75 gallon Planted Office Tank Journal
- Thread starter geekpryde
- Start date
I would love to help the snails out but I am confused about calcium.
I actually own dry Calcium Sulfate, but because it does not dissolve easily in water, it's not part of PPS-PRO, which is the dosing method I am currently using. I have found very few threads about mow much CaSO4 to dose in a 75 gallon tank.
They help but dont really make me feel sure of what to do:
Calcium Chloride in freshwater fishtank
Fertilator over at www.aquaticplantcentral.com/ confuses me, but I think I am supposed to do 30 grams of CaSO4 to get 30 ppm for 75 us gallons. That seems like alot to me. I also think I only do this after each water change? Or is it less or more?
I have also been tempted to do GH Booster, but it seems that I am already doing most of the GH booster ingredients as part of my daily fertz, so is doing GH booster at water change like double dipping?
If anyone knows how I should increase Ca to help plants and snails, let me know. Like I said, since I already have in my hands Calcium Sulfate, I would prefer dry dosing that, but at the correct levels. If buying GH booster makes more sense, I will order tomorrow, but I need some feedback.
I think Mr. Barr could help out here.
On an unrelated (or is it related) note, my algae is NOT getting better. I think Mr. Barr would say to turn down the lights, so I guess for the coming week I am going to turn off two of my bulbs, and only run the pink grow T5HO. Grrr. Somehow I thought I would escape algae issues, but now I am going to a crash course in alage before I lose all my plants. I know Mr Barr would say to question CO2 first, but my drop checker has exactly the correct color, I have not touched the adjustment on the solenoid/needle valve since dialing it in, and my bubble checker tells me when the co2 is flowing, and when it's not, and also at what rate. So I think in my case CO2 is probably not the issue.
Again, I think Mr. Barr could help out here. Maybe he is lurking?
I use 1/4 tsp 3 x week for my 80 gallon tank. I sprinkle from the measure spoon slowly into the water. Still some manages to make it to the bottom. It's usually gone in a few hours. It seems to be working well for me.
You talking about CaSO4 correct? If so, I will try your dosing suggestion starting tomorrow. Thanks for quick response.
Regarding my Algae, I am going to try and block out more sunlight. I am unfortunately near a window, which gets sunlight some parts of the day. I keep blinds on most days, but sometimes a co-worker will open them up for air, or light. I need to be mindful to at least totally shut them over the weekend, when no one is even there. I am also going to drop down to only 8 hours per day, and one light bulb as previously stated. With the Ca in the water, hopefully after a week or so maybe the snails will become happy again. But the snails are only going to deal with the algae on the hard surfaces, so I think I need to also fingure out what kind of algae I am getting on the plant leaves. I looked online and my best guess it "Fuzz Algae". I will post pic tomorrow and see if you guys agree. My second guess would be Hair Algae.
according to my barr's gh booster the makeup is...
3 parts kso4 (i think that's a misprint and supposed to be k2so4 [potassium sulfate])
3 parts caso4
1 part mgso4 (magnesium sulfate aka epsom salts)
i dose ~1 tblsp barrs gh booster to 15-20 gallons of water for w/c water. (that's what my bucket holds)
i'd say you may be looking for ~1tblsp for every 30-45 gallons of w/c water but not knowing your gh or calcium ppm makes that hard to calculate for sure. that level should be safe unless your water is unruly hard. i can't see overdosing at those levels, honestly.
i take some water out of the bucket, put it in the little cup for my magic bullet and blend it well and pour that directly in front of the power head and still get a little that falls out of solution.
what i shoot for is a gh of ~5dgh. doing this gets me close enough. going over some shouldn't hurt. i'm starting at a gh somewhere around 2dgh, maybe a little under.
if you decide to use a blender to mix it be aware it stains the plastic white... like bleach residue white... so you may want to use something disposable or dedicated to just that to pre mix it. or something not plastic. :duh:
if adding gh booster at w/c's is double dipping then i find double dipping to be beneficial... on low light, low tech tanks. surely you could use a little more ferts than i.
3 parts kso4 (i think that's a misprint and supposed to be k2so4 [potassium sulfate])
3 parts caso4
1 part mgso4 (magnesium sulfate aka epsom salts)
i dose ~1 tblsp barrs gh booster to 15-20 gallons of water for w/c water. (that's what my bucket holds)
i'd say you may be looking for ~1tblsp for every 30-45 gallons of w/c water but not knowing your gh or calcium ppm makes that hard to calculate for sure. that level should be safe unless your water is unruly hard. i can't see overdosing at those levels, honestly.
i take some water out of the bucket, put it in the little cup for my magic bullet and blend it well and pour that directly in front of the power head and still get a little that falls out of solution.
what i shoot for is a gh of ~5dgh. doing this gets me close enough. going over some shouldn't hurt. i'm starting at a gh somewhere around 2dgh, maybe a little under.
if you decide to use a blender to mix it be aware it stains the plastic white... like bleach residue white... so you may want to use something disposable or dedicated to just that to pre mix it. or something not plastic. :duh:
if adding gh booster at w/c's is double dipping then i find double dipping to be beneficial... on low light, low tech tanks. surely you could use a little more ferts than i.
Thanks for detailed reply. I justy mixed up a batch of GH Booster per your instructions, and I estimate it will last a good long time. I am going to does 1 tablespoon after each water change, so once per week. I think I do not need to boost it as much as some people need to. I hope the added calcium is going to help out the snails.
So I was just thinking about my GH and am thinking maybe I should NOT have mixed up GH booster, and maybe only dosed Calcium. I am going to test again today to be sure, now that I sprinkled in a tablespoon of GH Booster, so see where my GH is.
But the reason I sort of freaked out a moment is that I went back about 10 pages in this thread to where I last checked my GH and it was 140 ppm after dosing fertz for a week. So using just my normal PPS-PRO dose, I am already at 7.8GH? This assumes I am converting correctly, and I am not so sure I am. I took 140 / 17.9 and got 7.8, which is 5-6 is a good GH then I am already beyond that. Maybe I should only dose calcium. What are your thoughts people?
I guess I will have alot of GH booster sitting around. If this ends up being a mistake at least dry fertz are cheap, and I will just order more to replace the pound (total are all ingredients) of material I used up.
EDIT:
So I just tested my GH, it's been 1 hour since I added a tablespoon of GH Booster. I do not know if that is long enough, but my GH is reading 140ppm, which is 7.8 degrees if hardness. This is certainly not low, and may be a little high?
At least my GH didnt shoot much higher than it probably already was, and my snails have Ca now. I will test again tomorrow.
On to the algae issue.
But the reason I sort of freaked out a moment is that I went back about 10 pages in this thread to where I last checked my GH and it was 140 ppm after dosing fertz for a week. So using just my normal PPS-PRO dose, I am already at 7.8GH? This assumes I am converting correctly, and I am not so sure I am. I took 140 / 17.9 and got 7.8, which is 5-6 is a good GH then I am already beyond that. Maybe I should only dose calcium. What are your thoughts people?
I guess I will have alot of GH booster sitting around. If this ends up being a mistake at least dry fertz are cheap, and I will just order more to replace the pound (total are all ingredients) of material I used up.
EDIT:
So I just tested my GH, it's been 1 hour since I added a tablespoon of GH Booster. I do not know if that is long enough, but my GH is reading 140ppm, which is 7.8 degrees if hardness. This is certainly not low, and may be a little high?
At least my GH didnt shoot much higher than it probably already was, and my snails have Ca now. I will test again tomorrow.
On to the algae issue.
Last edited:
Pictures
GH Booster, I may or may not need:
PLEASE HELP ME Determine what type of algae I have.
And, if you know which types of fish EAT this agae, that will help too. Obviously, I am going to try and "fix the glitch" causing he algae, but having something to help eat my way out of the problem could be helpful too.
GH Booster, I may or may not need:
PLEASE HELP ME Determine what type of algae I have.
And, if you know which types of fish EAT this agae, that will help too. Obviously, I am going to try and "fix the glitch" causing he algae, but having something to help eat my way out of the problem could be helpful too.
http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/algae.htm
that might help.
you're certainly welcome.
i believe 50 ppm is ~1dgh so you're looking at ~3dgh i think. my current test work with dgh so that's what i use.
1.5 tsp barr's gh booster gives you 6dgh in 5 gallons of water. don't remember how that adds up in weight.
that might help.
you're certainly welcome.
i believe 50 ppm is ~1dgh so you're looking at ~3dgh i think. my current test work with dgh so that's what i use.
1.5 tsp barr's gh booster gives you 6dgh in 5 gallons of water. don't remember how that adds up in weight.
