Plants keep Dying Please help :)

[bobbedmarly]

Okay guys I have a 65 gallon planted aquarium running and its been established for about 2 years now. I have a co2 system hooked up, eheim filter 2213, quad t-5 and i dose flourish every week. So my problem is that I keep getting this algae that looks almost black on the leaves of my plants and after time it takes over the whole leaf and then the leaf dies.Im also doing water changes every 1 and a half weeks about 15 gallons. So any suggestions on how to fix this, like fish possibly or more maintenance? and would a RODI unit help? Thanks!!

 

[aqua_chem]

Hmmm, sounds like BBA. I suspect that it might be caused by your 4x T5 setup (which is a lot of light even on a 65g). First and foremost you should see about upping your CO2 levels. Do you have any idea what ppm you're running at, either by means of a drop checker (preferred) or the KH/pH/CO2 relationship? Secondly, you might try reducing the light somewhat, either by removing a bulb, raising the fixture, or putting something between the light and the tank.

Just so we can be sure about the nature of your problem, can you post a picture of the algae in question?

 

[kenbob]

What does BBA stand for?http://badmanstropicalfish.com/plant_problems.html
Scroll down to excess phosphates.

 

[aqua_chem]

Black Brush Algae. The original poster said that it was an algae issue, not a leaf deterioration issue.

 

[kenbob]

Black Brush Algae. The original poster said that it was an algae issue, not a leaf deterioration issue.

Sorry. My bad.

 

[bobbedmarly]

hey guys, It could be my lighting but it is a tall tank about 28" and I have the fluval bubble canister with the bubble ladder and i think it produces about a bubble every 3 seconds is that to little? Also im running the lights on for about 9 hours a day if that helps.Also I will get a couple pictures up in a day or two. thanks for the help keep ya updated with the pictures soon.

 

[aqua_chem]

Way to little. I take it this is a DIY setup? I would think that your BPS would need to be somewhere between 3-5 bubbles PER SECOND to maintain 30 ppm.

 

[bobbedmarly]

wow I never thought i would need that much BPS! These pictures should help with the analysis.

 

[bobbedmarly]

Here are the plant pictures

 

[adadkins1]

Wow, nice plants. I think aqua_chem's suspicions are right, you probably have very low CO2 levels with only 1 bubble every 3 seconds. If you can get it up I would say you might solve your problem.

 

[Discusapisto]

It's mostly on your low light plants anubias and such. You deff need more co2 than what you got I have 4 t-5's myself over a shallow tank I have no algae problems but I would if I didn't have the right amount of co2. And proper fert dosing. Also try shading your low light plants and but put them in the shade of a large sword or in the shade of floating plants or driftwood. Anubias never fairs well under that much bright light it's slow growth allows the leaves to get attacked by various algaes.

 

[bobbedmarly]

Thanks!Thats probably just the thing I need, do you think that using Flourish Excel by seachem would be just as effective as a upgraded Diy co2 maker that would do like 3 bps? Cause the liquid just looks a little easier ya know.

 

[mohican]

I'm new to the forum and ran across ur post. I had the same stuff on my rotala leaves. I have 125 planted tank, no co2. I had bad algae outbreaks and only time will make the difference. Watch How Much u dose and monitor ur lights. Remember, any algae thrive from excess nutrients and light. Keep up with the green thumb.

 

[Discusapisto]

Thanks!Thats probably just the thing I need, do you think that using Flourish Excel by seachem would be just as effective as a upgraded Diy co2 maker that would do like 3 bps? Cause the liquid just looks a little easier ya know.

It would help but co2 is more consistent than excel only because (not saying you would do this), but if your busy or forget to dose for a day or two it makes a difference under such intense lighting. Where as co2 keeps on bubbling until your canister or pop bottle (which ever unit you use) runs out. Honestly use both I still add a lil excel in my tanks even the ones that have pressurized co2 just to be safe. Hope this helps and deffinetly keep an eye on the excess nutrients it makes all the difference.

 

[bobbedmarly]

Okay well thanks for all the help cause this has been a huge problem in my 65 planted. I went out yesterday and bought some flourish excel for the tank and am going to run it on a automatic doser, but im also going to run only one of my co2 bottles just so I dont overload the tank with co2. So I will keep you guys updated after a couple of weeks to see how much this helps . But thanks again guys for all the help!!!

 

[aqua_chem]

It would help but co2 is more consistent than excel only because (not saying you would do this), but if your busy or forget to dose for a day or two it makes a difference under such intense lighting. Where as co2 keeps on bubbling until your canister or pop bottle (which ever unit you use) runs out. Honestly use both I still add a lil excel in my tanks even the ones that have pressurized co2 just to be safe. Hope this helps and deffinetly keep an eye on the excess nutrients it makes all the difference.

Excel and pressurized CO2 are equally consistent (barring user error), but Excel is somewhere around 40% as effective as actual CO2 (pure qualitative number). DIY CO2 is what can have consistency issues as the yeast will slow die off leading to a steady decline in CO2 production. Additionally, the CO2 production is temperature dependent, leading to a host of other issues.

 

[bobbedmarly]

hmmm thats quite interesting, never knew it was that ineffective the excel but still usfull i guess. What I might do is talk to my fish store about renting a co2 canister and then thats the best option i guess but first im going to try out the co2 diy and excel method and see how that goes for me.

 

[Discusapisto]

hmmm thats quite interesting, never knew it was that ineffective the excel but still usfull i guess. What I might do is talk to my fish store about renting a co2 canister and then thats the best option i guess but first im going to try out the co2 diy and excel method and see how that goes for me.

Yeah you should be fine the excel will make up for DIY not being constant also stay up on changing out your formula. Have a bottle ready to go around the time one is dying and keep an eye on things like water quality and overfeeding that can fuel your algae problems.