Can I inject liquids fertilizers under the gravel ?

[mrvincent]

Hi, I have Seachem Flourish Liquid Fertilizers series.

Can I inject them under the gravel for better performance with a seringe without the needle for better performances ? Will it work ?


Thanks

 

[sodbuster95]

You can, but I don't know that it would have any beneficial effect. If your goal is to get ferts into the substrate for root feeders, a far more effective option would be to use plant tabs in conjunction with the liquid ferts you're already using.

 

[flitabout]

You can, but I don't know that it would have any beneficial effect. If your goal is to get ferts into the substrate for root feeders, a far more effective option would be to use plant tabs in conjunction with the liquid ferts you're already using.

Ditto!!!!!

 

[mrvincent]

Thanks, i'll see where I can get those root tabs ferts.

Does anybody know why i'm starting to have BBA ? There are some a bit everywhere, but very very tiny BBAs. Thanks for any help, I don't want to be infested by this *****.

I saw on the net that lignting/co2 was probably the problem.

So here's my informations:


My PH test is no su much precise, but I think I have 11 ppm CO2 in my tank

29 gal wide
2x39w T5HO lighting
Injecting CO2 in eheim canister intake (no ammonia/nitrite spike since I do it) from my 10lbs pressurized.

 

[flitabout]

I had what I believe was hair algae and BBA. I just started bumping up dosing glut I had it up to 4x the dosing on the bottle. I also spot treated with h2o2 at 3mls per gallon twice. When I started bumping up the excel I found bba on my filter overflow and all over stuff I hadn't even realized it was on because it all turned red when it was dying. Now that isn't the traditional handling of it, and I wasn't dosing that way to get rid of it, That's what I was doing with the peroxide. I honestly just wanted to let my lights run longer. It just worked out beautifully that way.

 

[mrvincent]

I must admit I added 1.5 hours light time 4 days ago. I'm at 10hrs now.

Does peroxide harm fishs or shrimps ? I know excel harm shrimps...

 

[sodbuster95]

I must admit I added 1.5 hours light time 4 days ago. I'm at 10hrs now.

Does peroxide harm fishs or shrimps ? I know excel harm shrimps...

I'd start by dialing back the lights. Go down to 8 or even 6 hours for a while and see if the algae fades off.

As to Peroxide, 3 ml per gallon will not harm your stock. For best effect, you should not just dump it in. Squirt it slowly on the problem areas (using a bulb syringe or normal syringe minus the needle) with the filters off and then leave the filters off for 10-20 minutes.

I am not aware of excel having any harmful effect on shrimp, but I don't have shrimp, so I can't say for sure.

 

[aqua_chem]

If you're trying to inject CO2 and only getting 11 ppm, that's the place to start in my opinion. Do you have a drop checker?

 

[mrvincent]

As to Peroxide, 3 ml per gallon will not harm your stock. For best effect, you should not just dump it in. Squirt it slowly on the problem areas (using a bulb syringe or normal syringe minus the needle) with the filters off and then leave the filters off for 10-20 minutes.

I am not aware of excel having any harmful effect on shrimp, but I don't have shrimp, so I can't say for sure.

Yeah, can't double dose excel with shrimps, it already killed some of my shrimps by doing this in the past. I'm dosing a bit excel, it doesn't hurt. I'll try to dose with a serynge, I already have some at home. But there's so much small spots of BBAs... My big Java Fern is so much infested by mini BBAs...

When you talking about 3ml/gallons of peroxyd, you talking about pure peroxide ? I have 20% peroxide...


So I turn off filter, dose peroxyd on problems areas when water stop moving, and same thing for excel after ? Wich one should I dose first ?

 

[mrvincent]

If you're trying to inject CO2 and only getting 11 ppm, that's the place to start in my opinion. Do you have a drop checker?

Yeah, my drop checker is beautifull green since I changed my HOB filter for a canister Eheim classic and now injecting in the filter intake. But i'm calculating CO2 ppm with KH and PH according to the flash formula on this website. I think my API PH and KH test is not so much accurate.

I opened the needle valve to maximum for few minutes yesterday, now my drop checker is turning yellow, but fishs seems happy and this morning after the night they still happy and drop checker still yellow. I think the KH in my drop checker is lower than 4dKH° because I did myself a water solution with baking soda to try to reach 4dKH. But my API KH test is not so much accurate I think, so I bought a 4dKH solution on eBay to be sure, but I'll get it from shipping in 1 month .

I bought a cheap (16$) digital PH tester too, so I'll have more precise results with that I think.

 

[mrvincent]

I'd start by dialing back the lights. Go down to 8 or even 6 hours for a while and see if the algae fades off.

Yeah, I think I'll go back to 8hrs. I jumped from 8.5 to 10 hrs to increase growth rate, but algae seems to take more advantage of this that plants...

 

[sodbuster95]

I bought a cheap (16$) digital PH tester too, so I'll have more precise results with that I think.

Where did you find a $16 digital pH tester? The only ones I've looked at were far more expensive than $16.

 

[mrvincent]

lol

Where did you find a $16 digital pH tester? The only ones I've looked at were far more expensive than $16.

Digital Ph Meter Tester Pocket Aquarium Pool Water Wine Urine LCD Pen Monitor | eBay

It must be really cheap, I'm ready to recieve it broken

 

[sodbuster95]

Not sure how much faith I'd have in it being reliable. But, for $16, I guess it'd be worth a shot.

I'd still use the API checker occasionally to double-check your readings.

 

[mrvincent]

I'd still use the API checker occasionally to double-check your readings.

Yeah. This digital PH tester come with 2 liquid solutions for calibrating the Unit. But I just want it to be sure of my exact PH, it seems to be pretty accurate...

I checked both KH and PH with API, and double checked PH with Bromotymol blue (that came with my drop checker).

API: PH 6.7-7
BB: PH 7 - 7.5

So i'm really not sure about my PH right now, that's why I'm buying 4dKH° liquid and a digital PH tester... As you can see, I'm not sure if my KH test is accurate too, so I'm really not sure about my exact CO2 concentration.

My drop checker is yellow, but I think it's because my DIY 4dKH is less than 4dKH...

 

[aqua_chem]

The KH/pH/CO2 relationship makes some pretty optimistic assumptions when calculating co2 concentration, whereas a drop checker directly measures co2 and is much more accurate (though still flawed). Go with what your drop checker tells you, assuming your 4 dKH isn't off. Also, I pretty sure API uses bromothymol blue as their low range pH solution. The fact that you got two different readings with the same reagent implies something is hinkey.

 

[mrvincent]

The KH/pH/CO2 relationship makes some pretty optimistic assumptions when calculating co2 concentration, whereas a drop checker directly measures co2 and is much more accurate (though still flawed). Go with what your drop checker tells you, assuming your 4 dKH isn't off. Also, I pretty sure API uses bromothymol blue as their low range pH solution. The fact that you got two different readings with the same reagent implies something is hinkey.

WT* then, u're saying API low range is bromotymol blue diluated ? Maybe the initial PH of the API BB is not the same of my Drop checker initial BB...

But I don't think it's BB in the API test kit, because the color chart is not the same for the same range... At 5-8, the BB color is red/yellow to blue/purp and the API from 6 to 8 is yellow to teal...

I could try to fill the test tube full insted of half as recommanded... Maybe the result will be more lighter, but more accurate ? I'll try this tonight when I'll back home.

And I'll make again a 4dKH solution for my drop checker, while waiting for my 4dKH I've bought on eBay, just to make sure my drop checker dKH is still 4dKH...

 

[sodbuster95]

WT* then, u're saying API low range is bromotymol blue diluated ? Maybe the initial PH of the API BB is not the same of my Drop checker initial BB...

According to this, the API pH solution is simply Bromothymol Blue:

API pH Test Kit | Green Leaf Aquariums

But I don't think it's BB in the API test kit, because the color chart is not the same for the same range... At 5-8, the BB color is red/yellow to blue/purp and the API from 6 to 8 is yellow to teal...

I could try to fill the test tube full insted of half as recommanded... Maybe the result will be more lighter, but more accurate ? I'll try this tonight when I'll back home.

And I'll make again a 4dKH solution for my drop checker, while waiting for my 4dKH I've bought on eBay, just to make sure my drop checker dKH is still 4dKH...

Just my opinion, but I think you may be getting too wrapped around the idea of getting an exact pH reading (which I understand as I do the same thing). Regardless of what the reading is, it's more important that it be stable. For your purposes, I'd just focus on getting a 4 dKH solution in the drop checker and stick with that to tell you whether your CO2 levels are appropriate. The API test kit can drive you to insanity if you spend too long trying to determine exactly which color it matches.

 

[Rivercats]

You want to use Hydrogen Peroxide 3% solution. 20% HP solution is too strong.

 

[mrvincent]

You want to use Hydrogen Peroxide 3% solution. 20% HP solution is too strong.

I found some 3% peroxyde lost in a box