Could do with some help getting to grips with this tank

[Gaz90]

Hi all, I've been trying to get this tank sorted for over a year now, but only really got seriously on top of it over the last couple of months.

It's a 5 gallon tank, co2 injected, Eden 501 filter, 7w LED light. I'm dosing EI ferts and easy carbo (4ml macro & micro on alternating days with 1 day off weekly, 1ml easy carbo daily) and injecting carbon & lighting around 6-7 hours per day. I do a 50% water change weekly after scrubbing the rocks & glass.

I'm having numerous issues with plants melting, some turning black and getting holes in them (though this seems to have stopped for now,) hairgrass turning brown/melting, diatoms covering the rocks & certain plants and algae growing on certain leaves. Here are a few pics:-


Eleocharis Parvula browing/melting



Algae on Java Fern & Cyperus Helferi


Rotala Rotundifolia 'Orange Juice' melting from the bottom up. Planted 5 days ago.
Staurogyne Repens blackened/damaged leaves w/ diatoms.


Alternathera Reineckii 'Mini' lower leaves discolouring/melting. Planted 5 days ago.


Whole tank with pop-up plant just pulled from floating on the bloody surface. Pogostemon helferi went in two days ago and is growing like a weed.

The only original plant that's doing well is the small-leafed one on the left (I forget the name) which seems to grow by a centimetre a day, though this also died off quite badly when I initially added it to the tank. It's worth saying that all the plants besides the java ferns were grown emersed, and everything other than those I've highlighted has been in the tank for about a month.

I'd really appreciate some advice from people more experienced than me on what I might be able to do to fix some of these issues? The only thing I can think of for now is better lighting?

Cheers guys! =]

 

[Straight Shooter]

Plants are new and I'm umming and erring a little here, but think micro toxicity is a potential problem.

Full EI may be too rich for this tank, the lower levels of EI would be more suitable for the level of plant mass.

I'd cut dosing in half, macros and micros and see if things improve.

They are still growing in, possibly transitioning to submersed so it's early days.

 

[rebel]

I reckon your light is too high for this tank. It will need more CO2 and more dosing. Have you measured TDS etc? (just to get an idea).

Best solution is to reduce light by 20%.

 

[Gaz90]

Plants are new and I'm umming and erring a little here, but think micro toxicity is a potential problem.

Full EI may be too rich for this tank, the lower levels of EI would be more suitable for the level of plant mass.

I'd cut dosing in half, macros and micros and see if things improve.

They are still growing in, possibly transitioning to submersed so it's early days.

The R Rotundifolia OJ has almost completely disappeared today, but the remains of some stalks are still left in the sub so I'm gonna give them a few weeks to see what happens. I think you're probably right about the transition to submersed for the plants, all new growth does seem to be a lot healthier and unaffected by algae. I've halved dosing of everything for now.

I reckon your light is too high for this tank. It will need more CO2 and more dosing. Have you measured TDS etc? (just to get an idea).

Best solution is to reduce light by 20%.

The pictures make the tank look a lot brighter than it is. I'm only using a 7w, 16 LED light right now. As it's the lower parts of all the plants that seem to be having the most trouble, I've ordered the 25cm version of this to be sure. If it destroys everything, I'll know you were right 😉 I don't have a TDI meter to hand.

I'm thinking maybe I might have been overdoing the easycarbo? I was double dosing it to keep algae at bay.

 

[Straight Shooter]

The other potential issue here is Easy Carbo.. dose is 1ml/50L.. you're running less than 20L here.. I'd reduce to <0.5ml

Glut is potent stuff, plant uptake may be affected by CO2 injection, plants can sustain damage.

 

[Gaz90]

The other potential issue here is Easy Carbo.. dose is 1ml/50L.. you're running less than 20L here.. I'd reduce to <0.5ml

Glut is potent stuff, plant uptake may be affected by CO2 injection, plants can sustain damage.

Cheers, I stopped dosing entirely for a week or so, as I expected algae took over quite quickly on older leaves and the taller plants.

Yesterday I broke everything down, cleaned all the gravel, boiled the rocks to kill off the diatoms, removed almost everything that looked unhealthy and removed the fish for now until the plants have a chance to bed in. I won't be adding any more plants until I can get these growing healthily because I'm throwing money away.

I'm now gonna be EI dosing 2ml per day plus 0.5ml easy carbo. I'm turning co2 on and dosing at 11am, lights on at 12, co2 off at 5pm and lights off at 6.

My new light came and I'm not sure what to set the brightness at. When I turn it up all the way the plants start pearling like crazy, but I'm worried about overdoing it. Here's the light's specs:-

15W
45 LEDs
Color temp: Around 8000K
Luminous Flux: 2350lm

Problem is there's 8 different brightness settings. I've got it 3rd toggle from lowest for now, very little pearling. Should I just go crazy whilst the fish are out and ramp up the co2 and ferts and blast the lights? I want everything properly rooted because the cories were digging it all up.

A few pics of the new setup:-

 

[sgdiscus]

Hi there Gaz90,

I have been lurking in this forum for awhile and finally got myself registered. Anyhow, came across your post as I was looking for something on substrates. I have gone through similar situations before with my own 2 feet tank. Hard for me to say whether your new regime will work or not but I think the advice given by those previously are valid.

One suggestion for your consideration is to have a bit of patience and not vary too many parameters at the same time. For example, if I have to do a new tank, I will do the following:

1. After I have completed the aquascape, I would throw in additional plants mass to bulk up and soak up the excess nutrients. My favourite plants to assist the new plants are duck weeds and wisteria. I just leave them floating. Based on the new pictures you have posted, my humble opinion is that your tank is 'lightly' planted. Therefore, if you blast the lights (ie high intensity and more than 8 hour duration) - you may get algae regardless of the CO2 you pumped in. This is because the plant mass is not enough to take advantage of the high light and high CO2 as such algae will come in to take advantage of the high light.

2. The other thing you may wish to consider is that - given your plants are newly planted and still establishing themselves, high light now at this moment will not help. This is because the new plants have not established themselves sufficiently to take advantage of the high light/high CO2. I would set the lights to a low rating - maybe just enough to see a bit of pearling and leave it as that. I would also limit the lighting duration to 6 hours or less. Then monitor the set up for two weeks.

3. By the end of two weeks, if algae is not aggressive, then I would slowly adjust the lighting intensity to the new level and then observe again.

Good luck!

 

[Gaz90]

Hi sgdiscus,

Cheers for the advice, I'll keep the lights as they are for now in that case. I do have some java fern I removed as I thought it was too big and was ruining the scale of things, so I could float that in there.

Might it be worth planting more heavily now so I don't have to interfere with anything later? Only around 1/4 of the plants I've bought have survived so far which is why I don't fancy wasting more money, but if the low plant mass is likely to be an issue I could load it up more.

I think a big problem with the tank in the past is that I had plants uprooting themselves constantly (naughty cories), so I was disturbing the gravel several times a day replanting and adding new plants to replace dead ones. The guppies and betta I removed died today, I believe due to a large ammonia spike before moving them. I don't test as much as I used to with the filter being well established, but the substrate had been there 8 months through multiple replants without ever being thoroughly cleaned beyond a gravel vac, maybe this was also the cause of the algae/diatom issues?

 

[sgdiscus]

Hi Gaz90,

1. Java fern is not a fast growing plant But having said that if you have it already no harm throwing it in. The ones that I used effectively are duckweed, water sprite and hydrilla. I use them because they are extremely cheap in my country - maybe about 50 pence? I would not stress about it if you don't want to spend more. Just focus on light control.

2. As for cories digging up the plants - based on what I could observe from your pictures - your substrate looks large... which means that your plants may not be able to withstand the digging. Sorry nothing I can help you.

3. As to whether the constant replanting caused the diatoms / algae - cannot really tell as there were too many things happening in your tank. But based on your observations, I would say the primary cause is the lighting. Your CO2 checker showed green so at least it seems to indicate you have enough CO2. You are using EI dosing which also seems to indicate you have more than sufficient nutrient.

4. You have not indicated the temperature of your tank. Is it around 26 to 28 degrees Celsius? Anything higher than that could also make it difficult for plants.

5. My humble suggestion is for you to review the EI dosing regime that you are using. The schedule calls for Macros 3 times a week and Micros alternate. Day 6 and 7 are rest days with no dosing. Water change (at least 50%) on day 1 to reset the nutrient level.