What Would You Dose?

[Ps3Steveo]

I have a 60 litre and a 35 litre, how much TPN+ and Excel would you dose if you had no algae and again if you had green dot algae, its only on my rocks tho??? Any ideas???

 

[JenCliBee]

I have a 60 litre and a 35 litre, how much TPN+ and Excel would you dose if you had no algae and again if you had green dot algae, its only on my rocks tho??? Any ideas???

What amounts are currently dosed?... How heavy would you say the tanks were planted?... low, moderate or heavy. For me dosing really differed from tank to tank even being a similar size it was also dependant on plant mass and plant choice.


I dont think there really is a set dosage, the plants usually tell you if they are healthy.

 

[Ps3Steveo]

The plants are fine its just green dot algae on rocks, the tanks are both very heavily planted HC, pogostemon, staurogyne, crypts, different ferns? I normally dose 3ml excel in the 60 and 1.5ml in the 35 and 4 ml tpn in the 60 and 2ml in the 35.

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Anyone??? Even if someone has a good idea of a base dose to start over with then I could build up increasing by a percentage every couple weeks depending on algae, also any good signs to look out for with the plants to know what to increase more than the other?

 

[JenCliBee]

Your dosing seems fine tbh, GSA is often related to PO4 and or co2. Upping the TPN could possibly help or dose PO4 independently if possible. Having enough flow to distribute may also help.

What's your regime regarding water changes?

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Twice weekly 40% flow is a 600lph Hydor so plently of flow, this is what's troubling me, it would be on more than just rocks if it was flow related.

 

[JenCliBee]

Twice weekly 40% flow is a 600lph Hydor so plently of flow, this is what's troubling me, it would be on more than just rocks if it was flow related.

GSA is not usually attributed to flow, as i mentioned above.. it is usually a PO4/co2 related issue.... the amount of water changes could be potentially causing the problem, the co2 is increasing each time you do a water changes and as time passes by the plants are slowly using that extra co2 and then incidentally starving to a certain degree. the levels of co2 even out and then a water change is done making the levels fluctuate again.

The addition of carbon helps but with co2 levels fluctuating on water changes... this could be why the algae is appearing aswell as a possible PO4 shortage. Smaller weekly water changes would be a better option to try and eliminate the problem.

 

[Ps3Steveo]

Ok no disrespect but I'm gonna ask if anyone else thinks this will help too just so I have a few opinions before I do it.

 

[JenCliBee]

Ok no disrespect but I'm gonna ask if anyone else thinks this will help too just so I have a few opinions before I do it.

 

[ian]

I'm with Jake 100%, PO4 is the answer to GSA. I have seen GSA clear in a few days by upping PO4. You may have to manually try and remove the majority first

 

[Ps3Steveo]

So should I dose extra phosphate separately or just do less water changes? Like 1 weekly 30%?

 

[JenCliBee]

So should I dose extra phosphate separately or just do less water changes? Like 1 weekly 30%?

Either, both or the other ..... you could keep the regime you have and just up the PO4 and see how it goes.... or just change to one 30-50% water change per week and try that..... alternatively you could do both... add extra PO4 and drop water change to once a week. Less water changes are really just to avoid as much CO2 fluctuations as possible, this can be another symptom of GSA.

Try one and see if it works, if not try another. Basically eliminate things to try and solve the problem


Out of curiosity, why are you doing two largish water changes per week?.

 

[Ps3Steveo]

I had some diatoms and now have purigen so duno why I kept doing it lol, Im gona start back with dosing 1.5ml excel + 3ml TPN in the 60 and 1ml excel + 2ml TPN in the 35 daily as of tomorrow this will be after I do a large water change after I move my driftwood tomorrow and disturb the substrate. Then 30% weekly water changes, sound like a good start?

 

[JenCliBee]

I had some diatoms and now have purigen so duno why I kept doing it lol, Im gona start back with dosing 1.5ml excel + 3ml TPN in the 60 and 1ml excel + 2ml TPN in the 35 daily as of tomorrow this will be after I do a large water change after I move my driftwood tomorrow and disturb the substrate. Then 30% weekly water changes, sound like a good start?

Sounds fine, but... im not sure what sort of side effects dropping the excel by half straight away is going to have on the plants... i would be more inclined to drop it gradually over a couple weeks rather than all in one go.

Good luck and hope you solve the problem