and squirt it on and leave for 10 minutes or so. The rest can be removed by hand
You can safely dose 2x the recommended dose of easycarbo until the problem improves.

 

[JasonMichael]

That's bba, its caused by low co2 levels. The best way to get rid of this is to increase the co2 levels and start dosing easycarbo/Excel liquid co2.
The liquid co2 can be spot dosed to items and plants if you can take them out the tank. Just mix up a 10/1 solution with water in a spray bottle and squirt it on and leave for 10 minutes or so. The rest can be removed by hand
You can safely dose 2x the recommended dose of easycarbo until the problem improves.

 
The co2 indicator is showing green and I have an inline system. At the moment I have a bubble a second, should I increase this? I currently have excel which I stopped using because I have Neutro+, should I begin using excel as well now to remove the bba? 
 
I'll get some easycarbo as it's stocked in a store in Australia which is good. When you speak of 10/1 solution with water, what do you exactly mean?
 
So pretty much this is what I need to do - raise my co2 slightly, get some easycarbo and start dosing, and in the mean time dose the excel. When I get the easycarbo do I stop the excel? Thanks!

 

[levahe]

Did the bba appear about the same time/after you stopped using excel? You stopped dosing excel which is liquid co2, I know from experience what stopping liquid co2 suddenly can do = big bba outbreak
I would resume dosing excel or easycarbo until the problem goes away, and if you want to stop dosing it again the best way is gradually reduce the dosing every few weeks my a ml or so. Suddenly stopping it causes a co2 deficiency = bba

When I said 1/10 solution I meant 1 part excel or easycarbo to 10 parts water, so 25ml excel/250ml water. If that doesn't work you could try a stronger solution but that strength works for me so should be OK I think.

Is your co2 indicator dark green or light green? Light green is better
Also easycarbo/excel are the same thing so one or the other will be OK
Carry on dosing the neutro+ as well

 

[JasonMichael]

Did the bba appear about the same time/after you stopped using excel? You stopped dosing excel which is liquid co2, I know from experience what stopping liquid co2 suddenly can do = big bba outbreak

I would resume dosing excel or easycarbo until the problem goes away, and if you want to stop dosing it again the best way is gradually reduce the dosing every few weeks my a ml or so. Suddenly stopping it causes a co2 deficiency = bba

When I said 1/10 solution I meant 1 part excel or easycarbo to 10 parts water, so 25ml excel/250ml water. If that doesn't work you could try a stronger solution but that strength works for me so should be OK I think.

Is your co2 indicator dark green or light green? Light green is better
Also easycarbo/excel are the same thing so one or the other will be OK
Carry on dosing the neutro+ as well

Now that you mention it the bba did appear around the same time i stopped the excel. 
 
the Co2 is showing light green. Should I be using excel/easycarbo as a replacement for the co2 canister or be using them both? 
 
Thanks so much for your help, I'll give it a go =D

 

[levahe]

Use them both and remove as much as you can by hand and spot dosing, and after a while it should be OK.

 

[coolie]

It's funny, I'm at a asimilar stage of setting up professional CO2 and waiting for results.
 
But I have been more cautious.
 
When you set up CO2, you obviously don't have a fully planted tank. Me - just 4 or 5 plants. Obviously when you set up co2, you are hoping the plants will grow and fill the tank.
 
So taking advice from some experienced members who sayadd this and that dry ferts etc, are really talking about their setup and current experience.
 
You need to think about the plant needs (for a few plants).
 
Mine is taking off much slower than I would have liked, but when I test for Nitrate, there is still Nitrate there between 10 - 20 ppm without adding any dry ferts with CO2.
 
So... I'm sticking with my slowy increasing as the plants get growing because it seems logical to me.

 

[SO19Firearms]

but when I test for Nitrate, there is still Nitrate there between 10 - 20 ppm without adding any dry ferts with CO2.

There's the start of a problem. The test kit is junk* so you'd be better off presuming you have no nitrate to begin with and starting there. Beyond that, while not dosing the ferts you might be short on phosphorous, potassium, magnesium, calcium, Iron, Copper, molybdenum, manganese, Boron, Zinz etc etc... Liebigs law would tell you that a shortage in any one of them will stop growth one way or another, so we find it better to add them.

IMO



*If you've access to a spectrophotometer I apologise.

 

[coolie]

 
The test kit is junk

 
Is this something you apply to all brands and types of liquid tests?

 

[SO19Firearms]

Is this something you apply to all brands and types of liquid tests?

Yes.

 

[SLIM]

Is this something you apply to all brands and types of liquid tests?

Yes.

Agreed!

 

[coolie]

Funny how most people rely on them!

 

[levahe]

Funny how most people rely on them!

They give you a rough guide to what's going on. They are most useful when cycling a tank or If issues arise, but one thing they are not is accurate especially the nitrate test.

When starting a co2 tank it really is best to add recommended amounts of ferts and not guess or assume.