What is this and how to stop it?

[Kaneu]

Hi. I have a newly set up aquarium that is 75gal that is fully planted with new plants and driftwood and rock. I am wondering what type of algae is this? I am still trying to figure out perfect lighting, ferts and co2 to inject. I have no fish in the tank since i am still cycling it so trying to get peramiters right before adding another part of the equation. My plants i hope are growing... Like i said, only been a little over a week. But already seeing this on my driftwood.
Any help in identifying and advice on poasible ways to correct it would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Barliman]

That's a fungus that often appears on driftwood in new tanks. I've seen most often on mopani wood. It's fugly, but it will vanish eventually. Also, I've discovered ghost shrimp regard it as a tasty snack. I put a few in a tank and they turned into little lawnmowers. The fungus was gone the next day.

 

[Kaneu]

Oh ok. I was wondering if it was blackbeard algae because it was really dark when i took it out of the tank. But it is only on that driftwood. And yup, Its mopani. I do have some fuzz algae growing on roots but i have read that thats normal for a new tank. I cant put any fish/inverts in the tank yet because i just ran water tests and everything was up. So its good cause tank is definitly cycling. But not inhabitable yet.

 

[Kaneu]

So here is another thing happening in my tank with some of my carpet plants and im wondering if anyone has seen this and if it will go away or if the plant is dieing and i need to just pluck it.
The plant in question is a Staurogyne repens*
Is this something that the plant will grow back from or qould it be a good idea to just pluck it from my tank?
Any advice would be great.

 

[Barliman]

So here is another thing happening in my tank with some of my carpet plants and im wondering if anyone has seen this and if it will go away or if the plant is dieing and i need to just pluck it.
The plant in question is a Staurogyne repens*
Is this something that the plant will grow back from or qould it be a good idea to just pluck it from my tank?
Any advice would be great.
View attachment 312982View attachment 312983

How new are the plants in the tank? If they were grown above water by the grower, they could be melting and transitioning to a submerged form.

 

[King Fisher]

Definitely looks like melting as Barliman pointed out.

 

[Kaneu]

Definitely looks like melting as Barliman pointed out.

I thought they were melting too so i left them in the tank for awhile back. But it looks like they are straight up dieing as i am seeing zero new growth. I was unsure if it was due to my lack of lighting so i added some more LED lights but now im wondering if I jumped the gun on that.
And now i am seeing it on all of my repens plants with very little new growth.

 

[goatnad]

i would agree this looks like melt. that or did you do a peroxide or excel treatment?

 

[Kaneu]

i would agree this looks like melt. that or did you do a peroxide or excel treatment?

I have been using metride14 as replacment for excell. I have read many people swear by it so i wanted to try that. I have been dosing daily to every other day of close to about 20mls. About 2 cap fills.
If I did the math right, 20mls is good for up to 80 gals. And i have a heavily planted tank that im wanting to maintain. I also have pressurized co2.
I hope i have been dosing the right amount of that.

 

[King Fisher]

If it's melting and not something else, just be patient with it and give it some time before you yank it out.

 

[Kaneu]

So an update with my tank and the straurogyne repens in my tank.
As far as the melting goes. Just about every leaf on the plants affected have died off but the stem is still healthy. I have left the stems in the substrate and they are SLOWLY growing new leaves. How ever it is hard to tell if they are healthy or not.
Algae in my tank is about non existent. It could be the lighting and co2 adjustments i have made as well has the hefty clean up crew i have. I am going to continue to watch the repens and see if they are in fact returning to life or if i should just buy new plants and yank out the stems.
I do have a quwstion if anyone can tell me what is happening to my chain sword leves. They are melting but in a way I am unfamiliar with. Has anyone seen this or would you happen to know what deficiency i have in my tank for this to happen?

 

[King Fisher]

Looks like typical melting but if they stay yellowish it could be an iron deficiency.

 

[Kaneu]

Looks like typical melting but if they stay yellowish it could be an iron deficiency.

Well considering all that was new growth in tank, i.e. not originally planted, i will go with iron deficiency. I have been doseing with thrive while doing research on dry ferts but may have to get a bottle of iron in the mean time and see if that helps.
Thanks king.

 

[King Fisher]

Thrive contains iron. I use it myself. Hopefully ZXC chimes in here or PM him. He's the plant guru.

 

[Kaneu]

Thrive contains iron. I use it myself. Hopefully ZXC chimes in here or PM him. He's the plant guru.

Ill have to pm him

 

[ZxC]

Ill have to pm him

Thanks for the PM.

Now, answer me these please:

Tank size + dimensions.
EXACT lighting setup - brand / model / pictures + length they are on each day.
Substrate.
How much Thrive you are dosing and how many times a week you are dosing it.
2 measurements of pH of the tank (1 measurement before CO2 comes on, and 1 measurement 10 minutes before CO2 goes off).
kH and gH of the tank.
Water source.
Weekly water change scheduled, both % changed and how often.
Age of the tank.

Generally you will see some melting, S. repens is known for that. I have had it happen but it would recover... Just keep removing the melted plant tissue as it does no good for the rest of the tank. The chain sword looks like Metricide burn / melt. Too much will melt chain sword... ask me how I know.

If you could give me the info I asked for above, I can help out more.

 

[Kaneu]

Ok.
Also, i forgot to mention earlier that some of the long leef plants are Sagittaria subulata, or sag dwarf grass. As well as chain sword and s. Repens. All my stemp plants are growing like weeds. (In a good way though)

The tank size is standard 75gals. 42" long, 18" deep and 18" tall.

I have 2 finnex planted+ 24/7 CC 48" lights that i have reduced to 70% max lighting each. With the customizable 24 hour settings, i have it come on at 9am, with a 3hr sunrise setting until noon where is it at almost max (70% each, except green light which is at 20%) until 3pm. at 3pm the green goes up to 70% so both lights are at max. however the lights are same brand and verson, the model is slightly different so my second light has "true red" lights with a few diodes set aside as red diodes. and it sits slightly higher then the other light. i will attach a pic of the boxs that show the different versions of the light. Pictures of the lights and reflection of diode differences attached.

Substrate is eco complete black as base layer between 1-3.5inchs deep. Blackdimond blasting sand as a cap layer about an inch thick through out. I have been putting seachem root tabs in the blasting sand as well.

I dose thrive+ every other day at 8 pumps.

With before and after pH measurement, i work swing shift 5 days a week so the only time i can really check this is on weekends... And today is Monday. But I know my drop checker never really changes color but I do have it placed on the far side of the inlet/outlet of the filter. I will do ph measurement of after as soon as i can. However when i do check pH usually in the morning or late at night after work (1 or 2am) it is around 6.5-6.8 using the api drop test kit. Although oddly I checked ph before water change saturday and it was around 7-7.2? Last measurement of kH was around 3-4 and gH was around 4-5 This was on Saturday before water change.

As far as water changes go, I use 2 44gal brute trash cans that are connected by bulk heads and a 3/4" pvc so water can flow between the 2. I have a pump with a tube that flows from 1 can to another to make a circulating current so particles dont all go to one trash can. I have found this set up to work well and i get about 2 water changes from it. Picture attached. The water is plumbed from an RO unit and drops into the top with a float valve. When it is the night before i do a water change i add buffers. About 30g of equalibrium. 40-42g of alkaline buffer and 28-30g acid buffer. I try to do water changes on the weekends. Around 40gals a change so slightly over 50%. Tds of new water is averages 250.
Tank is about 3 months now. I will attach a picture of the day off instalation and a picture of it now. To show growth and areas in question of melting.

Also just now i have noticed small holes in my tiger lotus leaves but only on one when i was removing as much as the melt that i could.
I was thinking, metricide melt could be a possibility as i have dosed with metricide 14. However after doing research and reading through a few articles, i decided i would go without it i just sont want to risk overdosing. So i stopped dosing that around 2 weeks ago. 2 water changes have happen since i have stopped dosing.

Sorry for the long post. I hope this information helps to pinpoint what i might be doing wrong.

 

[Kaneu]

..... Not sure why it doubles every picture i send... ?

 

[ZxC]

Okay so,

Lighting is strong enough to warrant 30ppm of CO2 in the water. That would = 1.0 to 1.3 drop in pH from using CO2.

Measure before the CO2 comes on for the day, and then measure just before the CO2 shuts off for the day. You should invest in a cheap ($10 - $20 pH pen from amazon) for easy measurements. A drop of 1.0 up to 1.3 is ideal. Drop checker should be lime green - yellow.

Throw the equilibrium in the trash, it adds way too much K. Thrive contains enough K, you are dosing it correctly and the tank looks to be using the ferts no problem

Instead of equilibrium, use CaSO4 and MgSO4 (GLA, amazon etc. have them).

Dose CaSO4 to yield 30ppm Ca
Dose MgSO4 to yield 10ppm Mg

This will yield you about 7 or so degrees of gH.

For kH, target 0.5 degrees using KHCO3 (can buy from GLA / amazon). This will add way less K than Equilibrium.

Dose these 3 compounds into your trash cans, use this:

https://rotalabutterfly.com/nutrient-calculator.php

To calculate how much you need to dose. Input your 40 gallons worth of water (not your tank water volume).

Keep the same Thrive / water change / lighting schedule. Ditch the root tabs, Seachem tabs are 90% + inert ingredients. Build your own with Osmocote+ granular fertilizer and size 00 gel capsules.

 

[Kaneu]

Ok thanks for the quick response. I am doing research now about the products you mentioned and will order them asap.

So just to clarify, i use the 2 44gal trash cans and get about 80gals of water. Enough for 2 water changes. I drain down as much as possible after second water change the fill with new RO water so it is like starting over with dosing. So with 80gals of RO water, i need to add the CaSO4 & MgSO4 for the hardness. Then to add the KHCO3 for the kH value? Also what do i use to attempt to hit a target pH with this route?

Then i use that calculator to target the amount stated with these dry ferts in my trash cans before water changes? So that calculator is how i find out how much to dose in order to get the target 30ppm Ca and 10ppm Mg?

Just want to make sure i have the right idea