Plants turn brown 24 hours help please

[Leelew32]

Hi all,

My second hand 55g has been setup since Christmas but I've been having massive problems with brown algae and brown plants. The tank had 2 old t5 on and I thought brown algae was low light so I upgraded my light to 4 t5's now. I had though I would help having the Extra light but no change if anything it's worse. I've read on here about Brown algae and ceg says its too much light so I intend to only use 2 bulbs for 8 hrs per day? My plants are really bad and I'm wondering if I should chuck them out and start again. Should I do a black out or what. I setup co2 and started e. I dose about a week ago but have seen no real change in my plants. Any help and wisdom greatly appreciated.

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[HiNtZ]

Those look like diatoms for sure. Horrible stuff. My problems went away more or less when I upped CO2, added some epsom salts and had only 6 hours of high light. A 3 day black out doing 50% a day water change completely cleared it up.

Tank specs:

130L
EI
CO2
Westland pond substrate
56W high output cree LEDs (RGBWG)
120w LED strips (RGBW)
medium bioload
medium fish stock

Give it a go, you've got nothing to lose.

 

[Leelew32]

Yep thanks that's exactly what I'm planning. I removed all plants cut off all bad stuff and replanted. Took ages but it was worth it I think. Thanks for your help.


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[dw1305]

Hi all,

I setup co2 and started e. I dose about a week ago but have seen no real change in my plants

Did you feed that plants before you started EI? Is your water hard (high dKH/dGH)? and does your ~EI addition include magnesium sulphate (MgSO4.7H2O)?

The brown dust may well be diatoms, but the plants should be growing much better than they are.

Assuming that the tops of the plants are really as pale as they look? and your EI includes Mg? It might be a deficiency of iron (Fe). Iron (Fe+++) ions are difficult to keep in solution, and this is more of a problem at high pH and hardness.

Have a look at <"Help! plant deficiency.....">

Iron isn't mobile within the plant, which means that the pale leaves will never green up, but when iron becomes available new leaves will be greener and growth better.

cheers Darrel

 

[Leelew32]

Cheers Darrel. I've been thinking of going over to to for a while for my fishes benefit since there SA chiclids. Would that help with the iron as well

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[Leelew32]

I think I'm turning things around. I have bought my self some dtpa iron and am going to dose that. I've changed my photo period down to 8 hours. I've noticed also that I've got a slight bit gsa now could that be low phosphate from the iron reacting with it?

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[Leelew32]

The Rotala Bosii has not changed at all tho it's just sitting there all brown with no green new growth on it. Should I get rid or leave it another week and see

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[Leelew32]

I'll try and get some better pictures later on

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[dw1305]

Hi all,

Should I get rid or leave it another week and see

I'd leave it, but it may take more than a week, if it is iron deficiency.

cheers Darrel

 

[Leelew32]

Thanks Darrel, should I not be seeing new growth on it though as it looks no different from when I got it.

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[dw1305]

Hi all,

should I not be seeing new growth on it though as it looks no different from when I got it.

Plant growth is nutrient dependent in the same way that cars are built on an assembly line, at the speed of the limiting nutrient (or the limiting operation in car assembly).

If one nutrient, or car component, is missing then the whole process grinds to a halt. For plant nutrients this was quantified as <"Liebig's law of the minimum">.

It doesn't matter how much you have of all the other <"essential nutrients for plant growth">, if you don't have any plant available iron (Fe++(+)), you don't get any growth.

cheers Darrel

 

[Leelew32]

Makes a lot of sense. I've just got in so I'm going to do a large water change and start adding the iron I got from TNC.

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[Leelew32]

I will try to post some non rubbish pictures on here. Just in case you feel anything else is a miss. Thank you both for your help so far.

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[Leelew32]

Ok I've made things much worse, the more I read the more I get confused. I now have a major fog for want of a better word in my tank. It looks white to me not green. I do a massive water change wake up and it's back to cloudy again. Any advice should I keep doing big water changes or leave it.

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[Leelew32]

I have a few more question too but would like some help on this first

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[Leelew32]

Looks like this

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[Leelew32]

My only explanation for this is I cleaned my filter as u usually do but I gave my bio media a good shake in tank water maybe I over did it. When I first saw this I did an ammonia test which came back 0 but just in case I added loads of fluval cycle but no change

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[HiNtZ]

That fog is what I had a month after setup. It's suspended in the water and gets on the glass and hardscape. The only way to get rid of it is blackout completely for a few days while still doing water changes. Some people say waiting a few weeks for it to finish its cycle works too, but I had no luck with this.

I opted to keep CO2 going and kept dosing half EI during those black out days.

 

[Leelew32]

Ive heard of black outs for algae but not bacteria. I've got nothing to lose at this point so I will do a big water change then try that. Thanks hiNtZ

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[Leelew32]

I've started a blackout tonight I'll keep everyone posted

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