My PPS-Pro experiment

[OneTwoRedBlue]

Hah, yeah would have been a little bit of everything then. Filter clean, filter floss replacement, dying algae, some filter bacteria killed by H2O2

Sent using Aquarium Advice app

 

[OneTwoRedBlue]

It's been a while.

I stopped posting in this thread because I got frustrated and felt like I wasn't making any progress - despite my best efforts the plants didn't grow well and collected a lot of algae.

But on the 31st of July I set up a CO2 system and since then I have seen a marked improvement in plant growth.

These six are from May 25 to July 28. Little growth, worsening BBA:


July 31, the day I set up the CO2


August 13


August 21


(picture limit)

 

[OneTwoRedBlue]

August 28


September 11


For the first time I think I'm going to have to do some pruning

 

[Fresh2o]

Congrats on the progress! Looks like the plants are responding very well to the addition of CO2.
As for the air stones, you might want to consider either removing them or running them on a timer set to ON only in the evening hours. While on during the day (rather, when the CO2 is being injected) it will help drive CO2 out of the water by surface movement.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[Delapool]

For the first time I think I'm going to have to do some pruning

Congrats, liking the shots.

(Is that driftwood in there?)

 

[Caliban07]

Congrats on the co2 system. The benefits of adding co2 cannot be matched.

Keep posting. Even if things are not going your way. We have to share our struggles as well as our achievements. We can all take something from the information whether positive or negative.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[OneTwoRedBlue]

Congrats on the progress! Looks like the plants are responding very well to the addition of CO2.
As for the air stones, you might want to consider either removing them or running them on a timer set to ON only in the evening hours. While on during the day (rather, when the CO2 is being injected) it will help drive CO2 out of the water by surface movement.

Thanks Fresh2o! The tank is in my office but right before I set up the CO2 I was sent to a client site and have been there for the last month and a half. My colleagues kindly feed the fish and keep an eye on them but I'm not around enough for close monitoring. I initially started out with the airstones off and almost gassed the fish, so for now I'll keep it inefficient for the sake of my fishies.

Congrats, liking the shots.

(Is that driftwood in there?)

Thanks Delapool. Yes, that is one very BBA-covered driftwood

Congrats on the co2 system. The benefits of adding co2 cannot be matched.

Keep posting. Even if things are not going your way. We have to share our struggles as well as our achievements. We can all take something from the information whether positive or negative.

Cheers Caliban, I guess I just got discouraged feeling like I was investing a lot (money, time, thought, emotional energy) with little return. Things are looking better now though I think what I've learned is that for goldfish in a planted tank I need to match their high nitrate output with high everything else.

 

[OneTwoRedBlue]

Spent about 5 hours working on the tank today.

A lot of the plants had really long bare stalks because the few leaves they would grow got all covered in BBA or the fish would nibble and tear them, so I would trim them. They also seemed to be stretching themselves up towards the surface (greater atmospheric CO2 up there? probably). After adding CO2 the result was lots of leaves up by the surface (even growing above the water) on long, mostly bare stalks.

So I pulled up all the plants and cut their stalks off, did a really big water change and gravel vac, cleaned the glass, replanted everything and scrubbed the rocks and driftwood with my algae scrubbing toothbrush. I also elevated the lights about 2 inches.

Excited to see how it goes.

 

[Caliban07]

Spent about 5 hours working on the tank today.



A lot of the plants had really long bare stalks because the few leaves they would grow got all covered in BBA or the fish would nibble and tear them, so I would trim them. They also seemed to be stretching themselves up towards the surface (greater atmospheric CO2 up there? probably). After adding CO2 the result was lots of leaves up by the surface (even growing above the water) on long, mostly bare stalks.



So I pulled up all the plants and cut their stalks off, did a really big water change and gravel vac, cleaned the glass, replanted everything and scrubbed the rocks and driftwood with my algae scrubbing toothbrush. I also elevated the lights about 2 inches.



Excited to see how it goes.



View attachment 289356

Yeah sounds like you still need to dial in the co2 to get that balance. I'm at the same point with my new fire extinguisher. The plants can't take up to 3 weeks to adjust their new leaves to the new co2 availability so I'm expecting mine to take that long to get motoring again.

Keep us posted ?


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice