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Plants dying

H

heliwilly

Seedling
Joined
23 Feb 2012
Messages
7
I planted a tank about a month ago with an undemanding set of plants, The Plants Alive 36" selection. These flousrished, and grew well with the CO2 and the EI ferts. I have had to trim them, and have planted the trimmings in a 2' tank with no CO2. I have found that after the plants have been trimmed the growth of the whole plant seems stunted. The 2 Rotalla that I have in the main tank have just faded away, while the trimmings in the 2' Juwel tank are growing well. The tank I am using still has the original built in filter, which adds a bit of O2 when returning to the tank. The internal powerhead they use is rated at 1,000 lph, is the flow enough? Where am I going wrong?? With ref to CO2, I have a ladder diffuser and the bubble count is about 100 bubbles per min, and the bubbles are almost completely absorbed by the time they reach the top of the ladder.

The tank is a 165 ltr AquaOne aquastyle 850
Flitration is via original built in overhead filter with clay balls and ceramic tubes
Substrate is JBL aquabasis plus topped with JBL manado
Heated to 25DegC
Pressurised CO2 with solenoid on from 8am 'til 8pm
Lights areT8 Atman 2 x 8,000K Super Light, and 1 x 15,000K Tri Power Light .On 9am Off 9pm. Too long?????????????

This is a planted tank with no fish
ph = 7.0
ammonia = 0
nitrite = <0.25
nitrate = 20
kh = 7
gh = 26.
Bill W
 
Hi Bill, are you measuring your CO2 levels with a drop checker? The trickle filter will almost certainly cost you some of your CO2 as it will just gas off, so you may need to increase your injection rate. I struggled to get good CO2 levels with this tank because of the original filter. In the end I put an extertnal on it and did away with the overhead filter. I'd also cut your lighting time in half as more light increases the demand for CO2 etc. I run mine for 7 hours per day.
 
If you dont have fish then turn up the gas! Plants need C02, you filter will use up the gas but you just need to add more, turn it up too 4-5 bps to start with & see what happens.
Lights should be on for 6 - 7 hours or possibly 8 hours if you have things just right!
Flow is important to get the gas everywhere in the tank, a rear spray bar just under the surface pointing forward is a very good method...
 
davem,
Yes the tank has the original lighting and filter. I have a spare Eheim 2231, which outputs 450lph. Should I use this in addition to the original filter? Would a powerhead with a spraybar along the back pointing towards the front wall, be a better proposition. With reference to the lighting, would it be feasable to run the lighting for 12 hrs with one of the lights turned off, just leaving the remaining 2 tubes lit?? I have a drop checker at each end of the tank plus a Cal Aqua Labs checker at the far end of the tank from the CO2 input all three indicate a good CO2 level. Bill W.
 
One thing I forgot to mention is that the EI dose is 30ml Macro, and 30ml micro for 5 days, 20% water change on 7th day. Bill W
 
You would benefit from the increased flow by adding the other filter but you will still need to increase your CO2 if you remain using the trickle filter. I took mine out and put in an eheim 2078, you don't have to modify the hood to do this. You say your drop checkers report good CO2 levels but what colour are they at lights on?

I'm not sure if you can switch off one tube to maintain your 12 hour light duration as I don't now if intensity / time have a linear relationship. Hopefully somebody else here can answer that?

I think the thing to do first is cut the duration, try to get the plants healthy and then play about with duration and tubes and see where you go :thumbup:

As for the EI dosing what are the quantities you use to mix up your solution?
 
davem,
The EI that I use is produced by APFUK, and sold as a kit for £18.

The dosage mixed in 500ml of cooled boiled water, for the Macro is, 4tsp of Potassium Nitrate, 1tsp of Potassium phosphate and 6tsp of Magnesium sulphate. The Micro is 1tsp of Chelated trace mixed with 500ml of cooled boiled water. As stated the dose used is 5ml per 50 ltrs. I have cut the lighting to 8 hrs and trebled the CO2. Bill W.
 
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