Not sure what to do.

[Rosenweiss]

Thanks so much guys! Plan: reduce photoperiod to 7 hours and start dosing excel with Leaf Zone.

Good luck planties.

 

[mudraker]

Here is a great suggestion from Tom Barr - who is arguably the world's greatest authority on aquatic plants.

He suggests using Osmocote for DYI root tabs for macro dosing.

I love this part. He calls them Fertcicles!

You get the Osmocote (time release fertilizer pellets for gardens that are available on the cheap just about anywhere).

You take an icecube tray, put a 1/4 tsp of the pellets in the bottom, add enough water to cover, and then freeze.

Once frozen, simple insert the fertcicle at the bottom of your substrate under the plants and there you are!

I just got some Friday and am going to try it later this week.

This is an expensive hobby and I'm always looking for less expensive ways to improve my tanks.

 

[Rosenweiss]

haha! That sounds like fun, but I'm surprised it doesn't freeze the roots!

 

[allaboutfish]

the diy Co2 costs less then 10 bucks or around it

 

[Rosenweiss]

Seriously? how do you make it? Would that be enough for a 29g? What about the CO2 timers/regulators/kH test kits and all that? That would drive it way up...

 

[allaboutfish]

yea. you dont need a timer or Kh test just eventually get a kh test if you wanna monitor the Co2 and here's a good article
http://www.kwas.ca/Articles/article3.pdf

 

[mudraker]

I did DIY for over a year.

It takes a lot of dedication and was very, very frustrating to get going. And the cost of sugar (at least where I live) got really expensive.

You really need two bottles of it going to get the levels high enough in a 29 gallon. One every other week to keep CO2 levels from bouncing up and down, which also contributes to algae growth.

DIY improved my plants, no doubt, but I still fought algae problems until I got regulated.

 

[Rosenweiss]

Meh.... that doesn't sound so good. Maybe we better hold off until we can afford to just buy pressurized...

 

[roydooms]

If you ever decide to get a CO2 system, mudraker has a great thread on how to set up a CO2 system. Check the stickies.

 

[allaboutfish]

there's also a 30 dollar one that has a bubble ladder on amazon by nitrafin i think

 

[Rosenweiss]

All right. Well, thanks, we'll take it into consideration.=]

 

[mudraker]

I don't want to discourage anyone from trying DIY because it can work and if done right, can be done inexpensively in the short term.

The biggest problem is that it takes a lot work not only to set up, but requires tons of upkeep and does get expensive in the long run.

there's also a 30 dollar one that has a bubble ladder on amazon by nitrafin i think

This one has pros and cons too. I bought one too, trying to save bucks. It runs just like DIY - sugar and yeast. Basically, for 30 bucks (or whatever) you get a cannister that is already airtight instead of having to try to make a soda bottle airtight. That is where a lot of people run into problems, myself included.

Also, for a thirty gallon tank, you need two of these Nutrafin systems to get enough CO2 to make any kind of a difference. That makes your investment around $60 and you still have to supply the sugar. It comes with two doses of yeast, which you will later also have to supply yourself.

You can get a milwaukee regulator for around $70. Prices of CO2 cannisters vary greatly from area to area.

Avoid those disposable CO2 cartridge systems. I bought two different ones (again trying to save money) and both regulators began to leak after a week or so and wasted both time and money.

I probably spent about $200 over the course of a year and half trying to save money and all I did was make my tank yoyo back and fourth, grow a lot of algae, and barely kept my plants alive and wasted a lot of cash.

I just hope to save others this kind of expense and grief!

 

[Rosenweiss]

Thanks so much mudraker--your advice has been invaluable. Since the point of this thread was to get rid of algae, I don't know if I want to risk increasing it by dosing DIY Co2. I also didn't factor in the cost of having to replace the bottles multiple times a month or year.

 

[mudraker]

Frankly, I'd go the Excel route and look into some pond snails to help control algae.

With Excel, you can spot treat algae. Use a dropper, sirenge, turkey baster, pippet, whatever, and squirt it directly onto the most infected leafs.

Also, that poor ludwigia will probably not do well without all the expensive goodies. You might try stipping off the infected leaves and letting the remaining stems float on the surface. I had better luck doing that than planting it, even in a lowlight tank. Just a personal experience with ludwigia, I have no scientific basis to back that up with.