EdwinK
Member
They will not eat healthy plants.
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Natural Aquarium attempt - 16/06/2015 (pics)
- Thread starter Jaap
- Start date
Martin in Holland
Member
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- 28 May 2013
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It could also be that you just did a large water change...
Plants also for bubbles when you have lots of light and on places where the plant has damaged (often you can see bubbles coming from the place where a has been cut)
BUT, yes, it could also mean that they are getting more CO2...still though, they need light to produce (big enough for us to see) O2 bubbles, this might suggest that your light is a bit to much still.
Plants also for bubbles when you have lots of light and on places where the plant has damaged (often you can see bubbles coming from the place where a has been cut)
BUT, yes, it could also mean that they are getting more CO2...still though, they need light to produce (big enough for us to see) O2 bubbles, this might suggest that your light is a bit to much still.
Hello Marting
The large water change was made 24h before, does that still count?
Also the light is at 55cm above substrate and at 30% intensity. Its a grobeam 600...some people said to increase intensity because its too low and its now been 3 weeks since the begining without algae so doesn't that say that light is not high?
Martin in Holland
Member
- Joined
- 28 May 2013
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- 2,310
Sound good, like Clive mentioned, it looks like you are on the right track. Give it some time and see what will happen.
Day 20!
Two days ago I did a 70% water change because the water seemed cloudy and there was a thin oily film on the water surface. The surface scum occured on/after the day that I increased the CO2 but I am not sure if it is a coincidence or not.
Two days later and the surface scum is back again. Its a thin oily film...what might this be and how do I remove/prevent it?
Thanks!
Two days ago I did a 70% water change because the water seemed cloudy and there was a thin oily film on the water surface. The surface scum occured on/after the day that I increased the CO2 but I am not sure if it is a coincidence or not.
Two days later and the surface scum is back again. Its a thin oily film...what might this be and how do I remove/prevent it?
Thanks!
Hey jaap, oily film appears normally when plant health isn't great, as you fix your issues it should dissipate.
Clive will shoot me but I love Eheim skims, mainly because if you have livestock and a surface scum appears it stops the off gassing of co2 and can cause gassing of livestock.
Clive will shoot me but I love Eheim skims, mainly because if you have livestock and a surface scum appears it stops the off gassing of co2 and can cause gassing of livestock.
How does it form?
Hello Clive,
I think the increase in CO2 might have lead to surface biofilm and since I read through your posts on this subject my understanding is that the CO2 increase I made has put the plants under stress and the biofilm is "the lipid tails and fatty acid products destroyed and spewed out". Also it does concern me that there might be an algal bloom coming "It wouldn't be surprising at all that algal blooms in the tank are either accompanied by, or preceded by surface scum, because these are both health and nutrition related. In fact, typically one gets the film and then the algae. The film is a harbinger of doom because it's telling you that you have health issues."
So my question here is. I didn't change light, flow, nutrients and I increased CO2 to help plants, to stop them from melting. What do I do now if the biofilm means the plants are under stress?
I think your answer might be to lower the lights. However the lights are already low...a TMC Grobeam 55cm from the substrate and at 30% intensity is considered low from the advice I got from this forum. Also I do understand that no matter what people say in the forum its the plants that I have to listen to. However I am a bit confused as of the changes that I make. I had high CO2 demands because the light was driving them up and now that I put more CO2 I need to lower the lights?
Very confused on what my next step should be 🙁 If I lower the light intensity any more then I wont be able to see the plants in the tank...
Add more CO2 mate. Do a lot of water changes.
Cheers,
Cheers,
Will the plants adapt to the drastic co2 increase and stop excreting the oily substance at some point?
its a bit difficult to add more co2...it will be free flowing in a bit...
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Brian Murphy
Member
Maybe point your spraybar a little more towards the surface to create a ripple effect and then the scum wont appear
I think you need a bit more patience. Your tank has only been running a few weeks now and you've had problems from the start. We don't really know whether this condition is due to something that happened 2 days ago or two weeks ago.
Didn't you just recently report that the plants had stopped melting and that they had stabilized? Has there been more melting and dying? If not then you'll have to give the plants a chance to recover. It takes several weeks to adapt to new conditions. If the plants went from dying to oily expulsions then that's an improvement.
You can always add more CO2 if plants are in poor shape. After they recover you can start to think about reducing the injection rate.
This is exactly why I mentioned that you should not be thinking about increasing the light, because the plants are not out of the woods. They only just stopped dying, right?
Stop hitting the panic button and just continue on the path. Do massive water changes such that a majority of the plants are exposed to air for 30 minutes or so, then fill. Keep the water temperature cool, in the low 20's which helps the water to retain more CO2.
Cheers,
Keeping the temp to low 20s is difficult unfortunately since its summertime here so the best I can do is 28 and as time goes by it will drop.
I will continue with the water changes and I will see how it goes.
Thanks
Can I decrease the co2 injection once the plants have grown healthy? It seems that I am injection too much co2 because it builts up and fills half of the reactor...the filter then pumps water in the reactor and the water drops like a waterfall...the filter outflow ia adjustable and its nearly full on...
Can you just pump the gas directly into the filter inlet instead of using the reactor for now?
Once the plants are healthy then they can use less than you are injecting, but right now they are low on stored energy.
Cheers,
Once the plants are healthy then they can use less than you are injecting, but right now they are low on stored energy.
Cheers,
At the moment even though the reactor is half full of co2, the co2 levels going into the tank seem to be very good so I am willing to waste some co2 for the plants sake...I just want to decrease co2 later on whenever plants look healthy so I can accommodate fish and so the 3 kg co2 bottle doesn't run out in 1 month...so at some point I will be able to lower co2 with the plants being OK with it right?
Omegatron
Member
I have the same issue when giving loads of co2 that it fills up the reactor halfway. We are basicly giving more co2 then our filter/reactor combo can dissolve. This Co2 wont be wasted since its in an closed container it will only take a bit longer for the reactor to dissolve it all. Unless you see the outlet spitting out big bubbles ofc. then you should lower it a bit or as clive suggested pump the co2 directly in the inlet.
When your plants are back in good health you can lower the co2, Im sure i have to or i kill my fish and shrimp within a few hours.
Also make sure that the filter you are running the reactor on has a good flow, regular maintenance helps a lot keeping the flow optimal.
When your plants are back in good health you can lower the co2, Im sure i have to or i kill my fish and shrimp within a few hours.
Also make sure that the filter you are running the reactor on has a good flow, regular maintenance helps a lot keeping the flow optimal.
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