Losing the battle

[toaduck]

I have a 20 gallon long with the following plants.
2 appongeton vulvaceous
Staurogyne repens
Dwarf sag
Java fern and moss
Red tiger lotus
Wisteria

I use diy co2 and have increased to 2 two liters reactors. I diffuse with a power head. I also have an hob filter. I use 2 satellite plus led fixtures. I light for 6 hours. Only two of those hours are at full power. The rest is adjusted lower.

I've been dosing EI for one week. I now have an outbreak of bba (I think, see picture).

Now, I do understand from what I've read that if you have bba you need to increase co2, however I think I've maxed out what I can get out of diy.....unless someone has some tips for me to get more out of diy. Getting bottled co2 and regulator is not an option right now.

I know dip checkers are not reliable but it stays lime green and my ph is 1.2 full points lower.
My kh is 3 and the charts day I'm at 36 ppm. Again I know those aren't reliable either.

Questions

Can someone give me guidance on getting more out of my diy co2.

What next. Any advice.

 

[dcutl002]

I saw your post on planted tank. Uh, I would try Overdosing with Flourish Excel. Maybe twice the prescribed dose. Maybe someone else will chime in.


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[toaduck]

I saw your post on planted tank. Uh, I would try Overdosing with Flourish Excel. Maybe twice the prescribed dose. Maybe someone else will chime in.


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I forgot to mention that I already do that also. I'm injecting on plants with a syringe every morning.

 

[dcutl002]

Is it helping?


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[toaduck]

Well it's hard to tell. Like I said I'm only a week into this. Those plants are only a week old in the tank but if you look at that java moss, it's obliterated already. The Staurogyne repens look awful. I'm wanting advice on how to continue before the tanks a mess. I thought 6 hours of light was pretty good and not to much but I guess my plants are telling me other wise. I just wish I could get more out of my co2 without having to go pressurized. I tried a glass diffuser and it didn't seem to be enough so I'm trying the mist method with the power head but I don't think it's any higher. Ph change is the same in ratio as when I was using the glass diffuser. I keep my water really high to prevent water disturbance from my HOB filter.

 

[Thumper828]

From what I understand,..its the inconsistency of the co2 that brings on the bba. How often do you change your mix?

 

[toaduck]

From what I understand,..its the inconsistency of the co2 that brings on the bba. How often do you change your mix?

Once every 7-10 days. As soon as I see the bubble count drop a little.

 

[Thumper828]

Do you alternate your bottles or change them at the same time?

 

[toaduck]

Do you alternate your bottles or change them at the same time?

I have been changing them together but am going to try alternating.

 

[Thumper828]

Do that,..put check valves in between them so you don't loose pressure in the one your not changing. It doesn't say what type of HOB you are using but you could put your diffuser under the intake. That would really increase your dissolution...and the powerhead would help with the distribution.

 

[toaduck]

Do that,..put check valves in between them so you don't loose pressure in the one your not changing. It doesn't say what type of HOB you are using but you could put your diffuser under the intake. That would really increase your dissolution...and the powerhead would help with the distribution.

I'm using an aquaclear hob.

I have the co2 line in the intake of the power head and that chops the bubbles up and spits them out.

So put that power head underneath the hob instead of on the opposite side of tank?

 

[Brookster123]

Plants will often melt a bit at first. I've has mushy mound s come back something fierce.. dose the excel at 1ml/gal.. and spot treat with h202 up to 1ml/gal.. using root tabs? Stagger the lighting period so it's 3 hours with just one light and 3.5 hours with both lights until you achieve a balance.

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[toaduck]

Plants will often melt a bit at first. I've has mushy mound s come back something fierce.. dose the excel at 1ml/gal.. and spot treat with h202 up to 1ml/gal.. using root tabs? Stagger the lighting period so it's 3 hours with just one light and 3.5 hours with both lights until you achieve a balance.

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Hey brooks, yea I'm using osmicote tabs.

I finished the arduino and it works awesome. It controls both lights at the same time soI may just start using 60% power with 1 less hour. I'll keep experimenting.

 

[Thumper828]

I'm using an aquaclear hob.

I have the co2 line in the intake of the power head and that chops the bubbles up and spits them out.

So put that power head underneath the hob instead of on the opposite side of tank?

Oh my bad,.. I thought you had a diffuser under your powerhead.

 

[Brookster123]

I agree with everything Raymond said in tpt as well.. great info there

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[aqua_chem]

My recommendations would be:


Reduce light. I would probably either do both at 50% or one at 100%. No reason to mess around with gradients or changing intensities, that just muddies the water unnecessarily. Once everything is going well, you can experiment with this.

Agree with alternating DIY CO2 bottles, changing 1x every week would probably be a great start.

Consider using H2O2 to spot treat algae that's already there. I prefer it to H2O2 because it's a harsher, but no so much as to be toxic to plants, though you may tread lightly with it on moss. As always make sure you are dosing it correctly (no current, point blank, dark/dim if reasonable but don't fuss with the light too much).

Experiment with powerhead/HOB placement. I honestly wouldn't futz with it too much, as it may or may not be contributing at this point. It's great advice for the cyano that crops up in SW but only decent advice in FW.

 

[toaduck]

Plants will often melt a bit at first. I've has mushy mound s come back something fierce.. dose the excel at 1ml/gal.. and spot treat with h202 up to 1ml/gal.. using root tabs? Stagger the lighting period so it's 3 hours with just one light and 3.5 hours with both lights until you achieve a balance.

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So 20 ml (being my tank is 20 gallon) h2o2 is not too hard on livestock? That's everyday day?

 

[Brookster123]

Shouldn't be.. just kill the glow for 20 min prior to..

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