Fert shedule? Lighting time? SSL

[current516]

Haven’t posted in a while. After moving, my tank (60g 24tall. ) has been running for about 3 months. It’s doing just OK. It started out strong, but never seemed to recover after the diatom bloom. First time with both, high light and CO2 injection. Anyway…

Want my tank to look great!!! Faster growth, more pearling, etc. Looking for advice, suggestions, anything I might be missing.

Water fairly consistent:
78-81 degrees
PH- 6.8 Day 7.0-7.2 Night
KH- 9-10
Phosphate- 2
Nitrate- Dose to keep it around 20
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Fert schedule (starting to have doubts).
All of it is dry from Greg Watson: CSM+B and Potassium Sulfate

Day
1- 50% WC, 1/2tsp. Pot
2- 1/8tsp CSM+B
3- 1/2tsp. Pot
4- 1/8tsp CSM+B
5- 1/2tsp. Pot
6- 1/8tsp CSM+B
7- 1/2tsp. Pot

Too much, too little, extra Iron?
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Light= CF 10,000 and 12,000:
130W on 11 hours
another 130W on 7 of those same hours

Have some annoying algae (think it’s red) looks like a beard mostly on the edge of leaves.

If you digested all that! Maybe you could give me some tips. I’m still kinda a newbie, am I missing something?

THANKS!!!!! to anyone willing to help.

 

[malkore]

PO4 might be a tad high at 2ppm. I like to keep mine around 1.5ppm...seems to limit greenspot algae on the glass.

how old are your bulbs? PC bulbs last a long time, and their spectrum holds up better than NO tubes...but, they do lose intensity, and the spectrum is about 60% of original.
its my personal recommendation to replace PC bulbs every 2 years, assuming 10 hours a day use.

Your bulbs have good reflectors? either way you should have plenty of light, and CO2 levels look fine

 

[Purrbox]

Your CO2 is in the mid 40's during the day which is good. In relation to when your lights are turned on and off, when does your CO2 get turned on and off?

Your fert schedule also looks to be good. You could bump the CSM+B dosing a little if you want, but unless you are seeing trace deficiencies this shouldn't be necessary.

I did notice in your sig that you have several heavy root feeders, and I don't believe you mentioned using any root tabs. I'd recommend getting some root tabs and placing them under the Swords in particular. This may be all that they are lacking for another good growth spurt since it sounds like they are otherwise healthy.

 

[current516]

PO4 might be a tad high at 2ppm. I like to keep mine around 1.5ppm...seems to limit greenspot algae on the glass.

how old are your bulbs?

Bulbs are 3 months old. I was thinking of getting an RO/DI unit and mixing it with my tapwater. That should help with the high PO4.

Is there another way to lower PO4? I've seen filter media that claims to lower PO4, but I thought it was mainly for Marine aquariums.

I was also thinking of UV unit to help fight some of the algae.
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Your CO2 is in the mid 40's during the day which is good. In relation to when your lights are turned on and off, when does your CO2 get turned on and off?

Your fert schedule also looks to be good. You could bump the CSM+B dosing a little if you want, but unless you are seeing trace deficiencies this shouldn't be necessary.

I did notice in your sig that you have several heavy root feeders, and I don't believe you mentioned using any root tabs. I'd recommend getting some root tabs and placing them under the Swords in particular. This may be all that they are lacking for another good growth spurt since it sounds like they are otherwise healthy.

CO2 comes on when the first lights come on, and off when last light go off. I forgot. yes I do use root tabs. Despite the algae the swords seem to do the best.

The hairgrass and glosso are having a rough time with the algae. Could that be because my tank is 24" tall? Chainswords look great. I had some red Rotala (sp?) but it faired poorly.

Don't get me wrong, the algae isn't totally out of control. But it is a problem.
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THanks to both of you, any other thoughts?

 

[Buffalo Bill]

I noticed the same thing with my tank. I've also tried the EI dosing and at the end of the week my PO4 was at 3(way too high). Since then I've cut out the PO4 dosing and my algae (growing like a beard at the edge of the leaves) seems to have cleared.

 

[current516]

I noticed the same thing with my tank. I've also tried the EI dosing and at the end of the week my PO4 was at 3(way too high). Since then I've cut out the PO4 dosing and my algae (growing like a beard at the edge of the leaves) seems to have cleared.

Cool. So hopefully if I get my PO4 down a little it will go away.

My problem is I'm not dosing it, it comes out of the tap that way.

I guess it's possible it's even a little higher than 2. I'm using the AP test kit and I've heard it's unreliable. But it seems to be working OK. If I let my Nitrate get much below 20 I can see my water start to get cloudy.

 

[czcz]

Besides the algae, how do your plants look? Old growth a healthy color?

Do you have a lot of plants? FWIW, I don't think your sig has enough fast growers, and adding something like R. rotundifolia, H. difformis (Wisteria), or L. repens will help keep algae back, serve as nutrient indicators, and produce oxygen to increase the likelyhood of observing pearling.

How often do you dose nitrates to keep it at 20ppm? How much nitrate are you dosing each time? Better to trust calculated input and algae than the test kit.

Only my opinion as an advocate of the Estimative Index: with your kind of light I think the last thing you should do is limit macro nutrients. Wiser would be to use the BBA as an indicator of low CO2, despite what the test kits say.

HTH

 

[Peyton]

IMHO you might not be adding enough potassium. In a 60gal 1/2tsp kso4 = 5.93ppm.

 

[current516]

Besides the algae, how do your plants look? Old growth a healthy color?

Do you have a lot of plants? FWIW, I don't think your sig has enough fast growers,

How often do you dose nitrates to keep it at 20ppm? How much nitrate are you dosing each time?

HTH

The plants look just OK. Some better than others. I would say it is on the lower end of Heavily planted. I dose about 5ppm every other day. Is that good?

IMHO you might not be adding enough potassium. In a 60gal 1/2tsp kso4 = 5.93ppm.

1/2 tsp every other day isn't enough? That's 24ppm for the week.

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I'm starting to think I had a dip in CO2 levels and was unaware. I looked back at my records but can't be sure from my tests. There were too few the last couple of weeks.

I think maybe a low water level causing surface agitation from my HOB, and a partially clogged reactor and powerhead causing poor circulation (I just cleaned those) combined to do it.

I don't know for sure but that kind've makes sense. I didn't think I was neglecting the tank all that much but...

I'll give it a week or two, Make sure I do a couple of mid-week top-offs, to see if it recovers.

But I still plan on getting those PO4 levels down a little. I want to buy an RO/DI anyway. I'm having visions of Discus and a Saltwater reef tank. As if this isn't hard enough, and I'm not broke enough, already.

Thanks all.

 

[czcz]

I dose about 5ppm every other day. Is that good?

Yeah, perfect.

Your plan is good too. As you may know, unstable CO2 also brings BBA, so keeping agitation down and increasing flow (to circulate CO2) is the right idea. Is it pressurized CO2?

About your lighting question -- it is a lot of light. Cutting the second set to 3 or 4 hours would mimic the "noon burst" method of lighting. Also should make the tank easier to manage until you beat BBA.