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I think something is wrong with my set up plants don't grow

Hi mate,
Yes, it means a lot to me. I can see that from 2pm to 3:45pm the pH did not fall, which means that gas was being injected for almost 2 hours(?) without any effect. Having said that, we should have gotten a measurement just at lights on because it is possible that the plants were consuming enough CO2 to raise the pH back to 7 from some lower value. In either case this is very poor efficiency, so either you have a CO2 leak somewhere, or the injection rate is too low, or both of these.

It's not clear to me from your description what time gas is turned on/off or when lights are turned off.

You may need to play with increased injection rate and turn-on/shutoff timing. I forgot to ask what the tank water's alkalinity is. If it's below 8 or so (as measured by your KH kit) then you might want to target a lower minimum pH instead of 6.5, and ideally that would occur at about 4PM (but that is a really tall order and you would require sorcery to achieve that without annihilating the critters later in the day). Obviously, you have to be careful to not gas the fish, but definitely have a play.

Alternatively, if you fear for the safety of the fish, you can leave the injection rate alone and supplement with liquid carbon, but that cost more money, and some of your plants may not appreciate it depending on the species.

Cheers,
 
co2 comes on at 12am then lights turn on at 3pm co2 turns off at 5pm and lights turn off at 10pm

KH I just done and is 6

also done a PH test first thing this morning to see what the base PH is and It is 7.5 this was taken before co2 started I will also take one dead on lights on.
 
Yeah, it's taking 5 hours to drop the pH one unit, which is not good. In your case it should take ideally 3 hours so that it's 6.5 when the lights go on. A Catch-22, no doubt.

Cheers,
 
Still not having much luck with the plants and getting the balance right. Since I last posted I lost my discus so I'm no longer having to use 50/50mix of RO water not sure if this makes a difference. also ive had a algue issue again this could be due to water hardness change
20130408_203520_zps50a49d62.jpg
(Brown fluffy like fluff on some plants)
20130408_203327_zps2484842a.jpg
and black hair algue?

Im under the impression that if my DC is yellow at the end of the day then this is at is limit of safe levels. if I turn co2 up a bit more then this would just be more hazardous to the fish. however i keep hearing the same thing about its either flow or co2 injection. I kniw flow isnt the problem and c02 gets dissolved nicely so If I started the co2 say 1hr before light on but turned co2 up then it cuts 2 hrs off the overall on time but the injection rate is greater.

A..does a more injection rate per hour harm fish anymore than the same amount say over 2hrs?
B..will this have any benifit greater injection rate > shorter co2 period of around 4-5hrs

Sorry if all that is confusing im confused as it is lol
 
Oh no! Sorry to hear you lost the discus. We kept discus years ago they are beautiful fish. I too lost them for some reason. Put us off keeping them again.:)
 
I lost the female A few months ago then the male stopped eating as a result and just lost weight day by day shame as they were a lovely breeding pair

And it's also put me off to alot of work goes into keeping them surprising how much come to think of it
 
I know a lot money too . First time we lost 6, replaced them with 8 later on to loose them too.:( to be honest I knew s fair bit about keeping them but it wasn't enough. I noticed the plants have quite a few roots on them, our tank has taken ages to get plant going but its now a jungle so don't give up keep up the good work its worth it.:)
 
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