drop checker reading

[fishdud]

I know I'm suppose to be going for a lime green but does a dark green count? Ha

 

[fort384]

That will be fine, assuming you are using 4 dKH solution in it.

 

[mfdrookie516]

A little on the low side, but will work fine. That's what is generally recommended, a nice green, but lime green works for me best. Just go with it. If you have some algae issues, crank it up a bit.

 

[fishdud]

Well its improved since I post this. Its not lime green, its still just green. And I have a lil hair algae but that's cause I think my nitrates are high

 

[fort384]

Are you dosing a trace? I would sooner connect that to hair algae than high nitrogen.

 

[mfdrookie516]

Hair algae would be a fert issue more than a co2 issue... IMO. It's GSA and BBA that you'll see more with lower co2 with higher light, but GSA can also be caused by nutrient imbalances. Are you dosing? You're probably either dosing too much, or not enough (especially if you're not dosing)


EDIT: Great minds think alike?

 

[fishdud]

I'm dosing seachem flourish every Wednesday and Sunday, like how it says

 

[fort384]

Flourish Trace or Flourish comprehensive, or what? There are several varieties of flourish.

My guess is, if you are dosing it twice a week and it is trace or comprehensive, you might be dosing too much.

What size tank, how much are you dosing, what kind of lights?

 

[fishdud]

I'm dosing a cap full of comprehensive and its Saturday, not Sunday, sorry. And its a 36g bowfront with t5ho Nova extreme fixture, 48 watts

 

[fort384]

I would do as much manual removal of the hair algae as possible, and cut back to a 1/2 capful each dose instead of a full dose. That is not a ton of lighting on a 36, so your plants may not be uptaking it all that quickly. What kind of plants are in the tank, and approx how many? A pic would work too.

 

[fishdud]

Well I did big maintenance on my tank today since ima be gone. And the plants are, amazon swords, Java moss, anacharis, anubias, marimo moss ball and moneywort. Oh and water wisteria

 

[fishdud]

Another pic

 

[fort384]

A couple of those plants look like non-aquatic plants.

None of those plants will uptake nutrients extremely fast (at least, not trace nutrients). I would cut the dose by ½ and go from there.

 

[fishdud]

They all are except for the three gold ribbon plants. I just left em in there, they're not doing any harm and are growing so I thought what the heck. And would cutting back cause an imbalance of nutrients? Wont I get more algae?

 

[fort384]

No, I think you have too much nutrients... I doubt you are bottoming out on anything in flourish comprehensive.

 

[fishdud]

Ohh really? Too much? Wow never knew that, thanks. I'll cut back. And I know some kind of algae eater cleans that up, Siamese? Right? And what kinds of liquids do you recommend I should dose?

 

[jetajockey]

I agree with fort, your tank isn't planted heavily enough to warrant a strict dosing regimen.

One of my first moves would be to remove the dracaena ribbon plants and fill out the tank with at least 3 to 4 times as many plants as are in there currently. I'd also supplement the gravel with root tabs and stop dosing all together until you start seeing deficiencies or stunting, so you can get a good idea of how much/how often to dose.

 

[fort384]

With your plants and lights, I wouldn't be dosing much. Comprehensive is probably all you need to dose. Should have everything you need. Dosing excel wouldn't hurt, even in addition to your co2 injection.

Siamese Algae Eaters will eat hair algae and bba. Amano shrimp will as well. But, don't rely on the animals to keep it clean -- you need to get your nutrients balanced.

EDIT: Jeta's idea is fine as well - you could stop dosing altogether for awhile, and wait for deficiencies, if any to show up. You aren't growing a lot of demanding plants, and your lights aren't over-powering, so you may not have a need to dose anything at all.

 

[fishdud]

I was planning on removing the gold ribbon ones and replacing em with a nice driftwood. And I can't dose excel, the anacharis and Java moss are sensitive to it and will melt. I'll just cut back, and also get a sae for while I'm gone. Oh and I have seachem tabs which are doing my swords better than the ones I had before

 

[jetajockey]

I grow both anacharis and java moss and use excel regularly, so take that for what it's worth. I've heard of it melting these plants along with vals, but I think the chance is reduced if you use less than full strength doses and premix them for even distribution.

Algae eaters will only do so much, if the algae is still growing, they will never keep up. That, and some have a better work ethic than others. I have some that just wait for the pellets to drop and then have at them, otherwise they sit around lazily

A large colony of RCS do great vs algae though, once you get the root of the problem settled. I don't know if they'd be compatible with the rest of your tank stock, but I love RCS.