Black Spots on leaves

[Cd2021]

Hi Ceg,

Another F1 fan. Think we’ll be in for a treat this year, typical on a regulation change. I know, but shows he is human sometimes. Yes should’ve done what he did in turkey and kept the tyres going. Just shows what he can do getting through the cars from 9th and asks more questions of valteri being stuck and having Russell attempting an over take. Roll on 2022 with Russell In the merc.

Yes I’m happing with that flow and can see some of the alternanthera reineckii pink leaves swaying at the bottom too!

I think I’m a way off dropping the excel, still have some bba around the crypts and mini grass. But will have a trim up at the weekend. I have to admit I stopped dosing daily, and was doing every 2-3 days. Amateur mistake on my behalf. I’ve attached some pictures.

I’m going to add more soil to the back right corner next week (week of work woo), so will be doing a lot of water changes to limit ammonia spike. And debating on removing the Valois. Not sure if it works with my scape. What do you think? Wish I’d put the long leafy crypt by the hard scape and the other ones down the other end really.

Thanks
Chris

 

[ceg4048]

I think I’m a way off dropping the excel, still have some bba around the crypts and mini grass. But will have a trim up at the weekend. I have to admit I stopped dosing daily, and was doing every 2-3 days.

Hi Chris,
OK, yeah, that is really "bad juju" skipping the Excel dosing. It actually makes things worse. It's best if you can dose it just before lights on as well. You can also spot dose using an eye dropper or small paint brush if it's on the hardscape, but the leaves will never recover so get those out of the tank asap.

And debating on removing the Valois. Not sure if it works with my scape. What do you think?

Well, they're not my favorite and often have a disheveled look. With so many hard edged leaves it would benefit the scape softening things up with some moss or similar.

Cheers,

 

[Cd2021]

Hi Ceg,

sorry didn’t see this.

I’ve been using a syringe for both hard scape and plants. Done Saturday then dosed more after water change yesterday and will continue to do this for a couple of weeks. It just seems to be the front where I’m getting it and the odd older leaf on the stem plants.

I’ve removed the Vallis, gives more shape to the scape too. Going to put more pinnafita on the wood going up and get another couple of bits of wood to go out about 45 degrees then another piece coming from back to front.

Thanks
Chris

 

[Cd2021]

Forgot to add.

had a good trim up and removed affected areas down the front.

the hair grass doesn’t seem to be growing at all. Never been able to successfully do a carpet. That was initially 6 vitro pots.

 

[ceg4048]

Hi Chris,
OK, looking better. It takes a while for things to recover. Just carry on and keep an eye on it. The hairgrass isn't dying, so that's the good news.

Cheers,

 

[Cd2021]

Hi Ceg,

hope you’re well?

Carried out a partial rescape today. Umm quite happy with it. What do you think?

Had a good trim up, replanting the cuttings. and have purchased some root tabs for the crypts, alterenthera too.

Flow down the busier side (right side) of the tank still isn’t great, I was hoping with putting more soil in, adding depth would assist the flow. And shows with some bba still being there. Wasn’t much in the tank at all when taking the plants out. Would I be able to add 1x power head towards the corner of the tank pointing to the front following the same flow of the spray bars?

thanks
Chris

 

[Cd2021]

Pictures would help

 

[ceg4048]

Hi Chris,
Doing OK mate, thanks. Hey, I'm looking at photo #1 and the DC looks blue. Is that an optical illusion or is that really happening? The light should not be on when the DC is blue. I'm assuming you start the gas a few hours before and that by the time you have the pH drop of about 1 then the lights come on, right? Is the DC still blue after a few hours of gas? If so then that's very odd.

I can see the algae on the small green crypts in the front, but I also see in the other photo that there are lots of CO2 bubbles but they all seem to be nearer to the top of the tank. I cannot see where bubbles actually make it to the hairgrass. It could be that the bubbles are just too big and that their buoyancy allows them to escape upwards before they get pushed into the plant beds. I'd prefer to see more bubbles heading into the beds, so perhaps it's worth a go placing a powerhead at the center of the length of spraybar that's on the right hand half of the tank. Place it just below the spraybar and see if it's able to push more bubbles into the bed.

Also confirm that you haven't turned up the lights because there are some stem bunches on the far left that don't look great. It might be worth putting some small gaps between each stem to allow better flow through.

Yeah, definitely experiment with the powerhead and see how that affects flow through the bed and try to figure out what's going on with that blue DC, cause that's not good mate.

Cheers,

 

[Cd2021]

Hi Ceg,

Good good. Eagle eyes has spotted that correct the DC was in fact blue. Where I done the rescape 2 water changes were done and the co2 wasn’t running during the period. And changing the indicator fluid. The bubbles you can see in the tank are just from draining and filling the tank.

I’ve not changed the times of the co2 still coming on about 4 hours before to achieve the 1 ph drop and the indicator is usually around a nice lime green colour 😀.

The light is still at 50% then 40 for blue and green. I’d done something slightly weird though, for a few days decided to do a 3 hour ramp up and down. I did notice this and change to 6 hours @ the 50,40, 40. I do want to extend the photo period but want to ensure the bba is all good first and the other bits. Only time it’s been any higher is a demo if friends have been over. First time they’ve seen the tank, and thanks very briefly.

my concern with putting in the middle was that’s pretty much inline with the wood, would that severely impact that? I’m thinking of going for about 2500-3000lph as the 1600 that I have is on the other tank and don’t think that will be powerful enough.

I’ll get another video in its current format. The left side flow looks great. Just the busier side of the tank that is lacking. Should’ve gone for a Dutch style scape haha.
Thanks
Chris

 

[ceg4048]

Hi Chris,
OK, that explains it. I'm still perplexed as to why it takes 4 hours to drop the pH though.
I was mentioning to another poster in his thread just now that it's better to use multiple smaller koralias than to use a single large powerful one. That way the pump does not become an eye sore and you will get better efficiency.

When the water exits the pump the shape is a cone, if you can imagine, and the cone spreads out as the distance from the pump increases, so the power tends to disperse and becomes less effective. The smaller pumps have a tighter cone, which allows you to distribute the flow more evenly and a better percentage of the waters momentum makes it to the front glass.

Yeah, Dutch style is less fiddly, for sure, but folks have difficulty with those as well. I would just drop the light intensity another 10%. This helps and is an easier fix than having to manhandle kilograms of water.

Cheers mate.

 

[Cd2021]

Hi Ceg,
To be honest as am I, I’m medium water, kh6 but speaking to someone in my LFS who also lives locally he does his around 4 hours before too.
Okay, I’ll have a little look about. Although koralias seem a little difficult to get in the UK at present unless I go used. And people are selling for quite a bit of money. Or I’ll see if I can find one with a tighter cone/ smaller area it’s projecting from.
Can I ask why you think lowering the light a further 10%? With the red plants on the tank, co2 and EI ferts would I be going off balance by running lower levels of lighting. I get with blasting the light and margins of error, melt etc.
I will attach below a couple of videos of the tank at present. Side profile and general over view. Spray bars will be getting a good clear this weekend.
Thanks again,
Chris

 

[Cd2021]

Tank overview

Side view, showing Co2 routing through tank

 

[Cd2021]

Hi Ceg,

Sorry batterring your with messages tonight.
Just been looking, hydor seems impossible to source and people selling used for more than what I paid new for my 1600. I’m thinking of going for the tunze nanostream 6045. Head is small on it, adjustable flow between approx 1500lph and 4500lph. Incase I’ve under estimated what is required.
Quite a few people on the forum seem to use them and reviews seems pretty good. Any experiences?
Thanks
Chris

 

[ceg4048]

Just been looking, hydor seems impossible to source and people selling used for more than what I paid new for my 1600. I’m thinking of going for the tunze nanostream 6045. Head is small on it, adjustable flow between approx 1500lph and 4500lph. Incase I’ve under estimated what is required.
Quite a few people on the forum seem to use them and reviews seems pretty good. Any experiences?

Yeah, it's a sign of the times that everything is nil stock or absurdly expensive if you can find it. Tunze has solid products although I've never used this item. Give it a try, why not?

To be honest as am I, I’m medium water, kh6 but speaking to someone in my LFS who also lives locally he does his around 4 hours before too.

Yes I know a lot of folks seem to require long lead times. To me that indicates some issue with diffusion or injection rate. I mean, 4 hours is a heck of a long time. With my most recent gear I dropped my pH by 1 unit in 20 minutes, but I'm an eccentric and that's over the top gear on a 200 gallon tank. The worst I've been able to do is 1.5 hour using a couple of inline diffusers like this:

That video looks a lot better than the previous one with regard to the flow. The plants, even the affected crypts look like they are moving, so that should be good enough. In the previous video the plants in the back were barely moving, but now they look good. I shouldn't think you need more flow than that.

Can I ask why you think lowering the light a further 10%? With the red plants on the tank, co2 and EI ferts would I be going off balance by running lower levels of lighting.

Well, I mean, light causes algae. It's that simple. When you have algae problems the first step is always to reduce the light. That gives you room to breathe. I don't know why folks have difficulty with this. Everybody uses this word "balance", which makes no sense to me. There is no such thing as balance. There is only cause and effect. This is a really important concept here. Plants grow by their use of CO2. Light is an engine that forces the plant to use CO2 faster. Plants have food reserves. Algae mostly do not. Therefore healthy plants simply eat from their food reserves and replenish those reserves by using CO2. Algae, having no reserves must constantly use the light. So light is more important to algae than it is to plants. When you reduce the light algae suffer and plants simply grow slower.
On the other hand, plants need lots of CO2 because they are large and are made mostly of carbon. Algae, being small, don't require very much CO2 at all.

Here you've got a situation where there is plenty of light, which helps algae but there is an problem with CO2, which hurts plants.
So this is a double whammy because the light commands the plant to use more CO2, but it can't because the gas is not being delivered optimally. Algae love CO2, but they don't need much and are doing well, while the plant suffers.
Only when the CO2 is repaired should the light be increased. The algae is telling you that. To me it's so obvious. You don't need any test kit, for example, to know this, and you certainly don't need more light. You need less light.
Its another strange fact that the more CO2 you have the less light you need.
Everyone is running around looking for the best light they can afford when they really should be paying attention to CO2.
Here, here is a red plant (some kind of Althernanthera with low light). It looks a bit orange because it's being grown with an orange colored bulb. There was no problem growing this plant. It just took a long time.
The point here is that the value of the light intensity is only speed of growth, nothing else, but if you command a speed that's faster than the plant is capable of then it will suffer and will be attacked.


Cheers,

 

[Cd2021]

Hi Ceg,

I do love the deep answers, does help me learn a hell of a lot. That makes perfect sense. I just can’t believe the amazing results you get from lower left lighting in comparison to everything your shown on YouTube, George, green aqua etc. Do you run tubes over LED then? What ferts do you ? I’ve been thinking of changing from aquarium plant food Ei, to the 2hr aquarist APT complete, seen some good things about it.

Yeah agreed it is odd that it’s such a long time. What diffusion method do you use? I have 2x inline co2 art diffusers and under the impression they’re pretty good. You’re not going to tell me different, haha. I think my regulator may not be the greatest if I’m honest. It’s an Ista one. Please see video at the bottom of my injection rate.

Flow is definitely better, but I think that right side isn’t as good as the left. So think I’ll purchase that 3000lph power head. “Flow is king” after all. Learning quite quickly co2 is king. If it’s too much or not enough will be fine with my saulosi.

I’ve amended my lighting to 40% but upped to 7 hours. Then amended my co2 too.
Thanks
Chris

 

[ceg4048]

I do love the deep answers, does help me learn a hell of a lot. That makes perfect sense. I just can’t believe the amazing results you get from lower left lighting in comparison to everything your shown on YouTube, George, green aqua etc. Do you run tubes over LED then? What ferts do you ? I’ve been thinking of changing from aquarium plant food Ei, to the 2hr aquarist APT complete, seen some good things about it.

Hi Chris,
The tank in the photo used only T5 fluorescent tubes. You can use a lot of light only when CO2 is set correctly. I only ever use the standard EI powders purchsed in bulk from various sources, whoever is selling the cheapest, usually the lowest grade. I do not suggest that you change what you are using. That is not going to help you. In fact, both brands have exactly the same ingredients so only get the other if it is cheaper. When you get the right flow and distribution, and when you plants are getting the correct uptake of CO2 then they will use the nutrients properly. Nutrient usage and CO2 usage go hand in hand.

Have you checked for leaks at the joints using soapy water in a spray bottle?
I was answering another post the other day and I mentioned that the bubbles coming out of the spraybar should be more of a mist instead of the bubbles, which seem very large. The large bubbles have greater buoyancy which prevents them from staying down at the bottom and getting into the plant beds. I can see in the video that the gas is entering the bubble counters but it's not clear how well the diffusers are working I'll have to study the video showing the diffusers some more. I'm not sure if there are any adjustments possible to those diffusers.

Cheers,

 

[Cd2021]

Hi Ceg,

What did you think of the f1? Hamilton & Mercedes master class!

Okay, that’s exactly what I’m using then putting that into water then dosing 50ml be day. Alternate days of macro and micro. I’ve seen quite a few people dosing both per day adding something (can’t remember the name of the chemical). Cost was the main reason I swapped, Tropica ferts was costing me a fortune.

I can’t say I’ve checked for leaks like that, but did have a leak when I initially setup the 2nd inline diffuser. Which seems to be all good now, can’t hear any hissing.

I do quite often read your other posts, and agree that you should write a book or get on YouTube. You’re amazing! Yes the idea of that video was to show you the BPS of the system. The misting in the tank is the best I’ve had from any diffuser (used many in tank previously). The inline diffusers are just a solid unit. Can only tank apart to clean. See a link below to them.

NEW Inline Diffuser - 12/16 - CO2Art | Aquarium CO2 System Specialists

New Inline CO2Art Diffuser.

www.co2art.co.uk

Unfortunately I attempt to be a perfectionist. And want to do the best at whatever I can. And want/ expect my tank to be at show level haha.
Kind Regards
Chris

 

[ceg4048]

What did you think of the f1? Hamilton & Mercedes master class!

Hi Chris,
Yeah that was unbelievable. I actually was upset after his pit stop and wasn't able to make it out of the pit ahead of the Ducthman. I figured he'd just have to settle for second and that maybe the Mercedes just isn't as quick as earlier in the season. I left the tele and came back later to see him winning! Incredible.

Okay, that’s exactly what I’m using then putting that into water then dosing 50ml be day. Alternate days of macro and micro. I’ve seen quite a few people dosing both per day adding something (can’t remember the name of the chemical). Cost was the main reason I swapped, Tropica ferts was costing me a fortune.

Yes we've spent the better part of two decades imploring folks to NOT spend their hard earned cash on designer fertilizer in pretty yellow bottles because they have (to a much lesser extent) exactly the same ingredients as the bags of fertilizers that farmers in the countryside have used for centuries to grow the potatoes used for your chips. All you need is potassium nitrate, potassium phosphate and some trace element mix. That's all. Never let anyone convince you that you need anything else. No pumps, no perfume bottles and no techno-babble.

I do quite often read your other posts, and agree that you should write a book or get on YouTube. You’re amazing! Yes the idea of that video was to show you the BPS of the system. The misting in the tank is the best I’ve had from any diffuser (used many in tank previously). The inline diffusers are just a solid unit. Can only tank apart to clean. See a link below to them.

Yeah, maybe I will when I have some more time. It will probably start another flame war though.
I've checked out the diffuser link and it does look good. As you mention, many have sung it's praises. I's say definitely do regular soaking in bleach and then rinsing away the bleach residue.
Nothing wrong with perfectionism, but it cost more energy.

Cheers,

 

[Cd2021]

Hi Ceg,

Are you not a max fan? Thoroughly enjoying this season, just showing how great Lewis is. I strongly believe that he’s out performing that car at present and the red bull is quicker. I really want to see George Russel in the merc next year. Bottas has had his chance. But merc have a firm 1-2 with those drivers, so can’t see it happening unfortunately. Nearly as disappointing as the AJ Fury fight not happening in the UK.

Anyways back to fish 😂

Yeah that makes perfect sense, and must say since opening this thread and using a lot of your time I must say I’ve noticed that. It’s only cost me a bottle or two of excel. I am very much someone that likes all the bells and whistles... smart high tech products. And often find myself wasting money on the wrong thing.

You write that like you’ve done a book/ YouTube previously? Why and what do you mean by flame war? Okay great, I think I’ll purchase a couple of the ceramic internals then can swap them out whilst cleaning the others, then do this monthly.

Yeah, I strongly hope I get there. I must say I genuinely love this. Learning a lot from you and is the first thing I read in the morning, then reply later that evening. I forgot to ask, how are you yourself now? Planning on setting your tank/ tanks back up?

Thanks
Chris

 

[ceg4048]

Are you not a max fan? Thoroughly enjoying this season, just showing how great Lewis is. I strongly believe that he’s out performing that car at present and the red bull is quicker. I really want to see George Russel in the merc next year. Bottas has had his chance. But merc have a firm 1-2 with those drivers, so can’t see it happening unfortunately. Nearly as disappointing as the AJ Fury fight not happening in the UK.

Hi Chris,
Yeah mate, Max is a great driver. I'm just a bigger Hamilton fan, that's all, haha. On the other hand Botas is irritating as he often argues with team instructions. I thought I saw where he actually held up Luis and cost him a second or two. That would be great to have George on the team. Yay!

Yeah that makes perfect sense, and must say since opening this thread and using a lot of your time I must say I’ve noticed that. It’s only cost me a bottle or two of excel. I am very much someone that likes all the bells and whistles... smart high tech products. And often find myself wasting money on the wrong thing.

Well it's not time wasted if we can get your tank in tip top shape mate, and of course if it helps others who have similar problems then all the better.

You write that like you’ve done a book/ YouTube previously?

No, only that there are a variety of topics that are controversial because of all the misinformation out there which people still believe, even though we and The Barr Report have been battling for years. We find that people will fight for those ideas no matter what. Think about how many things you've had to unlearn...I'm afraid even potential publisher will think me a quack. I could see myself being hauled off in a straight jacket...

I think I’ll purchase a couple of the ceramic internals then can swap them out whilst cleaning the others, then do this monthly.

Good policy mate. Remember, if you can to do another pH profile when you swap these out and see if there is a performance difference.

Learning a lot from you and is the first thing I read in the morning, then reply later that evening. I forgot to ask, how are you yourself now? Planning on setting your tank/ tanks back up?

Good stuff mate. I'm doing better but I probably won't be setting the tank up as I'll be on the move again in a few months. The tank is so big and so difficult. I had simply turned it into a terrarium and the plants have just been growing as if they were in a dry start. The scene inside the tank is really insane. I have to either chuck them out or sell them on flea-bay. I might post them here for the folks in USA.

Cheers,