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This just shows you why you should never take into account your water parameters when working out ferts dosing levels. I have seen this many many times on this forum, peeps complaining the plants are suffering and you find out they are not dosing EI levels, but some funny version of dosing...

Yes it's an illusion, you are starting down the rabbit hole of wasting your time and money on something that is not really important. Most plants and fish don't really care about water hardness. Plants make use of what they have available. I would suggest poor CO2 levels and CO2 distribution in...

Worth a visit on their open days, it you are in this area of the country. They have regular open days. I went round with hands in pockets, so I didn't touch/prod anything I shouldn't and to stop my wallet escaping and emptying...:D Carnivorous Plants | Venus Fly Traps - Hantsflytrap

My original pot of HC arrived well before I was ready, so I stored it on my windowsill at work, with my desk lamp pointing at it, during the time I was there. Just watered it occasionally, as it was a tissue culture pot. Didn't suffer with poorer light at the weekends. It went bananas and really...

Please read this before wasting money on test kits. https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/what-about-test-kits.52487/

Mechanical damage to plants is generally something have a munch whilst you are not looking or lack of carbon source.

Any magnesium dosing. EI required MgSO4, you are not dosing EI. May not be the issue but in 100% of cases where someone invents their own dosing scheme, algae and poor plants is the result.

Generally mechanical damage to plants is a sign of poor CO2 levels and distribution, especially low down in the tank. Could of course be something having a munch, but poor CO2, for your light levels is my bet. What is your filtration rate, needs to be at least 400 gallons per hour, preferably...

99% of the time, algae like as in your pictures is indicative of poor CO2 levels and poor CO2 distribution. For a 60l tank you should be aiming at a filter capacity of at least 600litre/hour, preferably outputting via a suitable spray bar located across the back of the tank. Is your filter...

Now tree is bald....

This morning....the dump continues.... Guess what I might be clearing up at the weekend, if the rain stops long enough.....

Heater failure I surmise.

The leaf dump started yesterday....

There are in fact three trees, all of them all in same'ish space, and 5 more at the entrance to my estate. Google earth & other satellite maps just show nice green trees.They were planted by the developers with small bushes around them. In the 20 years since planting the bushes, fir trees and...

View from upstairs windows last night. Definitely getting darker red. Leaves look like this.

Going on the Google pictures, yes Ash like leaf. They will all be on the ground shortly. Will try and get another photo tonight, as leaves are definitely darker. The leaves drop like this, covering all the drive and bushes.

Here is another red plant I keep, bit big for a tank. Only red for a couple of days in each year. This picture was two days ago, leaves were very dark red this morning almost black. Will all be on the ground in a couple of days.

This is what "the other chopped down side" has grown in 5 days !!! Getting redder as they get nearer the surface and light.

This is a picture from last night, when I noticed one end of the tank was "reddish" rather than "greenish". Tank is 180l, CO2 levels are "took ages to get right" green/yellow drop checker. Dosing x2 EI levels due to rather large plant mass. Lighting is 4 x T5 HO tubes (thus very high light)...

Can't remember what it was, but shortly after taking this picture, I squashed it during a water change/tank fiddle and this, the most colourful stem, never recovered and ended up fertilising the front lawn. :arghh:

I think you missed it. The original EI research used RO water, with none or limited hardness added, so as to exclude any issues due to water supply quality. Some US sites, though do quote you don't need to add MgSO4 if using tap water, as in US hardness is often due to Mg rather than Ca. Not...

I have never had problems with red plants when dosing EI. The picture below was supposed to be capturing the steam of oxygen bubbles coming from the plant, I get when lights are on, easy to see with eye, but difficult to photograph. One issue to watch is the upper leaves clearly shade the lower...

Light intensity probably. Try putting the drop checker amongst the plants that are having issues and see what it says. A pH profile using a meter is also handy in that a drop of 1pH from CO2 on till lights on as about 30ppm CO2.

Obvious from pics, too much light for CO2 levels. Simple. Easy fix, sort CO2 levels or lower light levels. If dosing EI correctly (with weekly water changes) you will not have nutrient deficiency issues, therefore must be CO2 levels or the light levels supplied. Job done.

As you are dosing EI I doubt it is potassium deficiency. Most plant "mechanical issues" are either fish nibbling or poor CO2. How big is your tank, how big is your filter etc. Though dosing potassium sulphate should do no harm.

Not really. Why are you dosing potassium sulphate then ? APF's guidance is a fine start. Dose more if you have a large plant mass, dose less if less plants.

Better to add small doses alternate daily, as the macro will react with the micro neutralising the effects of them both. Are you sure you are adding sufficient nitrate, if only dosing smaller (?) doses of potassium nitrate ? I have never heard of anyone ever really having potassium deficiency...

Dose both potassium sulphate and magnesium sulphate on the alternate days to the micros, as these salts are macro salts. What are you using to supply nitrate, if not dosing potassium nitrate ?

Does not contain potassium or magnesium, which will be required if you are using CO2 and high light. Lack of potassium will also cause curled leaves, I didn't mention before as I thought you were supplying potassium, which I now know specialised doesn't contain.

Lack of magnesium usually causes yellowing of leaves, similar to lack of iron. However as magnesium is mobile in the plant, unlike iron, the plant will recover once magnesium is supplied.

Looks like lack of calcium, could be especially as you are using RO. How are you hardening your water and what with ?

Never heard this myth before. Well here is my red plants after 5 weeks whilst on holiday. Nitrate would have been through the roof due my EI autodoser. Never had an issue get red plants to be red.

No, ignore your water report. Going down that route and changing things based on somebodies water report, is the start of algae and associated tank problems. The water report is for their test point on a particular day and not your tap water today. Just keep dosing EI, no issues with excess...

How are you ascertaining the "clearly incorrect" 47ppm ? (accuracy of 1ppm ??? doubt it). What pH pen are you using to measure pH ? Can't use a test kit to measure this too many interfering ions/salts/degassing CO2 to get any meaningful reading during CO2 injection. See here about the fallacy...

As Edvert says, that is way way too longer light period, especially if your CO2 is not fully sorted, especially not getting a 1pH drop. pH drops tend to under read CO2 levels (handy so as to not gas fish), so CO2 levels likely to be far far lower than expected. A drop checker can help here. As...

This is how you fit a 16mm diffuser into 25mm piping and not reduce flow, curtesy of plumber extraordinaire Zeus. https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/olympus-is-calling.43046/#post-461575 And like this. https://www.ukaps.org/forum/threads/olympus-is-calling.43046/page-2#post-469673...

Couple of points. - Virtually everyone who has ever rolled their own variation of EI ends up with plant deficiencies or algae. Keep adding phosphate there is no issue if in excess, though definitely issues if not present. - As you are dosing EI the phosphate test of tank water should most...

Any "mechanical damage" to plants, holes, tatty edges etc, is either fish munching or insufficient & poor CO2 for your light levels. What is your filtration rate ? (Filter should be at least 1600l/hr for a tank your size). How is flow distributed ?

You need to look what of your fertilisers is adding iron and what is adding magnesium (if any). If you dose magnesium sulphate (available from garden centres, Boots and Ebay) all plants will green up as magnesium is mobile in the plant. If you dose extra iron, only new leaves will be greener...

This is one of the best links to plant deficiencies. http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/deficiencies.htm Yellow leaves, as pointed out is usually Magnesium or Iron deficiency.

Search the forum for "light compensation point", especially posts by CEG4048 for discussion of minimum light levels necessary for plants to start photosynthesising. It actually quite high, as seen by the human eye, before even "low light" plants start synthesising.

I would start with 4-5 hours then slowly increase time say over next couple of weeks. 6 hours is a good time to keep plants from taking over the tank too quickly. I have 2 T5 tubes 4pm to 11pm and 4 T5 tubes 5pm to 10:30. But I spent years (?) getting CO2 spot on.

My circulation pump is on when CO2 comes on, to ensure good distribution of CO2 water. Mine goes off at 8pm two hours before CO2 off just to quieten tank down, as my tank is in my lounge and this is when I am most likely to be in the lounge.

In order of occurrence that we meet peoples poor plants health on this forum. Plants dying due to poor, incorrect, inefficient and/or crap CO2 injection, distribution and flow. Generally manifested as "mechanical damage" to plants, dying, wilting, rotting, failure to thrive and algae taking...

Timing does not need to be particularly accurate. I dosed my macros & micros for years at 7:30'ish every morning with lights on at 3-4pm. I now dose ferts at 3pm via PLC controlled doser with lights on at 5pm. I suspect dosing a suitable time before lights on allows it to get around the tank...

I have a Koralia 3200 which comes on with CO2. Much much quieter than the cheap Chinese copy. I expect so, the ferts is just standard fertiliser mix mixed with expensive water :rolleyes:. You are paying mostly for water and dosing convenience, the actual fertiliser content costs pennies. Some...

May not be necessary. Add a power head, say located on left wall at the back pointing forward, above your CO2 diffuser to shift the water. Just buy a Hydor Koralia rather than a "cheaper but lasts only a year Chinese copy"...

Couple of more issues I can see... Where does the Evolution Aqua come in this, not mentioned in your first post ? CO2 in bubbles per second is completely meaningless. Everybody's bubble size is different, everybody's else method of dissolving is different so no help in amount of CO2 in the...

Too much light for your CO2 levels is killing the plants and leading to algae. You haven't stated your filter through put. Are you dosing any macros ? Potassium, nitrogen and phosphorus (and magnesium) ? Yellowing of leaves is generally caused by either no iron or no magnesium, both cause...

Low Nitrate levels can cause algae. Ignore your water report, that is for the water companies test point on a particular day, not your tap water today. So add nitrate, even in excess as this will help reduce algae, along with shorter and not so bright lights. Excess's phosphate, or even spot...

Here is first answer.... I feel this fert is really meant for low light, lower energy tanks where nitrate and phosphorus will be provided by fish food and rotting detritus. In higher light, higher energy tanks this will not be produced fast enough to satisfy the plants. You need to provide...

1. Are you dosing and N & P ? (nitrogen and potassium). 2. Your lights are very very very very high light and very very long time and I severely doubt anything other than spot on 100% CO2 gas injection will support lights of that intensity and period 3. BBA on second picture is symptom of poor...

1. Might want to consider replacing your T8 tubes. In my experience T8, unlike T5's, do reduce in light output after a year or two. 2. Try 6 hours, with no reflectors. 3. TNC does not contain any carbon or potassium or magnesium or macro nutrients source for your plants, no wonder they have...

For decent CO2 distribution you are looking at trying to get water jet across the whole width of the tank hitting the front pane as in picture below. This is a sideways view of my Vision 180 with the water level 1/2 way down during a water change.

I did exactly the same on my Vision 180. Upgraded from T8 to T5 and didn't change timing or light levels and promptly grew algae, green spot on glass and Anubias and BBA on rocks/fittings. So cleaned as much algae as possible, reduced light on time and removed reflectors for a couple of weeks...

I dip plants in dilute solution of liquid carbon. Kill snails, snail eggs as well as algae. Be careful,, like all dips too strong will kill the plants.

Plant mechanical issues are usually down to poor carbon source and/or plants being scoffed. What source of carbon are you supplying ? What is lighting regime ?

Try rinsing the affected plants in diluted liquid carbon, that can kill algae very well. However, can be hit and miss as too weak solution has no affect and too strong will kill the plant.

Please stop inventing your own dosing scheme. This is not EI.....I guarantee 99.99% of the people who invent their own dosing scheme have deficiency issues. Oh you are. :mad: Please dose EI correctly, you have not included magnesium sulphate for some very strange reason. It is the cheapest EI...

Move the drop checker around tank, different place each day and verify it is the same level of "greenness". I was really surprised that I could place my drop checker on certain places in my tank and it remained blue, despite being almost yellow in other places.

99.999% of growth issues can be traced back to poor CO2 distribution and flow rather than poor light and insufficient fertiliser.:bored:

The ascorbic acid (vitamin C) is used to lower the pH, to keep the chelated micros chelated and potassium sorbate acts as a preservative.

To things to note here. Someone did test with micros & Excel (and Gluteraldehyde) and found it did react with the chelates. Not sure if it was a direct reaction with the chelate or Excel (& gluteraldehyde) breaking down due to low pH necessary to keep the chelates chelated. Also some magnesium...

I feel sure something is wrong here....never heard reports of the macro going mouldy. (this is UKAPS so mould rather than US mold :D). Are you sure you are not confusing micro, which can go mouldy, with macro. Potassium nitrate is a very good preservative, thus will prevent mould and bacteria...

Please do not invent your own variation on EI dosing, I have seen this time and time again on UKAPS. EI was invented so that there would be guaranteed no nutrient deficiencies and no need to perform any water testing. As you see inventing your own dosing leads to nutrient deficiency.:banghead...

Possibly adding more Fe along with checking you are dosing correct amounts of Mg. Mg is needed to enable Fe take up. We are slightly guessing really of course, as we don't know the exact parameters of your tank and what the effects your DIY dosing is, as opposed to trialed and tested EI dosing...

Perfectly valid question. They often use a more expensive version of chelated iron, usually FE DPTA or Fe EDPA , though there are others, as opposed to the cheaper Fe EDTA. These are more resistant to being unchelated and reacting to the phosphate. They also (and if you mix your own) keep the...

Why are you dosing this as well as all the other salts ? There is a lot of K in you DIY ferts as well as a lot of NO3, any reason why ? Also you need to dose NPK on alternate days to Fe (and maybe micro mix as well) as the Fe will very quickly react with the phosphate and precipitate out of...

My Internet plants have all come from Aquaessentials. https://www.aquaessentials.co.uk All been fine and healthy and a year or two later are still going. The best source I have found locally, for me, has been Aquajardin Southampton. Top quality no algea & no snails. Plants from other local...

Yes oxygen from photosynthesis.

You could use the vertical one (ask CO2supermarket) but gauges will be on their side and CO2 pipe leaves vertically. Will work, but may look odd (ask CO2supermarket).

For a fire extinguisher you need horizontal. For a CO2 cylinder (and sodastream ?) you need vertical. This is equivalent. https://www.co2art.co.uk/collections/single-stage-regulators/products/aquarium-co2-regulator-dual-gauge-solenoid-magnetic-valve

£130 is for the "mutts nuts" version of course. I paid £45 for regulator from CO2supermarket. Like this. http://www.co2supermarket.co.uk/co2-regulator-dual-gauge-solenoid-magnetic-valve-horizontal-valves-p181.html You get your get your inline diffuser & CO2 tubing from them as well. You need...

https://www.ukaps.org/index.php?page=setting-up-a-higher-tech-planted-tank https://www.co2art.co.uk/collections/complete-co2-systems/products/premium-complete-aquarium-co2-system-for-tank-up-to-500l https://www.ukaps.org/index.php?page=dosing-with-dry-salts...

???. Purigen only removes organics. Leaves inorganics alone, which is why it is used in planted tanks.

I've had over 350ppm NO3 (80ppm phosphate) in my tank for days after a pump failure and fish weren't stressed or worried, I only noticed when the heard the dosing pump running 24/7 and the just refilled 1litre macro container was empty. No change in fish behaviour. Most annoying was the overdose...

You are using liquid carbon, some plants are adversely affected by it and either just don't thrive or just melt away. Also why are you dosing EI reduced ? That is probably your answer. EI would be at least 20ml macro/micro every alternate day for your sized tank.

Yes, raises GH (general hardness) but not KH (carbonate hardness). I and many other use 4 tsp potassium nitrate, 1tsp potassium phosphate and 6 tsp magnesium sulphate in to 500ml water, dosing 10ml per 50litre tank water.

Because a lot of these calculators come from US (and eastern Europe) where magnesium is common in the water. It is not very common in UK, so add magnesium sulphate, it is the cheapest EI ingredient, £15 for 25Kg on Ebay if you want a decent amount :).... Also watch out as your water is very...

What form of fertiliser are you adding ? What form of carbon source are you adding ? When tank has fish in it and tank is "low light" these will be provided by fish poo and waste fish food. In the mean time, definitely looks like plants dying due to far far too much light for the levels of...

Also sensitive to liquid carbon, even the smallest amount melts it to a mush.

Absolutely nothing to do with soft water, as mentioned liquid carbon will melt many plants, even some that you think are very hardy. Also 70W is a lot of light when not using gaseous CO2 and extra fertilisers, again will simple melt your plants away.

Way way too little flow. It needs to be along the lines of this, even this is really too little, 1400l/hr as opposed to recommended 1800l/hr for this tank. It really needs to be hitting the front of the tank, when out of the water.

Nope just grows slower.

You have BGA on lower leaves so a sure sign of very poor CO2 levels/distribution for your light level.

My vallis when small was nibbled by my clown loaches. They stripped out the center "juicy" bit. Much like your picture. Removing the loaches cured the issue, vallis growing monster till almost wiped out by me liquid carbon dipping it.

I have seen liquid carbon damage like this, appears to be sensitive to it. I had a BBA outbreak due to accidental food excess and dipped mine in dilute liquid carbon and it went like this...

http://yanc.rotalabutterfly.com/ Can't tell you how much to use as you haven't told us your tank size, if 100l amount is 100mg dry dose for 0.1ppm etc. EI normal value is 0.5ppm.

Holes can sometimes be potassium deficiency, but you are dosing EI and other plants are OK. The fact that the holes are only on leaves nearer the light, again points to CO2 issue with respect to light level (or scoffing fish that need a sun tan).

Mechanical defects in plants is generally always either something in your tanks scoffing whilst you are not looking or insufficient carbon for the light levels you are providing. 36W LED sounds like lot, have you any lumen levels for your LED fixture ?

You tank is 60l which is 15US Gallons, so with 30W light that's 2W/gallon placing your tank nicely in high light, high tech category, so spot on sources of carbon and fertilisers will be required. You will not easily get good CO2 from yeast based systems, some people have, but most fail. I see...

Too much light (intensity and duration) for CO2 level. Most physical damage of this sort is lack of CO2 (or boisterous fish).

Dechlorinator ? Some plants are very susceptible to chlorinated water especially over a month or two timescale. Remember RO in not guaranteed chlorine free, so must be dechlorinated along with tap water.

Yes quite easily. I have heard of people bringing up a new tank using some one elses filter foam and resulting fish immediately suffering from white spot. 40ppm is for boys..real men dose 400ppm like I did when I had a pump jam on and dose 1litre if double strength macro in one go. Found out a...

You known your ppm based on what you have added, no need to measure anything in your tank water. For instance if you add 3/16 of a teaspoon of KNO3 to your tank you know the ppm will be say 7ppm (guessing as on my phone). No need to measure any tank water. Assuming the plants use none then at...

Why ? You dose the ppm in the EI article, the only specialised tool/gadget you need is a teaspoon to put the salts into the water/solution. This teaspoon and/or dose will give you the correct ppm in your tank, no need to measure anything. Remember the 50% weekly water change will reset the ppm...

YES. If you are running CO2 and I know you have monster plant vaporising light capability you MUST supply ferts. You tanks is "high tech" so there will certainly be insufficient nutrients in a so called "enriched substrate". Read the article on EI as the cheapest way for supply fertiliser...

Have you cycled your tank ???, this would explain the ammonia which is causing your algae ? You are using a dechlorinator of some form ?, even with RO you may need dechlorinator as RO units without DI final resin can pass ammonia into the water ? Turn those lights down, maybe 1/4 brightness...

We need to know more, like, tank size, tank depth, light power, fertilisers used, any form or carbon, filter flow rate etc. My anubias used to get BBA, like yours growing on the leaves, when directly under my lights. I have now removed the affected leaves and placed the anubias under the tank...

You don't know the meaning of liquid carbon overdose....stop under fertilising get on with it.... This is overdosing liquid carbon with b*gger all effect.... Pump timer issue and liquid carbon overdose....