Plant growth issues

[Tom Raffield]

Thanks guys,

So I had a few mishaps with the regulator (my fault). First I undid the wrong 'black' bit as the front cap wouldn't come off so I assumed it must be the other black cap. Upon unscrewing this... whoosh! The screw flew out and I had a mini CO2 explosion. You live and learn I suppose.

On a positive note, the cold gas managed to make the front cap come off much more easily and I adapted the pressure to just under 2bar. Anything higher and I can hear the regulator hiss so I have left it there. The atomiser appears to be working much better now and I am running at about 3/4 bbs which has caused my new drop checker solution to go a nice light green. Haven't been at home to check whether it is green for lights on but can check this at the weekend. The bubbles from the atomiser are, for the most part, sucked into the filter and no bubbles are coming out the other end so I assume they are being diffused into the water. I redid the tubing for the whole circuit as it was fairly old and there are no leaks that have been detected using washing up liquid.

Hopefully I will begin to see an improvement in the plants although the older leaves that showed CO2 deficiency signs are too far gone to be saved so I will remove these when I do my next water change. Thanks again for the advice.

 

[ceg4048]

Hi,
As mentioned in many threads, do not depend solely on the DC color. Your best bet is to perform a pH profile so hat you can see clearly the behavior of the gas. You need this data to properly assess the behavior of the gas.

Cheers,

 

[Tom Raffield]

Hi all,

Update a month later. Here are my leaves today. Still appear to have issues but newer leaves don't seem to be as bad as the older ones.

Is this still a carbon issue? I am EI dosing (to the max - 30ml macro/micro on alternate days) and changing my water weekly. I dose 10ml of liquid carbon daily and the pressurised CO2 as mentioned previously is running at a higher level now with the bazooka. However, I did have to reduce gas CO2 the other day as I ended up poisoning the fish. I had very sickly corys and raspboras as a result of the CO2 levels. I'm unsure how I can increase carbon levels further if this is still a carbon issue? I read somewhere that this colouring on the leaves could be a potassium deficiency? Anyone agree with this as I have liquid potassium I can dose as an added extra if needed.

The Hydrocotyle tripartita is a new plant and has only been in the tank for a week yet is now showing the browning/orange/yellow around the leaves. Does this back up the concern about CO2 issues? My lights are only on for 5 hours a day so could the problem now be lack of light? There is no algae in the tank aside from some green spot and black algae on very old leaves (which I remove).

I just look at my tank and see the issues, perhaps it is not as bad as I think, but it really can be demoralising this lark!! Does it look a 'healthy' tank to you guys?