sorry I need some sympathy...

[houndour]

I know I need more CO2 I changed my 2 nutrafin units within a day of one another and my levels are _still_ below 30

The algae is really bad this week. It's coating the sand, my lilys. I have flims of it collecting around the floating riccia.

My riccia is pretty much black and I'm now convinced its not been the plants pearling but the algae pearling all this time. *sigh*

Pressurized CO2 will have to wait a bit as I had a big vet bill last night I dont want to buy a 3rd unit knowing I will be going pressurized eventually.

My next plan is to let the tank grow wild. See if I can make the plants outgrow the algae.

Plan 2 if that doesnt work, is to remove the mylar reflectors. Maybe I have too much light?

Oh this email sounds like a rant. Sorry ) . Just getting frustrated.

 

[nodding_dino]

it's OK...let it all out...

I ordered a pressuried CO2 kit on Wednesday, so if it's of any use, I'm more than happy to send you one of my nutrafin units to use?

 

[zig]

^^^^ Sounds like a great offer hondour

Well to quote ND the co2 is definately the weakest chink in your armour, because everything else you are doing is correct, but great offer until you save up for pressurised, but it probably the way to go at this stage.

Btw ND what did you opt for in the end?

 

[houndour]

oh you guys really think its the CO2? Are you convinced? I know I keep asking and you keep telling me the same thing.

I dont want to buy a pressurized co2 thing and find out it doesnt improve things. If you are certain then I'd buy one this weekend. It'll mean dipping into savings, but i can put it back next month I guess.

 

[nodding_dino]

I bought a Dennerle, and I'm still trying to find somewhere that sells that great looking diffuser that you posted a picture of

 

[zig]

oh you guys really think its the CO2? Are you convinced? I know I keep asking and you keep telling me the same thing.

I dont want to buy a pressurized co2 thing and find out it doesnt improve things. If you are certain then I'd buy one this weekend. It'll mean dipping into savings, but i can put it back next month I guess.

[snapback]877092[/snapback]​

Personally i would be convinced

I think you have struggled to keep the co2 stable and in most cases of algae outbreaks this is the primary cause, but i wouldnt go out and spend over £100 because of what i say, but i would be convinced that flucuating levels of co2 are the root cause of your problems, i mean if you think about it id say you rarely got to 30ppm of co2, so in my view it would be prime suspect no.1.

If i had algae and got pressurised co2 i would crank it up a bit for the first couple of weeks to somewhere between 35-40ppm and this would help also to get the balance back the tank, it would give the plants the upper hand over the algae and allow them to grow if dosing EI correctly.

But id wait for a couple of others to chip in before id make a decision but id say you wouldnt regret it, although you may have to do a bit of work to remove the existing algae by hand or even a weak bleach dip if some of the plants are badly affected, and this would obviously help things along IF you get the pressurised co2

 

[George Farmer]

Sorry to hear of your constant battle with algae Sam.

Just to reiterate what you probably already know and have been told - algae thrives in environments with fluctuating CO2 - the constant changing levels negatively affect plant growth and consequently algae can take hold.

It appears that you may not have the "best of luck" with your DIY mixtures and regime. Apart from the CO2 it looks like you have an ideal set-up. Personally I would strongly consider a pressurized system - you already know the benefits.

Just my two pence

 

[houndour]

thanks gf. I'm going to LFS tomorrow with a print out of the jbl profi 2 (see if I can price match or at least get close to make it worth my while). I've been looking at the jbl vs dennerle. I know you rated the dennerle highly, but I think I'd like the solenoid and the dennerle plus solenoid is a fair bit more than the jbl.

I did the most stupidest thing and I've infected my 5 gallon tank with the same algae as old tank. It's growing fast on the glass and sand. *bangs head on wall* but I hope it'll be easier to balance the system on such a small tank. I'm easily hitting 48ppm. But you say it's the fluctuating co2 levels? Surely its impossible to keep constant with DIY?

Not only do I have algae problems but I have 2 sick fish. My water params are perfect in respect to Ammonia and Nitrite. Even by dosing nitrates my nitrates are at around 10ppm. I don't know whats making the fish ill. I will have to post in a more general forum and do some googling.

 

[Angry_Platy]

Thats weird. I use DIY Co2 and mine fluctuates quite a bit and I haven't had an algae prob since I first planted the tank (when I got that bearded algae).....all is good now, I algae scrape every month or so

 

[houndour]

RIP dwarf gourami Came home to find the shrimp eating him.

Awful thing to say after losing a fish, but now I can do the 3 day blackout. I was going to feed my fish up a bit before I starve them for 3 days (I assume I cant feed them as Zig said no peeking). I will probably do it all tomorrow night...give the tank a thorough clean and seal it. That way I can see better if there are any gaps (being dark and turning aquarium lights on).

 

[nodding_dino]

sorry to hear about the gourami, but best of luck with the blackout...

 

[superjalami30]

I dunno houndour, sounds like something is certainly wrong.
I use the hagen DIY set-up in my 40 G tank, and my C02 levels are pretty inconsistant, I wouldnt say all over the place, but from measuring at different times during a DIY mix, my PPm has ranged between 10ppm at start up and 50ppm near the middle of the batch's life then back down to 25ppm before I change up the batch.
I've been so preoccupied with my other projects tank I've forgotten to set up another C02 system for this tank to help keep the levels more consistant.
I dont have any algae problems though, except some normal green spot algae.

Now, on the other hand, my 3 g planted tank is being overrun by green hair algae, and I suspect its a lighting issue, combined with a possible fert surplus.
I'm in the middle of experimenting with levels of ferts, c02 and lighting atm to figure out exactly what is causing the green hair algae to grow so quickly.

I read somewhere that green hair algae can be caused due to either high phosphate levels and/or high iron levels, and to correct this you should be adding more potassium to help the plants use up the phos and iron.

I dont believe phosphates alone cause algae to flourish, but who knows, maybe my 10ppm in the 40 gallon is being offset with a perfect photo period and exact fert schedule, even though I'd say both of the above are the biggest lies I've ever told.
lol

 

[houndour]

I dunno houndour, sounds like something is certainly wrong.
I use the hagen DIY set-up in my 40 G tank, and my C02 levels are pretty inconsistant, I wouldnt say all over the place, but from measuring at different times during a DIY mix, my PPm has ranged between 10ppm at start up and 50ppm near the middle of the batch's life then back down to 25ppm before I change up the batch.
I've been so preoccupied with my other projects tank I've forgotten to set up another C02 system for this tank to help keep the levels more consistant.
I dont have any algae problems though, except some normal green spot algae.

Now, on the other hand, my 3 g planted tank is being overrun by green hair algae, and I suspect its a lighting issue, combined with a possible fert surplus.
I'm in the middle of experimenting with levels of ferts, c02 and lighting atm to figure out exactly what is causing the green hair algae to grow so quickly.

I read somewhere that green hair algae can be caused due to either high phosphate levels and/or high iron levels, and to correct this you should be adding more potassium to help the plants use up the phos and iron.

I dont believe phosphates alone cause algae to flourish, but who knows, maybe my 10ppm in the 40 gallon is being offset with a perfect photo period and exact fert schedule, even though I'd say both of the above are the biggest lies I've ever told.
lol

Thanks for your comments. Well I finally admitted in another thread that I have bluegreen algae (the cyano bacteria one) and I get the impression that fluctuating co2 levels arent the cause of this, Zig said its low/non-existant nitrates when this algae takes hold. Other than the cyano one, my other algae (black brush, green hair) have both improved since I upped my CO2. I dont appear to have any green hair, and my black brush has died down a bit.

I think getting the balance right in a planted tank is so difficult. And I think everyones tanks are different, then theres the debateable accuracy of the test kits, all these variables just make it so difficult!

I hope that the pressurized CO2 will take away the main worry of maintaining the right levels of CO2. Then I'll be able to concentrate on getting the EI dosing right.

But first I need to try and get rid of this bga. Hence the 3 day blackout.

 

[zig]

good luck with it hondour, if its BGA it will work.

 

[houndour]

I've done it I'm absolutely worrying I'm going to unwrap it on thursday to find everything dead

The algae was just awful. I spent ages wiping the leaves, I literally got a sponge and wiped every vallis leaf!. I've binned the riccia. It was coated so badly it wasn't worth leaving in there. Anyone want to sell some riccia in the future? I'll pay if it's cheaper than greenline And algae free.

I'm going to black out my 5 gallon too. The amount has doubled in a day so I'm going to try and catch it early...and before theres a fish in there. I'll be gutted if the plants die after spending £25. I should imagine the anubias would be OK. Maybe the glosso, baby tears and the ivy type thing (tho that was not a permanent fixture anyway) will die. I've got some more glosso separate that hasn't touched the bga in a bucket, so maybe I can salvage some of that (cos some is turning brown now) if the glosso in the tank dies.

Too tired to black out 5 gallon tonight so thats a job for tomorrow (fish...er plantkeeping is just never ending). No sign of pressurised CO2 yet Hopefully tomorrow.

Just an after thought...I might wait a see results of 20 gallon before killing off my 5 gallon!