parotet
Member
Hi from Spain
I need some help to understand the problem I have with my planted tank. As far as I have read, my tank is unbalanced but I don’t know the reason why. It was set up 5-6 weeks ago.
Here’s a summary of what I did and what makes me think that it is unbalanced.
Tank: 24 litres (20 real litres)
Filter: internal Eheim 220 litres/hour
Lighting: 7 watts LED (60 lumen/litre), 8 cm above water level, 22 cm water column
Photoperiod: first 3 weeks 6 hours, last 3 weeks 8 hours
Substrate: JBL Manado (aprox. 4 litres)
No CO2 added nor liquid carbon
Water changes: 50% twice a week with conditioned tap water (after the local water company, includes 8 ppm NO3, 2.5 ppm K, ph 7.5, hard water). No water tests, sorry.
Plant density: seen from above 75% of the tank is covered by plants
Plant species: background (Limnophila sessiliflora, Vallisneria nana, Rotala indica, Hygrophila difformis), midground (Echinodorus cordifolius, Java fern), foreground (Eleocharis mini, Sagittaria subulata, Hydrocotyle tripartita, 3 pieces of Java moss attached to a Mopani driftwood)
Fishes and invertebrates: 6 Endler males, 7-10 Neocaridina shrimps, 4 local shrimps (genus Dugastella). Feed with minimal amounts of dry food, once a week very small amounts of iced blood worms that disappear in seconds. No food remains.
At a local pet shop they suggested me to buy ADA Brighty K and I dosed 1 millilitre (normal dose for 20 litres) but just every 3 days (not daily). I recognize that during the last 2 weeks I increased the dose (every 2 days). Nothing else has been added.
The plants were planted from the very beginning, were doing very well and growing quickly at least the first 3 weeks, fishes look fine (introduced from 3rd week) and shrimps (introduced from 5th day) are breeding… BUT here are my problems:
1. the oldest leaf of one of the Echinodorus developed last week some brown patches (with yellowish band around) that covered finally the whole leave. Looks like typical K deficiency.
2. Limnophila sessiliflora and Hygrophila difformis look now a bit pale, especially the new leaves. Looks like a typical iron deficiency. Hydrocotile grows well but could show a darker green. Eleocharis mini doesn’t show any significant growth. The rest of the plants are doing well.
3. Some brownish/bronze colour coating algae began to appear covering the upper part of Limnophila and Hygrophilla leaves (very thin, like velvet…). The Limnophila leaves (especially in the middle of the stem) are “hanging downwards”… at the beginning the leaves were erected looking very healthy and fresh. These are the most visible algae in the tank, but…
4. looking with some detail, I can see some fuzz algae (some millimetres long) in the Vallisneria leaves and also on the Java moss (small hair algae with the same size as moss leaves but darker),and some very isolated thread algae.
5. when I came back from a 5-days trip (water therefore was changed only once this last week), I found 3 or 4 patches of greenish algae firmly fixed to the glass, really small, maybe 0.5 cm2 each. I could only get rid of them scraping the glass. What an algae collection! butb I have to admit that you have to watch really carefully to see most of them, but I don’t want them to overrun my tank.
So, what do you think could be the reason of my unbalanced planted tank? Too much light, too much plant biomass, lack of balanced fertilizing?
My opinion (but of course I’m not an expert, that is why I’m posting this thread) is that my problem has to do with unbalanced fertilization for the amount of lumen/litre I have, and some plants (probably with higher needs) are beginning to show deficiencies. Am I wrong?
If I am right, I know dry ferts are much more cheaper, but for a 20 litres tank prepared ferts (ADA, Tropica, Seachem, etc.) will be an acceptable option to me. ADA step series or Seachem Flourish are in my mind right now… but is it really the solution to my problem? I have calculated that adding Seachem Flourish to my tap water will suppose a NO3/Po4/K/Fe proportion of 10/1/4/0.5…. probably adding ADA Brighty K would increase K if needed. Unfortunately no info about what I really add using ADA Step 1 (yes, micro and Fe, that’s what the ADA catalogue says… but no exact quantities). I do not use any of the ADA substrates.
No problem to increase the male Endler population (if needed) for higher amounts of NO3 and PO4 in the tank, if this is my problem.
Dry ferts would be a second option, I know you will suggest me to do it, but in that case the price is not the problem (dosing with such commercial ferts would mean in my tank configuration a cost of 10-15€/year). Any benefit apart from the price?
Thank you in advance for your help!
(and sorry for my English, some things might sound strange for you…)
I need some help to understand the problem I have with my planted tank. As far as I have read, my tank is unbalanced but I don’t know the reason why. It was set up 5-6 weeks ago.
Here’s a summary of what I did and what makes me think that it is unbalanced.
Tank: 24 litres (20 real litres)
Filter: internal Eheim 220 litres/hour
Lighting: 7 watts LED (60 lumen/litre), 8 cm above water level, 22 cm water column
Photoperiod: first 3 weeks 6 hours, last 3 weeks 8 hours
Substrate: JBL Manado (aprox. 4 litres)
No CO2 added nor liquid carbon
Water changes: 50% twice a week with conditioned tap water (after the local water company, includes 8 ppm NO3, 2.5 ppm K, ph 7.5, hard water). No water tests, sorry.
Plant density: seen from above 75% of the tank is covered by plants
Plant species: background (Limnophila sessiliflora, Vallisneria nana, Rotala indica, Hygrophila difformis), midground (Echinodorus cordifolius, Java fern), foreground (Eleocharis mini, Sagittaria subulata, Hydrocotyle tripartita, 3 pieces of Java moss attached to a Mopani driftwood)
Fishes and invertebrates: 6 Endler males, 7-10 Neocaridina shrimps, 4 local shrimps (genus Dugastella). Feed with minimal amounts of dry food, once a week very small amounts of iced blood worms that disappear in seconds. No food remains.
At a local pet shop they suggested me to buy ADA Brighty K and I dosed 1 millilitre (normal dose for 20 litres) but just every 3 days (not daily). I recognize that during the last 2 weeks I increased the dose (every 2 days). Nothing else has been added.
The plants were planted from the very beginning, were doing very well and growing quickly at least the first 3 weeks, fishes look fine (introduced from 3rd week) and shrimps (introduced from 5th day) are breeding… BUT here are my problems:
1. the oldest leaf of one of the Echinodorus developed last week some brown patches (with yellowish band around) that covered finally the whole leave. Looks like typical K deficiency.
2. Limnophila sessiliflora and Hygrophila difformis look now a bit pale, especially the new leaves. Looks like a typical iron deficiency. Hydrocotile grows well but could show a darker green. Eleocharis mini doesn’t show any significant growth. The rest of the plants are doing well.
3. Some brownish/bronze colour coating algae began to appear covering the upper part of Limnophila and Hygrophilla leaves (very thin, like velvet…). The Limnophila leaves (especially in the middle of the stem) are “hanging downwards”… at the beginning the leaves were erected looking very healthy and fresh. These are the most visible algae in the tank, but…
4. looking with some detail, I can see some fuzz algae (some millimetres long) in the Vallisneria leaves and also on the Java moss (small hair algae with the same size as moss leaves but darker),and some very isolated thread algae.
5. when I came back from a 5-days trip (water therefore was changed only once this last week), I found 3 or 4 patches of greenish algae firmly fixed to the glass, really small, maybe 0.5 cm2 each. I could only get rid of them scraping the glass. What an algae collection! butb I have to admit that you have to watch really carefully to see most of them, but I don’t want them to overrun my tank.
So, what do you think could be the reason of my unbalanced planted tank? Too much light, too much plant biomass, lack of balanced fertilizing?
My opinion (but of course I’m not an expert, that is why I’m posting this thread) is that my problem has to do with unbalanced fertilization for the amount of lumen/litre I have, and some plants (probably with higher needs) are beginning to show deficiencies. Am I wrong?
If I am right, I know dry ferts are much more cheaper, but for a 20 litres tank prepared ferts (ADA, Tropica, Seachem, etc.) will be an acceptable option to me. ADA step series or Seachem Flourish are in my mind right now… but is it really the solution to my problem? I have calculated that adding Seachem Flourish to my tap water will suppose a NO3/Po4/K/Fe proportion of 10/1/4/0.5…. probably adding ADA Brighty K would increase K if needed. Unfortunately no info about what I really add using ADA Step 1 (yes, micro and Fe, that’s what the ADA catalogue says… but no exact quantities). I do not use any of the ADA substrates.
No problem to increase the male Endler population (if needed) for higher amounts of NO3 and PO4 in the tank, if this is my problem.
Dry ferts would be a second option, I know you will suggest me to do it, but in that case the price is not the problem (dosing with such commercial ferts would mean in my tank configuration a cost of 10-15€/year). Any benefit apart from the price?
Thank you in advance for your help!
(and sorry for my English, some things might sound strange for you…)