Tanks 72 long. Lights are 60 inches. They run 4 in parallel. Light 1 & 3 come on first, then 2 & 4. Both pairs are the same, 1 Full spectrum sunlight bulb plus one white light. 2 hours overlap with 8 hour total photo period. Guess I wonder what too much light is? Shouln'td plants use what's there as long as CO2 and nutrients are available. CO2 should keep up as pH controller keeps CO2 on when needed and pH midday is 6.6, same as night. Only thing limiting out might be nutrients, which I hope my EI dosing change from PPS-Pro will correct. I'm betting increasing NO3 and PO4 helps. Time will tell...
Brush hair algae
- Thread starter 1cooljeep
- Start date
your co2 is your issue with your BBA. no doubt about that.
curious what this is...
this is staghorn...
***also a definite symptom of co2 issues
curious... where in the tank are you injecting? and at what location is your ph probe?
curious what this is...
this is staghorn...
***also a definite symptom of co2 issues
curious... where in the tank are you injecting? and at what location is your ph probe?
Good point. I have read some of Tom Barr's posts, and he mentions often that its possible the CO2 is not getting to all the areas of the tank. The CO2 is injected via the central spray bar using one of my three Eheim 2217's. The pH probe is in the "line of fire" of this spray bar. While there are "ripples" on the surface of my tank and things float between the 3 "zones", I feel that areas of low CO2 tension are possible. I do routinely check pH and KH (6.6 and 5 recently), and this is done usually from the right hand side (thats closest to where I keep the syringes to draw out the water). CO2 and pH seem to agree there too. I could turn up the CO2 and lower the pH to 6.4 by probe. I considered getting a power head to circulate the tank left to right, as all my spray bars are on the back. I hate to try too much at once. I'm suspecting nutrient deficiency and possibly lack of light in the lower tank due to my former tank busting red ozelot.
If your tank is 6foot, try using a T valve in your Co2 line and putting each reactor or such a foot from each end imo
seems general consensus on how/where to inject co2 is it's best to inject at mid height in the tank in a way that ensures the entire tank gets good dispersion. i might re-think the spray bar, personally, but for now definitely get it away from the surface.
something to consider... kh/ph chart/relationship is not at all reliable. heck... neither is a drop checker, but it is a little better. kh/ph chart assumes the only buffers are carbonates and isn't perfect even in that scenario. to add to that, each tank will have it's own demand on co2 so you can't just set every tank @ 30ppm for example and think you've hit "the target".
how do you do water changes? how long do they take?
something to consider... kh/ph chart/relationship is not at all reliable. heck... neither is a drop checker, but it is a little better. kh/ph chart assumes the only buffers are carbonates and isn't perfect even in that scenario. to add to that, each tank will have it's own demand on co2 so you can't just set every tank @ 30ppm for example and think you've hit "the target".
how do you do water changes? how long do they take?
Agreed, but without a drop checker, its all I've got. Looking into drop checkers, but nice glass ones I've seen are back ordered. Contemplated DIY even.
I've been changing water every 7-10 days, about 25% at a time. Takes 30 minutes. Sink in basement is only 1-2 feet below tank level, so siphon, even with vacuum from running water is slow. Considering using rapid disconnect from one of the 2217's to drain. The lift would only be 1-2 feet, but the run is 25.
I've been changing water every 7-10 days, about 25% at a time. Takes 30 minutes. Sink in basement is only 1-2 feet below tank level, so siphon, even with vacuum from running water is slow. Considering using rapid disconnect from one of the 2217's to drain. The lift would only be 1-2 feet, but the run is 25.
i wouldn't worry about the drop checker in your case unless you were going to install 2 or three for comparisons sake between various locations.
i would definitely up my co2 concentration, though. little by little to allow your fish to adjust as you go and keep an eye on them so you don't suffocate them.
why i was asking about your w/c's...
you've got a lot of coverage in that tank. you are at serious risk of losing a lot of plant mass if you don't act swiftly and drastically. you do have to get to the root of the problem, but that's not going to solve your issues before you start losing plants in mass, i fear. but i don't think risking your critters overdosing a bunch of chemicals is the answer, though. what i'm about to propose is based on common practices, but with a twist... may seem a little out of the ordinary, but should work to your advantage in the long (and short) run...
first... you're going to need a way to get water in and out of your tank fairly quickly.
might i suggest making one of these...
and hooking it up to a hose or basin tub faucet for refilling like so...
or anything you might think of that would net you the same ease of use and efficiency.
then i suggest you pick up 2 spray bottles. one for excel and one for dechlorinated water. a third one for peroxide won't hurt either, but that comes later.
i'm going to suggest often doing 90% w/c's... daily if you can get it done.
here's the routine i'm proposing...
set your spray bottles to a nice wide mist.
fill one with excel and repeatedly mist into a measuring vial to determine approximately how much comes out per spritz and how many spritzes will equal a daily dose of excel on your tank. in your case, that's 12-13ml per dose. i suggest spritzing until you get ~12ml, dumping that back into your spray bottle and repeating your test a couple times to confirm your results making note of how many spritzes it takes to get your dose.
once you've confirmed that you can start your routine...
1) remove ~90% of the water from your tank
2) spritz your plants with your dechlored water every couple of minutes so they don't dry out.
3) spritz your heavily covered plants with your alloted amount of spritzes as per your testing to give them a direct dose
4) give them maybe a minute or so before spritzing with water so they have some dwell time with direct contact from excel
5) refill the tank
6) dose
7) repeat, trim and/or do a w/c the next day (the water change will help removing anything that died and released into the water column as well as having crisp, clean water)
8) increase your maintenance during this time to assure anything that can cause an issue gets removed from the tank.
to add to this routine and speed things up, any plants you can easily remove and replace to the tank can be taken out, spritzed with h2o2, rinsed in water and replaced to the tank.
until you get things in check, you should definitely cut out your mid day siesta and just not use the extra 2 bulbs at all. excess light will only complicate the issue. definitely increase your co2 as well to get to the route of the problem. if you're going to be doing daily 90% w/c's, dosing both macros and micros after each w/c will ensure you don't bottom out on anything.
once you're down to a minimum amount of algae, you can use an eye dropper, syringe or pipette to spot dose in your tank with excel. just fill your selected receptacle with your daily dose, stop your filter and let the water movement in the tank come to a stop and slowly squeeze your excel little by little directly onto affected areas as necessary... then a minute or so later return your filters to working order.
hope this helps and helps you avoid the catastrophe of losing your critters to save your plants that it seems so many people consider acceptable losses.
i would definitely up my co2 concentration, though. little by little to allow your fish to adjust as you go and keep an eye on them so you don't suffocate them.
why i was asking about your w/c's...
you've got a lot of coverage in that tank. you are at serious risk of losing a lot of plant mass if you don't act swiftly and drastically. you do have to get to the root of the problem, but that's not going to solve your issues before you start losing plants in mass, i fear. but i don't think risking your critters overdosing a bunch of chemicals is the answer, though. what i'm about to propose is based on common practices, but with a twist... may seem a little out of the ordinary, but should work to your advantage in the long (and short) run...
first... you're going to need a way to get water in and out of your tank fairly quickly.
might i suggest making one of these...
and hooking it up to a hose or basin tub faucet for refilling like so...
or anything you might think of that would net you the same ease of use and efficiency.
then i suggest you pick up 2 spray bottles. one for excel and one for dechlorinated water. a third one for peroxide won't hurt either, but that comes later.
i'm going to suggest often doing 90% w/c's... daily if you can get it done.
here's the routine i'm proposing...
set your spray bottles to a nice wide mist.
fill one with excel and repeatedly mist into a measuring vial to determine approximately how much comes out per spritz and how many spritzes will equal a daily dose of excel on your tank. in your case, that's 12-13ml per dose. i suggest spritzing until you get ~12ml, dumping that back into your spray bottle and repeating your test a couple times to confirm your results making note of how many spritzes it takes to get your dose.
once you've confirmed that you can start your routine...
1) remove ~90% of the water from your tank
2) spritz your plants with your dechlored water every couple of minutes so they don't dry out.
3) spritz your heavily covered plants with your alloted amount of spritzes as per your testing to give them a direct dose
4) give them maybe a minute or so before spritzing with water so they have some dwell time with direct contact from excel
5) refill the tank
6) dose
7) repeat, trim and/or do a w/c the next day (the water change will help removing anything that died and released into the water column as well as having crisp, clean water)
8) increase your maintenance during this time to assure anything that can cause an issue gets removed from the tank.
to add to this routine and speed things up, any plants you can easily remove and replace to the tank can be taken out, spritzed with h2o2, rinsed in water and replaced to the tank.
until you get things in check, you should definitely cut out your mid day siesta and just not use the extra 2 bulbs at all. excess light will only complicate the issue. definitely increase your co2 as well to get to the route of the problem. if you're going to be doing daily 90% w/c's, dosing both macros and micros after each w/c will ensure you don't bottom out on anything.
once you're down to a minimum amount of algae, you can use an eye dropper, syringe or pipette to spot dose in your tank with excel. just fill your selected receptacle with your daily dose, stop your filter and let the water movement in the tank come to a stop and slowly squeeze your excel little by little directly onto affected areas as necessary... then a minute or so later return your filters to working order.
hope this helps and helps you avoid the catastrophe of losing your critters to save your plants that it seems so many people consider acceptable losses.
Thanks. That's drastic, but might be what it takes! I've got a lot tied up in both plants and fish, that's for sure. Not a huge fan of acceptable losses of either! Tell you what. Got a week of vacation before Christmas coming up and not going anywhere. I'll see how things look then and let you know. Ugh...
