Pics ... Tell me what's wrong, here's my tests

[frostby]

Here's my 55.

Here's my trouble... algae of various kinds

These are all the tests I can do now...

Ammonia = 0
Nitrite = 0
PH=7.6, 7.8 (test is a little vague here)
KH = 250ppm
GH = 50ppm
Nitrate = 0-5ppm
Using the #'s above C02 works out to 10.55ppm
I use an XP2, dual 30W fluorescent lights(low light right?)
Recently added Hagan CO2

By looking at the plants(not the dirty glass) I have what I think looks like bba on the larger leaf edges. No the grassy plant and hygro, and other smaller crypt leaves, I have a brown scummy looking stuff.

Well, I can't get rid of the algae, I can't grow a healthy looking plant, the crypts grow all over, but look scary.

Last week my Nitrate test was 30ppm, did a 1/4 water change added ferts, now it's reading much lower, hummm? At that time I added flourish tabs, and dosed "leaf zone" according to directions. which contains 3% potash, and .1% iron. Maybe the plants are beginning to grow - and suck up the nitrates?

I don't want to confuse anybody, I take all suggestions very seriously - because I'm not having much luck.

What do you think too much of this, or too little of that????

 

[tbonem91]

I would check your PO4 levels as well - high PO4 seems directly related to algae as is high Fe. You want your PO4 levels between 1 and 1.5ppm and your NO3 around 15-20 ppm.

thats all I can offer, as I'm currently battling a raging algae storm in my tank

 

[rich311k]

My first thought is your N bottoming out is your first issue. I would repeat your test to double check and then try to to get them up to 15 ppm or so. Do it in two doses not all on the same day. You do need to test your P levels as well so you know where you are. At you light level the CO2 levels is not that important.

You should also clean as much as you can off and trim the leaves that are damaged or really bad. You dont want your plants to waste energy trying to repair leaves that are badly damaged.

I would cut back on the leaf zone maybe every other week and you may want to consider adding some K.

 

[frostby]

What kind of "k" do you suggest, I assume not the stuff (K20) in the leaf zone, but something else... KSo4,KCL,Kn03?

 

[rich311k]

KSO4 is what I use. Add 10 ppm twice a week and dont worry about it. It is just about impossible to overdose.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Also, K won't cause algae, so if you do a little extra on accident, you won't hurt anything.

 

[frostby]

Thanks. I am going to do as suggested! Any ideas where to start looking for economical KS04? I've heard about greg watson.... any others that might sell the stuff?


It was also suggested that my C02, so far is unnecessary@only 60W FL. I can't stand the scum that builds up the surface w/o aggitation, so I'm going to remove it and return to a sparkly aggitated water surface!!!

 

[rich311k]

You do not need the CO2. I buy all my dry ferts from Greg, I do not have any idea where else they are available.

 

[JRagg]

I just bought some ferts from Greg watson, and the prices are ridiculously cheap. I can't imagine how long that 1 lb bag of K2SO4 is going to last me, and it cost less than $3.

 

[Purrbox]

If you're looking for a source of potassium locally, you can pick up some NoSalt at the grocery store. This is KCl. I prefer to use KSO4, but I don't know of what alternative packaging it would be available under.

 

[frostby]

I have seen both - saltpeter/stump remover as well as the no - salt. I'll be going to the grocery store after work!! Um, since Potassium is most important here, what happens to the chlorine or sulfates - is one better than the other?

 

[Purrbox]

Sulfates are a micronutrient that is used by plants. I believe the Cl in KCl is actually chloride, but I'm not 100% sure. Either way it's not beneficial to plants and will be kept to a minimum through water changes. Since the sulfate can actually be used by plants there's a slight preference to using K2SO4 over KCl.

Some brands of Stump Remover are KNO3. It's great if you need to dose Nitrates and Potassium, but if you are only looking to dose Potassium or need more than you are getting from the KNO3 dosing you'll want to look at the KCl or K2SO4.

 

[czcz]

The salt from Cl- are also of concern according to some. I don't think you have to worry about that with these levels. (I dose lots of KCl as "sodium-free water softener," and only rarely consider trying K2SO4.)

How was your tank doing before adding CO2? Are you open to adding a faster growing plant, like Wisteria, to help your plants outcompete the algae? Attractive layout.

 

[frostby]

I'd be happy to add additional plants, -I haven't tried anacharis in this tank, but in the past, it dies and rots within a few days so I quit that idea, I've had some luck with the hornwort, but am not familiar with the wisteria.

The major pet stores don't carry much other than high light plants, rarely will i even see something as common as a java fern.

I'm definately in the mood to experiment, just it's hard to be patient and wait a few weeks to see changes, so it's hard to hold back and only do 1 thing at a time. I really haven't seen any difference in the plants since trying Co2, and it seems that my kh/ph ratio hasn't really changed at all since adding this system from the month prior.

So here's where this forum leaves me

1. Do I have a deficiency of "K", or do i have insufficient plants to keep the algae in check?
2. am i missing anything else?

 

[czcz]

1) Likely both. More plants always helps.
2) Your NO3 is dropping quickly, likely in part from CO2 injection, and as Rich suggested having some KNO3 from GregWatson.com/salt-peter/Grants or Greenlight stuimp remover is a good idea. Better to bump up your levels to ~15ppm or so.

This plus tweaking will likely get you where you want to go. You're right about having to wait to evaluate changes, but it's better to make changes slowly for our pets anyway.

When you have time, suggest reading through Tom Barr's Non-CO2 methods, and consider removing CO2 to limit uptake/maintenence. Having K and NO3 (and PO4) on hand will still help, but you can add this in part by feeding the fish.

 

[frostby]

This stuff is so overwhelming - once I tried it and failed. I'm getting the general idea here isn't to stick to a specific water parameter, but to find a balance, to keep the proper ratio's of fertilizers. This is much trickier than testing for only nitrates and dosing only nitrates!!

This was my mistake, I was thinking that I had either I had too little or too much of any one thing, I am now seeing how just a change in LIGHT, can require all other parameters to change!!!

I hope that more can learn from my mistakes here!
Thanks everyone!