Yes it can be used in cooking (marshmallows ?) but for fish tank usage doesn't need to be food grade. Foot & bath soaking is fine as long as it is not perfumed. My last batch of MgSO4 was Ebay for 2Kg as a foot & bath soak, just pure MgSO4. Fish are still alive, plants are green so all OK.
-
You are viewing the forum as a Guest, please login (you can use your Facebook, Twitter, Google or Microsoft account to login) or register using this link: Log in or Sign Up
CO2/Flow/Ferts deficiency?
- Thread starter oliverpool
- Start date
oliverpool
Member
- Joined
- 10 Jun 2013
- Messages
- 32
Haa... ok Thanks! I always wondered what food its used in. I tasted it and it does not taste good.
oliverpool
Member
- Joined
- 10 Jun 2013
- Messages
- 32
Here is my tank after the rescape.
I removed alot of the "old plants" The area in the middle to the front left will be planted with Alternanthera reineckii Mini and rocks with Mini Pellia. As I do have fishes like Pharos and Weizmannni in the tank, I did not want to remove too much plants and do soil removal and top up at one time. The Albida's at the right will be removed and the crypts on the right will be move together with the batch on the left. The shorter and longer green plants on the left are Rotala Bonsai. They were planted at two different times. All the plants in the front are actually on mess and are buces or various kinds.
I also did a full filter and pipe cleaning yesterday. CO2 was checked. I redid a whole new batch of ferts for Micro and Macro. They are at full EI including MgSO4 as per the EI instructions with salts in the tutorial section here for my 50G. As it does not matter that it was level or heap teaspoon, I used level and added another 20% additional at the end so ferts should not matter. At each water change I will be adding 2 teaspoon of Barr GH booster to my 50% water change from my tap since its soft with almost no minerals. I could not find exact instructions for Barr GH booster but recall seeing 1 teaspoon per 5-10 gallon at water change? I will slowly increase it at each subsequent water change as I am not sure if my fishes would be happy with the sudden increase in hardness of water. Lost a few Cherry shrimps and a oto. But Fishes and the bristlenose pleco and yamatos seems pretty ok. The pharos did not seem to lose their colors which should indicate they are ok with it so far. The newer wood centerpiece is much smaller then my previous wood. So Flow should be better at the right area of the tank. I will be removing items like the eheim skimmer as my tank seems to be pretty clear of oil even during photo periods when the skimmer is off. Oh, I lowered the lights around 20% as well. The tank and plants seems to be doing better in the past 2 weeks. I hope that I have licked this CO2/Ferts/Flow issue that I have been facing from day one.....
I removed alot of the "old plants" The area in the middle to the front left will be planted with Alternanthera reineckii Mini and rocks with Mini Pellia. As I do have fishes like Pharos and Weizmannni in the tank, I did not want to remove too much plants and do soil removal and top up at one time. The Albida's at the right will be removed and the crypts on the right will be move together with the batch on the left. The shorter and longer green plants on the left are Rotala Bonsai. They were planted at two different times. All the plants in the front are actually on mess and are buces or various kinds.
I also did a full filter and pipe cleaning yesterday. CO2 was checked. I redid a whole new batch of ferts for Micro and Macro. They are at full EI including MgSO4 as per the EI instructions with salts in the tutorial section here for my 50G. As it does not matter that it was level or heap teaspoon, I used level and added another 20% additional at the end so ferts should not matter. At each water change I will be adding 2 teaspoon of Barr GH booster to my 50% water change from my tap since its soft with almost no minerals. I could not find exact instructions for Barr GH booster but recall seeing 1 teaspoon per 5-10 gallon at water change? I will slowly increase it at each subsequent water change as I am not sure if my fishes would be happy with the sudden increase in hardness of water. Lost a few Cherry shrimps and a oto. But Fishes and the bristlenose pleco and yamatos seems pretty ok. The pharos did not seem to lose their colors which should indicate they are ok with it so far. The newer wood centerpiece is much smaller then my previous wood. So Flow should be better at the right area of the tank. I will be removing items like the eheim skimmer as my tank seems to be pretty clear of oil even during photo periods when the skimmer is off. Oh, I lowered the lights around 20% as well. The tank and plants seems to be doing better in the past 2 weeks. I hope that I have licked this CO2/Ferts/Flow issue that I have been facing from day one.....
Frenchi
Member
Hi
When I first started out with this planting bug I was struggling just as you ... I tried alsorts but the top and bottom of it was I just needed to listen to these people on here they sorted me out big style /-)
Main points I did that sorted me was lower my lights until things started to show sure signs of growth , add the correct amount of co2 no matter how much faffing it takes and flow get that water moving round that tank so there is near on no dead spots . The more movement the better obviously without causing a whirlpool .. Also add the correct amount of Ei after you have done all that you will be soon going WOW!! Now I see
Thanks
Mick
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
When I first started out with this planting bug I was struggling just as you ... I tried alsorts but the top and bottom of it was I just needed to listen to these people on here they sorted me out big style /-)
Main points I did that sorted me was lower my lights until things started to show sure signs of growth , add the correct amount of co2 no matter how much faffing it takes and flow get that water moving round that tank so there is near on no dead spots . The more movement the better obviously without causing a whirlpool .. Also add the correct amount of Ei after you have done all that you will be soon going WOW!! Now I see
Thanks
Mick
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
oliverpool
Member
- Joined
- 10 Jun 2013
- Messages
- 32
Hi
When I first started out with this planting bug I was struggling just as you ... I tried alsorts but the top and bottom of it was I just needed to listen to these people on here they sorted me out big style /-)
Main points I did that sorted me was lower my lights until things started to show sure signs of growth , add the correct amount of co2 no matter how much faffing it takes and flow get that water moving round that tank so there is near on no dead spots . The more movement the better obviously without causing a whirlpool .. Also add the correct amount of Ei after you have done all that you will be soon going WOW!! Now I see
Thanks
Mick
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Haa.. struggling is right. There are days when you look at the tank and say what did I do to deserve such a nice tank........others.......
Things are still going well. I will be doing another rescape to remove the rest of the plants that I do not want followed by some cleaning of part of the substrate and a huge water change.
1. Good thing is that my GSA seems to have almost subside.
2. One spot of BGA near the soil seems to be subsiding as well.
3. I have been increasing my MP10 flow bit by bit and its at a level that it is starting to move my substrate below it. Had to back off somewhat. I still feel that flow could still be better. But am unsure how to go about it without making it rough for the fishes.
I am still unable to tell if the clado on my wood is growing or lessening and if I should use excel on it as it does look nice. It was already on the wood when I got it and I decided to leave it there
oliverpool
Member
- Joined
- 10 Jun 2013
- Messages
- 32
Still facing what I believe is bga issues. Two problem areas at the bottom of the tank. They seem to flare up right after a water change. I did three in 9 days now. Full ei with 7 hours of way lowered light. Had to point my cam at something dark to even get a good picture of the tank. After each water change I added one full dose of ei daily dosage for npk to ensure there is enough nitrate. I also add 3/4? Teaspoon of Barr BH booster to the tank. My GH has gone up from 2 in the past 3-4 week to now 7-8. kH still below 1. Co2 injection drops ph around 0.9 before lights comes on. Can't to any higher or some fishes show stress. Rcs stop feeding midway into the photo period but are ok upon lights out. No added a skimmer to my filter inlet hoping to boost oxygen In case it was a issue.
Picture of the bga on th glass
Picture of my tank now.
Stumped
Picture of the bga on th glass
Picture of my tank now.
Stumped
sciencefiction
Member
- Joined
- 26 Feb 2013
- Messages
- 3,412
It looks like nutrient deficiencies to me seeing the yellowing older leaves it could be magnesium but it could be nitrogen too. . BGA after a water change could be lack of nitrate. Sprinkle some nitrates near the BGA and see. When do you dose macros after a water change? Lowering the lights will just slow down everything so you've time to react but won't sort anything permanently.
oliverpool
Member
- Joined
- 10 Jun 2013
- Messages
- 32
I added mg to my macro according to EI dosage. With the addition of Barr gh booster after a water change I should be above excess for mg now.
I dose macro immediately after my water change. My macro dosage is base on 3 times a week. In the past 3 water change, I added a forth dose immediately after water change. I will try to dose nitrate on the bga again. I have some left over seachem nitrogen. Can I does that instead on the bga? What happens when u does nitrate directly at bga?
sciencefiction
Member
- Joined
- 26 Feb 2013
- Messages
- 3,412
Yes, dose it directly over it, can help get rid of it if that's the issue.
oliverpool
Member
- Joined
- 10 Jun 2013
- Messages
- 32
Still having issues. Good thing is that I have not seen any BGA for the past 2 weeks. But my lights has been so low that I may have missed some hair/BBA on my older plants.
I changed my LED lights (3 years old now) as I did not like the color. May be old I do not know. But my Buildmyled lights just arrived last week. So I changed to it and been running it at around 40% (estimated 30-40 par) for around 1 week. I moved it up to now 55% (50-60 par) according to BML. This was when I noticed that I have some hair algae growing on some of my crypts. I cut them away. I also noticed some leaves on my buce having BBA around the edges. So Even with low lights and pretty much the same CO2, I still am having some deficiency somewhere. I am trying to increase my co2 bit by bit again since having the new lights. I believe that I should still be able to increase CO2 slightly as I have been running my skimmer 24x7 now to inject more o2. But I am at a loss now on whats causing the problem on my tank.
These are some of the things I could do.
1. continue with reduced lights. I have to say I have been running at medium low to low for over 4 weeks now. I still see some small dots of BBA on the glass which I clear at every water change. And now I noticed it growing on some of the older leaves as well.
2. Increase my lights to medium (50-60 par?) to help my plants grow better. not sure if thats the best thing to do when you are still facing algae problems.
3. Start dosing Excel at recommended dosage daily again. I have mini pellia in my tank and they can be rather sensitive to excel in my experience.
4. Increase flow even more. All the leaves in my tank are swaying lightly. Which I take to mean that they are doing ok.
5. Stop using the skimmer? This seems to have a positive impact on my shrimps. I see them moving about during the photo period since I started the skimmer 24x7.
6. Increase CO2 even more. I get around 0.8 to 0.9 PH drop at this time. I noted that my PH after 24 hours in a cup is around 6.2. My tank PH before co2 injection is around 5.9 to 6. It drops to 5.2 or there abouts when the lights come on. Its pretty much at 5.8-5.9 2-3 hours after lights out.
7. EI is at recommend full EI dosage including MG. 50-60% water change every week with GH boosters additions of around 3 degree. Currrent GH is around 6-7. KH seems pretty much 0-1. Reduce or increase EI? I have a mind to reduce EI slightly as my plants are mainly slow growers. My TDS has been slowly going up due to the the ferts and GH boosters. I used to have my TDS at pretty much less then 200 before water change. Now its like 350 before water change and down to 250 after water change and boosters.
8. I do not have that many fishes but I have added like 20 more cherry shrimps and around 100 very young small malayan shrimps over the past 4 weeks. I should have 30 cherry and 100 small young malayan, 5-8? amano shrimps and 5 otos, 2 x small bristlenose pleco. 8 x silver? tetra (not big even after 1 over year), 6 Red Neons, 6 Pharos.
Please also let me know anything I can try.
I changed my LED lights (3 years old now) as I did not like the color. May be old I do not know. But my Buildmyled lights just arrived last week. So I changed to it and been running it at around 40% (estimated 30-40 par) for around 1 week. I moved it up to now 55% (50-60 par) according to BML. This was when I noticed that I have some hair algae growing on some of my crypts. I cut them away. I also noticed some leaves on my buce having BBA around the edges. So Even with low lights and pretty much the same CO2, I still am having some deficiency somewhere. I am trying to increase my co2 bit by bit again since having the new lights. I believe that I should still be able to increase CO2 slightly as I have been running my skimmer 24x7 now to inject more o2. But I am at a loss now on whats causing the problem on my tank.
These are some of the things I could do.
1. continue with reduced lights. I have to say I have been running at medium low to low for over 4 weeks now. I still see some small dots of BBA on the glass which I clear at every water change. And now I noticed it growing on some of the older leaves as well.
2. Increase my lights to medium (50-60 par?) to help my plants grow better. not sure if thats the best thing to do when you are still facing algae problems.
3. Start dosing Excel at recommended dosage daily again. I have mini pellia in my tank and they can be rather sensitive to excel in my experience.
4. Increase flow even more. All the leaves in my tank are swaying lightly. Which I take to mean that they are doing ok.
5. Stop using the skimmer? This seems to have a positive impact on my shrimps. I see them moving about during the photo period since I started the skimmer 24x7.
6. Increase CO2 even more. I get around 0.8 to 0.9 PH drop at this time. I noted that my PH after 24 hours in a cup is around 6.2. My tank PH before co2 injection is around 5.9 to 6. It drops to 5.2 or there abouts when the lights come on. Its pretty much at 5.8-5.9 2-3 hours after lights out.
7. EI is at recommend full EI dosage including MG. 50-60% water change every week with GH boosters additions of around 3 degree. Currrent GH is around 6-7. KH seems pretty much 0-1. Reduce or increase EI? I have a mind to reduce EI slightly as my plants are mainly slow growers. My TDS has been slowly going up due to the the ferts and GH boosters. I used to have my TDS at pretty much less then 200 before water change. Now its like 350 before water change and down to 250 after water change and boosters.
8. I do not have that many fishes but I have added like 20 more cherry shrimps and around 100 very young small malayan shrimps over the past 4 weeks. I should have 30 cherry and 100 small young malayan, 5-8? amano shrimps and 5 otos, 2 x small bristlenose pleco. 8 x silver? tetra (not big even after 1 over year), 6 Red Neons, 6 Pharos.
Please also let me know anything I can try.
