Help please!

[jojo75931]

I dont know whats wrong with my tank. It is like this eversince i set it up. I do have CO2.

 

[ZxC]

Diatoms. How old is the tank?

Oto cats, 1 per 5-10 gallons of water. They do wonders on this stuff.

Usually it's worse on a new tank. They will go away on there own.

Reduce lighting to 5 hours a day max, for the first few weeks while the tank establishes. How long are the lights currently on for?

Make sure CO2 is creating a full 1.0 drop in pH from degassed tank water to fully saturated tank water.

Ensure water changes are adequate and fertilizers are within decent levels. How much water do you change weekly? How and what fertilizers do you dose?

 

[Funken_A]

very hard to troubleshoot. We will need much more information..

What about fertilization schedule ? What type of fertilizers ?

What type of CO2 are using. DIY or Pressurized?

Whats your PH before lights on. What's your PH half way through CO2/Light cycle

What is your substrate ?

What type of light and how long is it on for ?

 

[jojo75931]

12 gallon long.
My pH is a round 6 ish
Pressurized
1ml of fertilizer dosage every 2 days
Light Sting Ray Planted
Fluval+Fluorite substrate
6hrs of light

 

[ZxC]

I'm not sure I was being clear enough.

How much of what exact fertilizer are you dosing?
What is the pH drop from completely degassed TANK water (measure before CO2 comes on for the day) and fully CO2 saturated water (measure 1/2 - 3/4 of the way through your photoperiod) ?

Finnex stingray or a finnex planted+ ?? I'm not familiar with a Stingray Planted....

 

[Funken_A]

12 gallon long.
My pH is a round 6 ish
Pressurized
1ml of fertilizer dosage every 2 days
Light Sting Ray Planted
Fluval+Fluorite substrate
6hrs of light

1 ml of ferts ='s about 20 drops or a 1/4 tsp I'm guessing

does your fert carry N P and micro nutrients

Usually when I start seeing algae like yours its because I am under fertilizing. Hard to make that call since you have short light period.. And 20 drops of fertilizer seems like more than enough for a 12 gallon depending on what it is.

Can you measure Nitrates to see where N is as well. This would help in knowing if you should raise or lower your fertilizers

 

[jojo75931]

I use this

 

[Funken_A]

I use thisView attachment 310568

sorry got busy yesterday


At this point we know you have good light. We know you have a decent fertilizer. We know you have Pressurized CO2

What we don't know is if your plants are using up your ferts quickly (not enough) or if there is too much. Hence my request for you to at least measure N. You may need to add more, or even less... This is something you should monitor throughout the week. By the time you get to your next water change there should be some build up of N to measure, usually around 10 ppm - 40 ppm. If you read 0 by weeks end you need more. If you read over 40ppm I would think less.

We don't' know if you are getting enough CO2 by measuring your PH before lights on and then again towards the end of the light cycle to see if your are getting a solid 1.0 PH drop indicating good CO2 saturation. If CO2 is low then some fertilizing will be wasted and would probably feed algae.

The other thing to be able to play with is light cycle / intensity. If you have a build up of fertilizer you may want to run the light a little longer. If you have 0 N to measure then your light intensity may be too strong and the plants are using up ferts to quickly. The balance with light comes from a combination of time on, and how close the light is (moving light up and down changes the overall intensity)

so basically we are back to looking for these clues. DO we have too much fert or too little, do we have enough CO2 or too little, and is our light to intense or not intense enough.

I wish it could be as simple as pointing out any one thing but its always about tweaking this and that and finding the balance for any given tank