I have a few questions:
How can I improve my CO2 levels?
Do I need to dose with any other ferts, like trace or macro nutrients whilest using root tabs?
Do I need to add laterite or some other substrate, particularly for microswords?
Here's my situation:
I have a 30G cube tank with an 80W sattelite fixture (standard actinc and daylight bulbs) and an 18w daylight fixture that came with the tank. The lights are on about 12 hours per day. Also, this tank gets about 1 to 2 hours of direct sunlight per day. I have a sheer curtain in the window, but it still makes the 93W of lights I have look like they're turned off.
I have normal gravel as a substrate and am using the seachem root tabs. I dose 1/2 cap of flourish every other day and perform about 30% weekly water changes. About 8 days ago, I added the hagen CO2 ladder system, and I'm using the DIY mix of sugar and yeast, getting about 1 bubble every 2 or 3 seconds. The bubbles don't completely dissolve, and I have an older "bell" system catching the remnants of the bubbles for further absorbtion.
I been testing my CO2 levels, and haven't seen them get about about 9ppm. I also have a red sea real-time CO2 indicator that has never been in the "green" zone. Yesterday, I realized that my air stone was probably causing a problem and turned it off. I had hoped that I would wake up and see the CO2 indicator in the green, since the air stone was off and CO2 was being added over night, with no absorbtion by plants with the lights off, but it was still showing low. Now, I'm starting to wonder if my HOB bio wheel (marineland 350) filter is disturbing the water enough to cause the CO2 to gas out of the water.
Before I added the CO2 system, I had a HORRIBLE BBA problems. The BBA seems to be dying back now, so I think it is having some effect.
My plants haven't been doing that well, though part of it was that I was unknowingly buying non-aquatic plants. I've switched over to mostly ferns, amazon swords and micro swords. The micro swords are really doing nothing.
How can I improve my CO2 levels?
Do I need to dose with any other ferts, like trace or macro nutrients whilest using root tabs?
Do I need to add laterite or some other substrate, particularly for microswords?
Here's my situation:
I have a 30G cube tank with an 80W sattelite fixture (standard actinc and daylight bulbs) and an 18w daylight fixture that came with the tank. The lights are on about 12 hours per day. Also, this tank gets about 1 to 2 hours of direct sunlight per day. I have a sheer curtain in the window, but it still makes the 93W of lights I have look like they're turned off.
I have normal gravel as a substrate and am using the seachem root tabs. I dose 1/2 cap of flourish every other day and perform about 30% weekly water changes. About 8 days ago, I added the hagen CO2 ladder system, and I'm using the DIY mix of sugar and yeast, getting about 1 bubble every 2 or 3 seconds. The bubbles don't completely dissolve, and I have an older "bell" system catching the remnants of the bubbles for further absorbtion.
I been testing my CO2 levels, and haven't seen them get about about 9ppm. I also have a red sea real-time CO2 indicator that has never been in the "green" zone. Yesterday, I realized that my air stone was probably causing a problem and turned it off. I had hoped that I would wake up and see the CO2 indicator in the green, since the air stone was off and CO2 was being added over night, with no absorbtion by plants with the lights off, but it was still showing low. Now, I'm starting to wonder if my HOB bio wheel (marineland 350) filter is disturbing the water enough to cause the CO2 to gas out of the water.
Before I added the CO2 system, I had a HORRIBLE BBA problems. The BBA seems to be dying back now, so I think it is having some effect.
My plants haven't been doing that well, though part of it was that I was unknowingly buying non-aquatic plants. I've switched over to mostly ferns, amazon swords and micro swords. The micro swords are really doing nothing.