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Red Plants vs. Green Plants

Thanks for pointing out the Mg deficiency.

The KH value of my tank is 7dg.

dw1305 said:
If you don't add any magnesium (Mg)? and your water is very hard (calcium rich)? It is likely to be magnesium deficiency.
Click to expand...

There is Magnesium in my NPK solution, would that count?
I use following recipe to prepare 250ml solution and I dose 20ml x 3 times weekly (equivalent to double EI)
  • Mono Pottasium Phosphate (KH2PO4) 1/2teaspoon
  • Pottasium Nitrate (KNO3) 2 teaspoon
  • Magnesium Sulphate (MgSO4) 3 teaspoon
Below is the tap water parameters from the facilities management, all values are mg/l and I do at least %50 WC weekly.
  • Hardness (CaCo3) = 159
  • TDS = 226
  • Ca = 52
  • Mg = 7
  • K = 2,6
  • Na = 14,4
  • NH4 < 0,03
  • Fe < 0,005
  • pH = 7,4
  • Sulfate = 30,7


dw1305 said:
That is "plec" damage in the photo (from your Bristlenose).
Click to expand...

I moved the plec to my low tech tank because he was not really happy with high CO2 levels, and a week later Echinodorus 'Ozelot' which was in perfect shape had similar damages. Now I am feeding cucumber strips. Hopefully this will stop them feeding on the leaves.

Edvet said:
If it takes 4 hours to get most CO2 in the water you should look at getting the CO2 better dissolved, lowest pH (most CO2 dissolved) should be at lights on.
Click to expand...

Not sure what else I can do except investing in bigger version of the same diffuser or an inline diffuser.
(I tried different locations in the tank before and the spot right under the inflow gives me the best results)




 
omermeral said:
Not sure what else I can do except investing in bigger version of the same diffuser or an inline diffuser.
Click to expand...
Well you have problems you want to solve.
Either decrease the lightlevels ( and trim the plants, thus decreasing the CO2 demand) or up the CO2
 
omermeral said:
I moved the plec to my low tech tank because he was not really happy with high CO2 levels, and a week later Echinodorus 'Ozelot' which was in perfect shape had similar damages. Now I am feeding cucumber strips. Hopefully this will stop them feeding on the leaves.
Click to expand...




I have read that bristlenoses will eat certain echinodorus sp. but i think it is more the fact that they have favoured resting leaves and will 'rasp' on the leaf repeatedly in the same spot, i have never kept bristlenoses though so i can't confirm this.
 
omermeral said:
There is Magnesium in my NPK solution, would that count?
Click to expand...
Hi omer,
Yes, of course this counts.
OK, the general rule is that if you are dosing EI level of nutrients and are still showing nutrient deficiency syndromes, then you have to take a deeper look at flow/distribution. This is a suspect since you report being able to improve the injection rate to the achieve a good pH drop.

I'm assuming that you are running only a single T5 and that the other lights are disabled?
Can you confirm that you are using a spraybar mounted on the back wall and that the holes are pointing towards the front glass?
Are there any other pumps, such as wavemakers in the tank? If so, where are they mounted?
How much media is in the filter? If it's chock-full this could be killing your flow rate.
Can you drop the water level in the tank to below the spraybar streams and take a picture so we can see how far the streams are ejected towards the front glass?

Cheers,
 
ceg4048 said:
I'm assuming that you are running only a single T5 and that the other lights are disabled?
Click to expand...
Yes, a single 24Watt T5 for the past couple weeks.

ceg4048 said:
Can you confirm that you are using a spraybar mounted on the back wall and that the holes are pointing towards the front glass?
Click to expand...
Correct, and it covers the entire length.

ceg4048 said:
Are there any other pumps, such as wavemakers in the tank? If so, where are they mounted?
Click to expand...
Only cannister filter, Eheim 2424 (experience 250) 700 lt/h

ceg4048 said:
How much media is in the filter? If it's chock-full this could be killing your flow rate.
Click to expand...
Filter is not overcrowded, there is one layer blue sponge for mechanical filtering topped with floss, and Eheim substrat pro for biological filtration and it covers 1/3rd of the tray.

ceg4048 said:
Can you drop the water level in the tank to below the spraybar streams and take a picture so we can see how far the streams are ejected towards the front glass?
Click to expand...
I can do that but can do it a week later. But I can confirm the water jet hits the front glass. The vertical drop is around 6cm where it hits the front glass.

Many thanks!
 
Hi omer,
OK, no worries. I was able to review your original photos. Previously, when I clicked on them they did not expand but now I can see them The last photo shows the spraybar.

Is it still like this?
full tank.jpg

If so then probably you will need to wait a little bit longer. I mean, the tank actually looks fairly good to me, and the fact that much of the algae you reported earlier has not recurred is a victory, especially the GDA which is normally onerous.

I think cutting the light down to a more manageable level definitely helped, but of course it also reduced your growth rate substantially.
So if you had become accustomed to the virulent growth rate with two T5s plus an LED, you might now consider the growth rate to be problematic, when in fact it's quite normal.

The only criticism I would have of this arrangement is that the spraybar could be moved a bit higher so that it is just below the surface. There is that big piece of wood in the middle that will block flow as it fans out, but really, even that is nitpicking.

If you're getting new growth that is algae free from a majority of the plants then that also is a victory. Althernanthera is a notoriously slow growing plant at the best of times.
I would just continue to prune and replant tops as appropriate. The anubias looks pretty nice to me. The moss in the front is a bit bushy and also blocks flow, so if you have plants just behind it that are losing leaves then that might explain why.

You could also consider Excel, but probably, if you want to increase growth rate while avoiding algal blooms, then maybe think about getting a controller for your LED and then start to add it while using a low power level and gradually increasing it over the next few weeks.

Cheers,
 
Ahaha no doubt it is healthy, for piranhas!

I beleive there was a misunderstanding about the tank. The image you refered is my low tech tank and I am super happy with it, at the same time it pisses me of just because looking much better then my hi tech. Mixed feelings here :crazy:

On top of my original post you can see the tank that is subject of this topic, and below I am adding an image right after the 2 week recovery period.

tank.jpg

Regardless of the image your suggestions are right to the point. Sharing this image if there is anything you might want to add and see what it looks like after two weeks.

I planted 3 healthy Bacopa stems and one Pogostemon Erectus from my low tech tank to see how will they do here.


Below is the new growth on the Alternanthera reineckii 'Mini'. I pruned all the damaged and algea infested leaves below the healthy ones after this photo taken.

ar.jpg


And the crypt

crypt.jpg
 
OK, sorry to be so mixed up. :crazy:

I think you might want to try to shorten the spraybar to improve the energy of the output. You can try to tape over the holes that are on the right side of the sucker on the far right. You may already be aware of this from reading the various flow threads but you want to see the leaves gently waving in the wind.

The crypt is fine. That is just how the colors go so no need to worry.

Cheers,
 
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