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What am I doing wrong, everything dying

Filters and water always cleaned every 7 days. I have a pretty filter, and canister with sintered glass in two trays out of three.

BBA starting to subside, which is a bonus. Probably down to algexit. Not a fan of chemicals and very rarely use them, but given the frustration with this tank I gave in and gave it a shot. Although eliminating the cause rather a quick fix is what I'm after.
 
Hmm. I think if you search the forum for 'Beamsworks' you will find other people using them successfully. It's a cheaper Chinese unit but if it says 6500k it's probably 6500k. I've not used one myself though.

P
 
Did a lot of searching prior to buying the beamswork, generally the reviews were good, so I took the plunge. Not so sure with the height of my tank.
 
I manage the co2 based on the drop checker colour. Nothing else. The checker has 4dkh in it and is generally lime green. Would you suggest an alternative?
 
Genuinely, positively and absolutely please stop thinking about your lights aside the fact there is too much for the available nutrients including and most importantly co2.
The beamworks units have been run on a number of tanks on the forum without issue, your method of co2 delivery is at question and nothing else. It is in your sub conscience that light is the issue because its banded around across the internet on all the forums where you see algae riddled tanks... spend any time at all looking around forums (i say forums as most 'articles' are out dated) and you will see the successful tanks either have years and years of experience or not so much light.

To give you an idea about where to focus your attention, this tank was 300ltrs 900x750x450 running 2 24w t5 bulbs suspended 80cm above the water line giving maybe 10-15par at substrate (it was pretty dim to look at), sure there was loads of light for photos, but when i ran a halide over it all that happened was BBA appeared due to the fact i couldnt get good enough flow (co2) around the tank due its dimensions.
9508930637_40c406135e_b.jpgbarb island iaplc 380 by iainsutherland24, on Flickr

Please, dont go on a fools errant chasing light issues, i spent my first 2 years aquascaping blaming light, i only had a reasonable tank after excepting and understanding that co2 and its distribution is the key, now im still learning how to perfect it.

Paulo is correct that light is needed but please understand that it is your last concern, spend some time reading other post from people who have/had similar issues, read all the way through the threads and youll see that co2 is 99% the answer.
As a forum i think we have spent a lot of time trying to get rid of the old ideas of light being an issue, id hate to see things going backwards in the absence of clive's clear and effective brain reprogramming.

This is a good journal to start you on your way....

http://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/259l-bookcase-rebirth.19287/
 
Downhillmonkey said:
I manage the co2 based on the drop checker colour. Nothing else. The checker has 4dkh in it and is generally lime green. Would you suggest an alternative?
Click to expand...
mostly ignore your drop checker, they lie A LOT!! listen to your plants, they have wisdom and speak the truth!!!

Using a ph profile as described above is very effective at gauging co2 levels.
 
Thank you Iain, I had visions of spending even more money on this tank, which is slowly eating away at my budget!

Ok, co2 it is. I will read your link a number of times and start the ball rolling, fantastic tank BTW.

Given the condition of the plants, I think I'll need to pull them and start again. Some appear beyond help.
 
If you do pull out the plants...

I think it really helps to have excellent quality plants from the start (you still have to get your technique right of course). I'm not in the UK but check out the sponsors of this forum. I can really recommend Aquasabi.com. They're based in Germany.

P
 
No problem, i vividly remember spending £200 on a new T5 unit for my first juwel tank only to have more issues. It sure can suck up a lot of cash but being tight, asking advise about equipment, buying from the forum for sale section etc will dramatically reduce your costs... it really can be done on a shoe string while your learning.

No plants are beyond saving as long as they have roots so pulling them up would be a bad idea for now!! Trim off the worst effected leaves, using some liquid carbon will help to not only supply the needed carbon to the plants but will also kill algae, carpet plants can be cut right back to substrate level and will recover, really be thorough with keeping the tank clean including roughing the plants up a bit and wafting it around but it will all be futile if the cause isnt resolved which is getting the co2 down to the plants.
Have the co2 come on 2 hours prior to the lights, drop checker the colour of the INSIDE of a lime in the absence of a ph probe, good circulation all through the tank and increase water changes (even 95% WC 2-3 times a week will only help) are all steps in the right direction.

Ill see if i can fish out a few other extensive journals that will walk you through a lot of the info needed... it takes time and work to get it right fella but its well worth the bumpy path.
 
Don't do anything drastic, even poor quality plants will recover in the right conditions!
If it was possible to rehouse your fish then you could really up the C02 & play with the flow but, if you cant you will just have to be carful & monitor the fish as you gradually increase the C02.
However the first step is do a PH profile & see exactly what happens to the PH when the gas is running.
Don't worry about the substrate either as it is really about the amount of C02 available to match your light.
As long as you dose EI ferts it is only the C02 getting to the plants that matters.
In the mean time cut back the light to 5 hours....
A really good learning curve is to set up a basic immersed tank, even with very low light you will see your plant grow because they have optimum C02!
 
I've just read that journal and it's fantastic! A huge amount of information that has got the juices flowing again! Can't thank everyone enough for their help and advice. I'll tackle this head on and report back with the results. For now, co2 is 100% priority.

Cheers folks!
 
iv gotta mention here abt lights ...., depends on wat type of plants u r growing in the first place .. if u got low light plants u can get away with just basic light setup .. if ur growing high light plants u need enough intensity in the first place to make the plants stand erected or u gunna get a serious amount of droop especially with stems , lights come first then substrate for the root system then co2 in my opinion if u wanna go tht way ,, co2 as been stated to help plant growth by over 150-200% faster than normal rate .. for the development of plants and flowering its the lights
 
I didn't think there were such things as high light plants! Most plants can be grown in low light conditions if other factors like co2 are correct. HC can be grown in relatively low light.......although I can't grow it at all!


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