I hate my 29G, LOL Pics 10/2/06

[7Enigma]

Lonewolfblue,

I see you are running pressurized at very high levels. Can you tell me if/when you shut off your CO2? Do you having it running 24/7 or does it turn off with your lights. I think adding more CO2 right now (or a better diffuser which is essentially the same thing) is the WORST thing you could do.

I've posted before about my concerns of running low pH levels in planted tanks. The nitrifying bacteria do not metabolize ammonia and nitrIte effectively at pH levels below 6.4. If you have a pH level of close to 6.0 during the lighted periods, you will drop during lights out.

In my thread about the DIY reactor you also mention that you see pearling until near midnight in your tank. Does this mean you are still injecting until this time? If so, then I would wager a guess your algae/bacteria problem is due to ammonia present in the tank during this non-lighted but high CO2 and fert level time. This would coincide with why it seems to grow like crazy overnight but not during the day.

I would cut your CO2 out at night, and for now would cut it right at or before lights out so that you do not have elevated CO2 levels and thus lower pH during this time. Long term, depending on your KH, I might think of bumping it up another degree or 2 to prevent the low pH levels during the day. Personally I like to keep my tank above 6.4 at all times, but if it drops a bit during the day that is fine, but I want my beneficial bacteria ready to rumble at lights out.....

HTH,

justin

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Actually, the pearling til midnight is in my 75G, not the 29G. It has BBA problems which I'm fixing, was brought on when I treated the tank with meds. But I think I'm getting the upper hand there now.

As for the 29G, CO2 goes on and off with the lights, where the CO2 is on a controller on the 75G, running 24/7. No algae in the 75G other than the BBA which I'm fixing. Just wondering if I should leave the CO2 on 24/7 in the 29G, wonder how that will affect the tank. I do have plenty of surface aggitation as well, as I'm using pressurized and it's easy to maintain the high levels without increasing the CO2 a whole lot.

 

[7Enigma]

Actually, the pearling til midnight is in my 75G, not the 29G. It has BBA problems which I'm fixing, was brought on when I treated the tank with meds. But I think I'm getting the upper hand there now.

As for the 29G, CO2 goes on and off with the lights, where the CO2 is on a controller on the 75G, running 24/7. No algae in the 75G other than the BBA which I'm fixing. Just wondering if I should leave the CO2 on 24/7 in the 29G, wonder how that will affect the tank. I do have plenty of surface aggitation as well, as I'm using pressurized and it's easy to maintain the high levels without increasing the CO2 a whole lot.

Whoops, didn't know you had MTS. I would recommend for now not keeping it on overnight since your pH is already so low. I can't imagine the pH going lower would do anything good for the tank, specifically the bacteria.

I'd recommend feeding in the morning as your sole feeding. This should help limit the amount of ammonia being produced during not lit periods, and possibly helping to limit the unwanted algae/bacteria growth.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Yup, I have MTS in my 55G, 29G, and 75G.

As for the ph, it's about 6.2. Sometimes reaches 5.8, lol. And my baby Bolivians and GBR's are doing awsome, as well as the tetras. Otos are doing well too.

 

[7Enigma]

I meant MTS as in multiple tank syndrome, not the snails. I was confusing your large planted tank with your smaller one.

It's not the fish I'm worried about, its the nitrifying bacteria that will slow their metabolism greatly at those low pH levels.

What is your KH?

 

[GlitcH]

Two words: POND SNAILS!!

 

[7Enigma]

No way, your telling me you have a squadron of pond snails that only eat algae and don't touch the plants? I've heard that nerite snails will do what you are describing but I thought pond snails will eat any and everything in their path!?!

Care to ship me some of these magical beings?

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Both my gh and kh are 60.

It's rare the ph goes to 5.8 though. I try to maintain it at 6.2 overall.

 

[7Enigma]

That's low enough to easily increase by 2-3 degrees that if you don't mind, the plants won't mind. This should help to keep your pH higher during lighted periods which might help out in the dark periods (don't know what kind of lag time the bacteria take to get back to full metabolism when the pH goes back up).

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Well, I couldn't catch the female in my 29G that I wanted, lol. but caught 2 others for the single male in the breeder tank. She's so good looking, lol. Not only does she have blue speckles at the black spot, but also has some major gold speckles as well. Looks so awsome. She's one of the babies I raised. So I ended up moving 2 smaller ones. Wish I could have caught her, lol. She's just too darn smart, lol.

 

[7Enigma]

Umm, did you mean that to be posted in another thread???

 

[czcz]

I had it at 65W and the stuff just grew that much faster. The higher light seems to stunt the growth til night time, where it does it's growing.

You know better than I do of course, but I think this is coincidence. I do not think algae -- except maybe diatoms (technically not algae) -- will be stunted by 130w CF over 29gal, and your observation is from something else. FWIW, I still think you should limit light, and that one 65w bulb should be plenty and that the Crypts will keep lots of color in shade if you want to slightly rearrange.

FWIW, I think your plan of floating Anacharis is good. After the plants grow out you should have lots of plant mass with the slow growers, and should be able to remove them.

Also fwiw, I have similar stuff everytime I let nitrates bottom out. I seriously doubt this is the case in your tank, but one of my gurus reports it with heavy fish stocking and too much nitrate. Something to consider.

7Enigma, fwiw I don't find pond snails eat sensitive plants. I find they eat most anything if its dying, but doubt they'll seriously dent LWB's stuff. I do find most pest snails a great clean-up crew.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Actually, no, lol. This is the correct thread, as she's still in my 29G. She was just faster than me, lol. (and smarter... 8O )

I meant MTS as in multiple tank syndrome, not the snails. I was confusing your large planted tank with your smaller one.

It's not the fish I'm worried about, its the nitrifying bacteria that will slow their metabolism greatly at those low pH levels.

What is your KH?

Oh, forgot to mention, I have 8 tanks, LOL

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Well, if not one thing it's another, lol. I treated some java moss and placed it on a floating feeding ring for a temporary surface plant. I did a 5 minute dip in Excel. The moss is doing great, but when I dumped the Excel in the tank, which I knew was an over-dose, my tank today is now cloudy white, lol. And all the algae is melting, lol. I think I put too much in, lol. Going to monitor my levels closely, so far no nitrite or ammonia. And the fish are looking great as usual, still playing their normal games with each other and the Feed Me game with me, lol. And the plants have somewhat perked up too. Will see how things are tomorrow. I hope this OD wipes out the algae, lol.

Edit:
Think I found the source of the cloudy water. There was a dead fish behind my spraybar. Looked all around, and no other dead fish. I believe it was one of my Blue Flame Tetras.

 

[7Enigma]

I'd kill the lights for a day just to be sure no residual ammonia is around that is undetectable by our tests, but enough for algae to grow. I think your Excel overdose probably saved you from a bought with GW or other algae. Perfect timing!

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Woke up this morning, clear as a bell. Algae is looking awful, lol, melting away. Wish I had time for cleaning, but got to work.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Well, now that you seen my before pics, here's some after pics. I did a major cleaning, and redid several things on the tank. Here's what I did...

70% PWC
Cleaned filter sponges and floss and fine pads, left ceramic cylinders alone, they looked pretty clean, no clogging.
Removed filter intake and output tubing and inline heater.
Cleaned out all tubes and inline heater.
Reinstalled tubing, removed 1 intake section so the intake is a little higher in the tank.
Installed spraybar vertically in the left corner, instead of horizontally across the top.
(Many Thanks to whoever it was that gave me the idea on the spraybar. It works awsome, and have overall better circulation. I have the spraybar pointed across the back of the tank and not to the front of the tank.)
Removed Viewtainer clutter.
Placed MaxiJet Powerhead next to the XP2 intake.
Put a 3" Limewood airstone on the end of the CO2 tubing.
Placed Limewood directly under the 2 intakes, filter and powerhead.
The canister disolves CO2.
The powerhead sprays the CO2 mist throughout the tank.
A second powerhead, the one used with the viewtainer I had, directed at the surface for aggitation and to kick the CO2 mist that's rising in the water back down into the tank. Works great.
And rearranged a few plants to get everything to work. Will need to redesign the tank, as the plants are just randomly placed til I get everything in order and figure out what will go where.

Here's a couple pics....
You will still see some algae damage, but the tank is now hopefully in full recovery mode.

The things on the java fern, are those new plantlets with algae covering the roots?

 

[Glenc]

Yep, those are new plantlets on your java fern, let them get a bit bigger and you will soon have a new java fern to plant. Glad to see you have knocked the algea back, tank is looking good.

 

[maxwell1295]

Nice recovery!

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Question, in the 4th pic down, what is that crypt, if you can tell. It's the one low to the ground, and similar in color as the Beckettii to the right of it. There's another one between the 2 Beckettii's. Is it just a baby Beckettii, or is it something else? It's one that I got in that aquabid auction. If it's a Becketti, then do you think 4 beckettii's is too much for a 29G? LOL.

Also, what would be the best placement for the Beckettii? Doesn't look like it would be a good backgrond plant, as it likes to spread out more than grow up. I'm thinking a 29G is still too small for it, lol.