Drop Checker Shows very Light Green!!!

[Kunthan]

Hi

I recently added ISTA CO2 Indicator Drop Checker for my 90gl Tank.

I it not showing Nice Green, it shows only very light green ? is it normal ? because i see the measuing sticker shows dark green ?

And more over it is in light blue green color before my light kicks on in the mornning as of now i am running 3 bubble per sec...

Please Help....

Regards,
Kunthanraj

 

[azmodan]

Lime green is generally where you want to be hitting so it sounds like you're good or very close to it. Just keep an eye on your fish (gasping near the surface, etc). Are you seeing any pearling from your plants?

 

[Kunthan]

Yes I My Monte Carlo are pearling nicely and Growing...

Along with this Alge is comming....fighting agin it

Blue-Green Algae is comming on old leaves of Monte Carlo
Cladophora algae on the Flame mosss this is over taking moss
Green Spot Algae in Glass very very less as i am Cleanning manually
Hair Algae in Java moss on the Tree very less tooo

Any idea on addressing this.. if i check for one other is comming

Hard days No Luck

 

[azmodan]

Uh oh! Can you tell us a little bit more about your tank?

Type of light, photoperiod, tank size (specifically the height of the tank), any ferts or liquid carbon (Excel/glut)? How much flow do you have in your tank? Have you tested your nitrates recently? What sort of substrate do you have? Got a pic of your tank so far?

Sorry for all the questions but the more details we know the better we can help you address any issues you're having!

 

[Kunthan]

Thanks for Reply Bro

It would be great if you can Help to address this Luck Play a vital role in Planted tank i guess

Tank Details:- Length:48 Hight:24 Width:18
Soil:- Controsoil & Jbl Aquabasis
Light:- 4 PhilipsT5X54W @Kelvin6000K ( Light Running Time From 8:00AM - 1:00 PM & 6:00PM - 9:00 PM - in Timmer )
CO2:- 3L Pressurized CO2 system @ 3 Bubbles per second via CO2 Diffuser ( in Timmer )
Colling:- Five CPU Fan
Filterration:- Sunsun 4-Stage Canister Filter ( Runs 24/7)
Filter Items:- ( Sponge, Ceramic rings, Matrix, Aquaclay , Purigen, Some Bio balls )
Fertilizers:- JBL Ferropol 24 & Seachem Flourish Alternate Day as per Recomended Dose & Excel Daily JBL Ferropol once a week( even though it is designed for daily use.
Plants in the Aquarium:- Micranthemum 'Monte Carlo' ,StarGrass , Hygrophila , Java Moss, Weeping Moss
Fish :- I have 25 Neon tetra , 2 Siamese algae eater &
25 Red Shrimp ( now many new ones are bone 20+, 4 Yellow Shrimp, 15 Amano Shrimp & 4 assassin snail + one Baby )
Water change :- One a week will change 75 Liters
Water Circulation :- have a Spray bar on the Right and Intake in Middle and wave maker at the Left , I move this constantly to address blank spot...
Test Details:-
PH - 7.6 , High PH - 7.4 , Amonia - 0 PPM, Nitrite - 0 PPM, Nitrate -5.0 PPM ( Last 3 week this are the Reading )

All Plants are Growing Good, Problem is Algae now

Waiting for your Advise..

 

[azmodan]

Thanks for Reply Bro

It would be great if you can Help to address this Luck Play a vital role in Planted tank i guess

Tank Details:- Length:48 Hight:24 Width:18
Soil:- Controsoil & Jbl Aquabasis
Light:- 4 PhilipsT5X54W @Kelvin6000K ( Light Running Time From 8:00AM - 1:00 PM & 6:00PM - 9:00 PM - in Timmer )
CO2:- 3L Pressurized CO2 system @ 3 Bubbles per second via CO2 Diffuser ( in Timmer )
Colling:- Five CPU Fan
Filterration:- Sunsun 4-Stage Canister Filter ( Runs 24/7)
Filter Items:- ( Sponge, Ceramic rings, Matrix, Aquaclay , Purigen, Some Bio balls )
Fertilizers:- JBL Ferropol 24 & Seachem Flourish Alternate Day as per Recomended Dose & Excel Daily JBL Ferropol once a week( even though it is designed for daily use.
Plants in the Aquarium:- Micranthemum 'Monte Carlo' ,StarGrass , Hygrophila , Java Moss, Weeping Moss
Fish :- I have 25 Neon tetra , 2 Siamese algae eater &
25 Red Shrimp ( now many new ones are bone 20+, 4 Yellow Shrimp, 15 Amano Shrimp & 4 assassin snail + one Baby )
Water change :- One a week will change 75 Liters
Water Circulation :- have a Spray bar on the Right and Intake in Middle and wave maker at the Left , I move this constantly to address blank spot...
Test Details:-
PH - 7.6 , High PH - 7.4 , Amonia - 0 PPM, Nitrite - 0 PPM, Nitrate -5.0 PPM ( Last 3 week this are the Reading )

All Plants are Growing Good, Problem is Algae now

Waiting for your Advise..

Hi! Sounds like you have a good set up! Is your tank somewhat new and still lightly planted? Even with your tall tank you still have quite a lot of light on your tank, particularly if your current plant mass is still on the small side (I'm just guessing on that though). You could try reducing your photoperiod (maybe two 3 hour bursts?). I would also try to manually remove whatever algae you can, whether it be through algae scraping or spot treating with Excel/glut. The other thing you might want to look into is a more comprehensive fert regime. I'm not too familiar with the JBL products but the Ferropol 24 + Seachem Flourish will still likely be lacking in some of the nutrients (or quantity of nutrients) that your plants might require in a high light/high tech set up. Dry dosing ferts in programs like Estimative Index or PPS-Pro is recommended, particularly with a large high tech tank like yours. It will also save you quite a bit of money in the long term.

Here are a few links to fertilizer info to get you started:

Understanding Aquarium Fertilizer & Planted Tank Fertilization Methods and Calculators | Planted Tank Blog
https://sites.google.com/site/aquaticplantfertilizer/home/pps-pro
AquaScaping World Magazine - Estimative Index Fertilization Method

Try not to get too discouraged about the algae problems you are having now. With the equipment you have already and a few tweaks to your set up you'll have a beautiful, lush tank. I'm also hoping Aquarium Advice mods (and high tech planted gurus) Brian and aqua_chem can chime in with any advice. In addition I also recommend checking out the forums at plantedtank.net, an extremely useful website dedicated to planted tanks.

 

[azmodan]

Also, the blue-green algae (cyanobacteria) is especially troublesome. Definitely try to remove what you can by hand. There are several good threads here on AA on getting rid of BGA (just do a forum search on terms like BGA, blue green algae, cyano, etc). Good luck!

 

[Kunthan]

Hi, Thanks for Replying and Helping me with your Advise...

One of the Forum that helped me lot is AA
Actually the tank is more than 1.5 years old but recently 5 month back i changed the Spacing & lighting after this problem.
Will try to reduce the light period to 6 hrs in 2 burst.
i tried Excel spot treatment, but i don't feel like it is doing some thing, I am dosing 3-4 times the recommended limit, Might me i will think abut Gult...
Actually i regularly clean the algae, that why it is less ( in here and there...)
My issue is with this Cladophora algae , not able to remove because it is all over the moss on the right side of the tank ( i am planning to build a hobbit house like ) but because of this it is not working...

As i am in india it is very diff to buy EI things here and more over if i order from US or UK shipping cost add more than the Fez cost. Finally i found a guy in india who sell this product, i am planning to buy it from this guy this week
Below is the things he give as one Kit as a reasonable price...

60Gms of KNO3 (Potassium Nitrate)
10Gms of KH2PO4 (Monopotassium phosphate)
40Gms of K2SO4 (Potassium Sulphate)
60Gms of MgSO4 (Magnesium Sulphate)
15Gms of Plantex CSM+B (Micro nutrients)
10Gms of Chelated Iron (EDTA)

Mixing Directions he advises

Macro nutrients
Nitrate KNO3 -Add 60 gms in 500 ml of water
Phosphate KH2PO4 - Add 10 gms in 500 ml of water
Potassium K2SO4 - Add 40 gms in 500 ml of water
Magnesium MgSO4*7H2O - Add 60 gms in 500 ml of water

Micro nutrients
Chelated Iron - Add 10 gms in 500 ml of water
CSM+B -Add 15 gms in 500 ml of water

( Add 10ml each of this solution after every 30 litre water change. )

Below are my tank Pictures
-------------------------------
Full tank

hobbit house that i was planning which has Cladophora , only chnage is i have to remove this and clean and place back

Monte Carlo which is nicely growing but old leaves have BGA

Can advise on what circulation ? Planning to add one more circulation pump...

thanks in advance for the Help Bro

 

[mrvincent]

Hi

I recently added ISTA CO2 Indicator Drop Checker for my 90gl Tank.

I it not showing Nice Green, it shows only very light green ? is it normal ? because i see the measuing sticker shows dark green ?

And more over it is in light blue green color before my light kicks on in the mornning as of now i am running 3 bubble per sec...

Please Help....

Regards,
Kunthanraj

Maybe add a bit more of PH reagent to get a darker color, but if it shoes light green, it means your near the yellow, I would just watch it to make sure you don't enter the yellow zone, that may affect fishs...

Did you used a 4dKH° solution as base liquid ?


As I see in your picture, your tank seems a bit new... It is normal to get algae spikes in the first 3-5 months... Water changes can help remove sillicates, but one day, this will balance and water changes schedule will be easyer (I change water 50% each 1-2 months without algae or death issues).

For cyanos I can't help as I never had this problem, but I know (worked for me) you can spot dose excel directly on your algae after turning your pumps/filters off, wait 15 mins, then dose a bit of peroxyde 3% (10 volume) directly on the plants with a serynge and wait another 15 mins before starting the pumps again. A Maximum of 30ml for my 30g didn't harm anything (except algeas hehe). This technique is powerfully working, espescially with BBA and staghorn...

Dosing peroxyde of excel directly on moss will kill it, but works for most plants. (Vallinsria, cladophora algae, doesn't tolerate peroxyde/excel too).