Tom,,,, Help. Not sure what to do.

jrneuzil

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Re: Tom,,,, Help. Not sure what to do.

Tom,
Yes I have pretty fair water movement.
I upped the P04 a bit and the CO2 is holding constant.
I also ordered a couple bunches of fast growers to throw in. Algae is worse yesterday and today. I trimed more back. I am also seeing some thread algae that I have not had before now. I was wondering if I should be upping the P04 some more or maybe the KN03 as well.

JR
 

Tom Barr

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Re: Tom,,,, Help. Not sure what to do.

I'm not sure if the cleaning and pruning you are doing is aggressive enough.
If you do the standard EI, add plenty of CO2, go after the algae and clean the tank good, clean the filter, vacuum the substrate if it's been awhile, trim off the algae on the plants, and rub off what you can with your fingers. Then doa large water change, 50-80%, add ferts back, repeat repeat repeat.

Each time re sets the tank, removes algae and stabilizes the tank and keeps is very clean.

If you are still getting algae, a little here and there is alright, at least the first week/few days after, but it should not be a lot. It should decline and go away, if not, do another water change.

Always clean prune, uproot, vacuum prior, then do the water change last.
If you have bad algae, consider 2x a week for 2-3 weeks.

There is no algae issues you should not be able to clear up in 2-3 weeks.
If not, you are defintiely doing something wrong. We might not be able to figure it out what that is over the web perhaps, but we can rule out a large number of things step wise. Eventually, the issues do get resolved and most everyone that goes this path improves other aspects of their horticulture that they were not as clear on, this results in a better overall gardener, even if you orginal issues was not solved.

Also, specify what type of algae is worse today, get some more plants in there.


Regards,
Tom Barr
 

Tom Barr

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Re: Tom,,,, Help. Not sure what to do.

Well, you know what to do about that. Repeating it again is not going to help. You need to really consider the testing, the flow etc.
Many other folks have little trouble maintaining BBA free tanks.

I had BBA for about 2 years.
I tried everything and no one knew back then what the cause was.
I had no idea where to look.

I cannot see your tank etc, but I do know it's CO2 relatable.
Every single case has been I've ever seen inj person and most folks, even if they doubted me for monthsm, where well versed, experienced gardners, they all later figured it out and it was CO2.

Basically I'm saying that there's some thing you still are not doing right if you are still getting more.

We all add lots of PO4, K, NO3, traces routinely, no one gets BBA.

But the CO2 running low?
Then we see it.

This is highly consistent in the observations.

If adding more is tweaking the fish, the surface moevement should be increased, adding CO2 only during the light peroid should also be done.
CO2 mist will also help.

Checking the tap/tank, pH/KH, checking the lines, the reactor methods etc.

You just keep trying different things with the CO2 till you get it right.
You can add some overdosing of Excel to knock it back for now, but you still need to address the CO2 gas.

There is no silver bullet here, there is only the CO2 and good general conditions for the other nutrients.

Regards,
Tom Barr
 

jrneuzil

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Re: Tom,,,, Help. Not sure what to do.

Thanks Tom. I will look at the C02. I am not sure what else to do with it other then increase surface movement. I think what I have is good but I will add some. I do hear what you are saying about the C02 and I am sure you are correct, I just must be missing something. I will keep trying.
Thanks again.

JR
 

jrneuzil

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Re: Tom,,,, Help. Not sure what to do.

Tom,
Well things have gotten worse. I upped the CO2 to I am showing a PH of 6.5 by end of day. I am 6.8 within an hour of lights on. About a week after lowering the PH and upping the CO2 I started to see fuzz algae and maybe staghorn alsgae start to grow in addtion to the BBA. Thinking that with the increase of CO2 and I might be depleting KNO3 I upped the dosing about a 1/8 to 1/4 tsp three times a week. I had also increase TMG to 15ml three times a weeks.
At present nothing is growing well and the algae is getting worse by the day.
I don't know what to do next. Tommorow is water change day. I will also prune, clean and clean the filters but nothing seems to be helping.

JR
 

Tom Barr

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Re: Tom,,,, Help. Not sure what to do.

Get some cheapy plants, clean the tank good, then keep doing it.
Remove as much algae as possible, add as much fresh plant biomass, do not use old algae covered plants and expect them to solve the issue.

Reduce lighting to no more than 10 hours.
This is not a nutrient issue at this point if you have really added the CO2/nutrients etc. If you do this and the algae comes, back, then perhaps there is still something wrong with the nutrient dosing routine. Some plants do not like high KH.

What is your GH? Is this plain tap or is it run through a softener?

Regards,
Tom Barr
 

Tom Barr

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Re: Tom,,,, Help. Not sure what to do.

Well then , if you assume your parameters for CO2 is correct, things should not get any worse, so there's something else happening.

High Gh and KH should be okay for most plants.

I've covered every base here. You can try using a 1/4 tap to 3/4 RO mix.
I'm not sure there is a lot more I can do from a remote location, what about the local folks in the Chicago based club? I think you need some direct help at this point. Simply having someone there to see directly the entire set up is much easier to solve issues like yours.

I know enough about algae and inducing it to know you should not have the issues you have, I can only assume something is either off, or you can try the good cleaning and adding fresh cheap plants back and re setting the tank.
Repeat till the algae goes away.

I've done so many reworks of algae infested tanks, it's the same old thing time and time again in every case, high copper causes some issues with the plants(but also kills algae), high salt etc, this is not the case here.

There's no secret method folks without algae have, it's really the same old thing again and again. Re set the tank, clean, prune and add ferts ansd stay on top of things etc. If you are sporadic in your mainteance while trying to address the algae, that's not going to work.
If you slack off for a couple of weeks and let the algae gain a foothold , that's not going to work.

High plant density will help turn the tide also.

Regards
Tom Barr
 

Tom Barr

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Re: Tom,,,, Help. Not sure what to do.

Just stay on top of the algae cleaning, water changes, doing and CO2, repeat.

If you have to toss some weeds, go right ahead, add some cheapy plants till the others grow out.

Add lots of algae eaters.

Regards,
Tom Barr