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GSA issues and black leaves

sh4d0w

sh4d0w

Member
Joined
30 Jun 2020
Messages
73
Location
Stockport, Greater Manchester
1. Size of tank in litres. - 330Ltr
2. Age of the set - up. - Scaped in May 2023
3. Filtration. - Oase BioMaster 600 Thermo with Martrix in all trays, Orange sponges and Purigen & Eheim Pro4+ 600 with Bio Home Ultimate and Substrat pro with Carbon. TMC 600 UV and Twinstar M2 Reactor.
4. Lighting and duration. WRGB2 Pro 90 - 1545 - 2200 with 30 min ramp up and down
5. Substrate. - From bottom up; Volcano Mineral -> JBL AquaBasis -> Tropica Substrat -> ADA Power Sand -> Tropica Soil -> Tropica Soil Powder
6. Co2 dosing or Non-dosing. LifeAqua Dualstage Pro Reg with CO2 Art inline diffuser at 15ish BPS (I have doubled this today from approx/ 7BPS) - CO2 on at 1400 and off at 2115
7. Fertilizers used & Ratios. APT3 9ML a day by Sentia Doser. i have avail but currently not used - Seachem Excel, Iron, Phosphate, Flourish and Aquaforest carbon (Excel and Carbo got today spot dose GSA, if you tell me toooo...) also have a starter park of salts from the old Aquarium Plant food.
8. Water change regime and type. - Aim for 50-60% Weekly.
9. Plant list + When planted. - SEE IMAGEs
10. Drop Checker. - Yes, Green
11. Inhabitants. - Amano, Cherry, Otto, Tetras, Cherry Barb & SAE
12. Full tank image & Surface image
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Krzysztof 82 (Kris) said:
Hi all,

At point 4, What or whom driven you to substrate/s choice?
Regarding point 5. What are the light settings?

Regards
Click to expand...
Is this a question directed at my buddy or in general?

Personally
4 - I used Volcano Min for height, i had Aquabasis already and topped up with Tropica Substrate for the deep nutrient release, ADA power sand was suggested by Uncle Dave @Aquarium Gardens and capped off with Tropica Soil and Powder for a finer grade to help keep my grass in place.

5 - I use the preset "All" setting.
 
sh4d0w said:
Is this a question directed at my buddy or in general?

Personally
4 - I used Volcano Min for height, i had Aquabasis already and topped up with Tropica Substrate for the deep nutrient release, ADA power sand was suggested by Uncle Dave @Aquarium Gardens and capped off with Tropica Soil and Powder for a finer grade to help keep my grass in place.

5 - I use the preset "All" setting.
Click to expand...

Hi all,

Yes @sh4d0w , questions were directed to you.

I think point 4. is overkill and not necessary, but it's my opinion.

About point 5. If all channels are set, are those in full 100% setting?

Regards
 
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sh4d0w said:
May well be overkill, i guess i could have just used one Substrate soil and then just Tropica Soil Powder.

Lights are on 100% yes.
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I would just down the light to 80% and observe plants.
About all those additives, if you wanted to raise the back, that's fine, JBL lava or ADA power sand, great, or simple 10-15mm grade pumice would do too. But tropica soil is already packed with nutrients, so those additional jbl and tropica substrates, in my personal opinion were not necessary.
 
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Hi @sh4d0w think you have to assess the Phosphate levels?
GSA usually appears when either too much or not enough!
Pogostemon helferi is stretching for light.....this plant does better out in the open.
There is another stem with similar issues not sure of the identity....try moving them into a more open area of the foreground.
See how they react...if they don't progress, then Co2 needs attention the lighting period needs to be increased to 8 hours gradually and the intensity reduced to 75%.
The hair grass looks a tad yellow, but this might be the lighting or Iron/Magnesium deficiency.
Purchase floating plants.....or add fast growing stems to the surface.
There various pinned/sticky threads that advise this.
 
GHNelson said:
Hi @sh4d0w think you have to assess the Phosphate levels?
GSA usually appears when either too much or not enough!
Pogostemon helferi is stretching for light.....this plant does better out in the open.
There is another stem with similar issues not sure of the identity....try moving them into a more open area of the foreground.
See how they react...if they don't progress, then Co2 needs attention the lighting period needs to be increased to 8 hours gradually and the intensity reduced to 75%.
The hair grass looks a tad yellow, but this might be the lighting or Iron/Magnesium deficiency.
Purchase floating plants.....or add fast growing stems to the surface.
There various pinned/sticky threads that advise this.
Click to expand...

I will do a PO4 test in a moment, i will report back on this soon.
The PogHel was indeed in the open at point of planting, haha, i didnt consider the surrounding plants filling out. doh!
8 hours, got it! may i ask the reason for reduction to 75%? - By PAR Calculation on my 650mm deep tank + height of light, the PAR is below advised by @George Farmer when in discussion at AG some time back.
Hair grass. yes! i gave it a massive trim as i was struggling with some black / brown growth, its not bouncing back well, yet. - shall i test for Iron and Mag?
I had a load of floating plants that just ended up growing crazy and a constant fight with my skimmer so i just got rid, ill get some more, my Hra however does grow upto and over the surfcace if i leave it.
 
sh4d0w said:
More likely -300 with displacement. The filter's volume may counteract that ?
Click to expand...
I would not count filters. Do you know the size of the tank, what thickness glass has and how much substrates you have added at the bottom? Then we could find how much water there is.
 
My two cents as someone who had similar problems. I would check CO2, you have a very strong light blasted at 100% ( I have a tank with the same water volume, with a WA p900 at 70%, 7200lm vs 9000+ of WRGB2 Pro).
Drop checker green or yellow, to me, means nothing, I always had problems with DC.

I had a yellow drop checker (well, 3 yellow DCs, in different spot), but algae too (that went away when I dimmed the light). I bought a pH meter (no need to have a precise reading, only the difference between 2 readings) and then I figured out than my yellow drop checker (so an expected 30+ppm) was in reality only a 0.6 drop in pH, so around 10 or 15ppm of CO2, not enough for a medium light tank.

About GSA, when I experienced it, in another tank, it was due to fresh aqua soil (tropica as) that sucked up all the po4. I resolved dosing more for a month or two.
 
sh4d0w said:
1. Size of tank in litres. - 330Ltr
2. Age of the set - up. - Scaped in May 2023
3. Filtration. - Oase BioMaster 600 Thermo with Martrix in all trays, Orange sponges and Purigen & Eheim Pro4+ 600 with Bio Home Ultimate and Substrat pro with Carbon. TMC 600 UV and Twinstar M2 Reactor.
4. Lighting and duration. WRGB2 Pro 90 - 1545 - 2200 with 30 min ramp up and down
5. Substrate. - From bottom up; Volcano Mineral -> JBL AquaBasis -> Tropica Substrat -> ADA Power Sand -> Tropica Soil -> Tropica Soil Powder
6. Co2 dosing or Non-dosing. LifeAqua Dualstage Pro Reg with CO2 Art inline diffuser at 15ish BPS (I have doubled this today from approx/ 7BPS) - CO2 on at 1400 and off at 2115
7. Fertilizers used & Ratios. APT3 9ML a day by Sentia Doser. i have avail but currently not used - Seachem Excel, Iron, Phosphate, Flourish and Aquaforest carbon (Excel and Carbo got today spot dose GSA, if you tell me toooo...) also have a starter park of salts from the old Aquarium Plant food.
8. Water change regime and type. - Aim for 50-60% Weekly.
9. Plant list + When planted. - SEE IMAGEs
10. Drop Checker. - Yes, Green
11. Inhabitants. - Amano, Cherry, Otto, Tetras, Cherry Barb & SAE
12. Full tank image & Surface imageView attachment 214379View attachment 214380View attachment 214381View attachment 214382View attachment 214383View attachment 214384View attachment 214385View attachment 214386View attachment 214387View attachment 214388View attachment 214389
Click to expand...
Up the flow For the smelly algae....slow the tank down!!!.....substate could be a bit too leaky??....take off old leaves.....slow lights down....and more water changing to rid algae spores......
 
SO i have not yet done any water tests, been away for a few days with work. back today so ill get on and will also update with some photos to see if more CO2 has helped.
 
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