I'm still having some issues with one of my tanks.
here is some info some tank
- 46 gallon Approx 24" x 24" 22"T
- filtration 1 ehiem 2217 and one ehiem 2213
- light 5 55W CF bulbs @ 6400K. (2.3WPG) The fixture is a coralife deluxe unit. The bulbs were replaced two weeks ago
- C02, 20lb tank, aquamedic regulator, clippard needle valve, aquamedic500 diffuser. 2-3bps I think I'm getting 20-30ppm (drop checker is always bright green) using 4KH solution lab prepared. Solution is replaced once a week.
- fish, 1 juvie german ram. 4 endlers
- temperature is set @ 79
- Water, 35GH, 17KH, 7.8PH
- Plants
Ludwigia Repens (doing very well)
Brown Crypt (seems to be stunted and has never really grown)
Dwarf Sag (slowly dying off)
Dwarf Hair Grass (slowly dying off)
Limnophila sessiflora (melting)
Rotala Rotundifolia (doing very well)
Stargrass (killed it in two weeks)
HC (killed it in two weeks)
Ricca/cyrstalwort) added two weeks ago. (no change)
The tank is lightly planted
Dosing
KNO3 - 1/4 TSP 3X week
PO4 1/16 TSP 3X week
flourish 3X week
(I dose the flourish on a different day then all of the others)
Substrate is 50% fluorite and %50 regular aquarium gravel
So here's what's happening. I set this tank up two months back. At the time I was only was excel only no Co2 no ferts. I noticed that my plants were not really growing and other died within the first two weeks. I decided to add a co2 system to the tank. That was done about a month back. At the same time I removed some fish in order to decrease my bio load, and I stopped dosing excel. Once to CO2 was installed I started dosing as per the list above, and I added a powerhead to increase the circulation. Within day's there was algae growing like crazy and some of the plants began to start dying off. I have a few types of algae. One is green dust algae it only sticks to the glass, another is some type of black algae that is only found on the dwaf sag, and hair algae it's everywhere.
Is this a common occurrence in planted tanks when CO2 is added to a non co2 system?
I could wipe out the tank and start over but I really don't want to do that. I want to understand why this is happening. I am not known to quit and give up. The more I fail at something the more it drives me to learn and improve. I take this invasion of algae and poor plant growth as failure on my part and I take it personal.
I've been trying to solve this problem without posting to many questions in hopes of trying to figure this out myself. At first I thought the problem was that the light was to high so I reduced it. Then I thought the flow was to low so I added a powerhead.
now still I think it's a balancing issue. Perhaps I changed things around to quickly and the plants have yet to adjust. But what do I know
I have dead/dying plants and a ton of algae.
Now I'm at the point where I don't know what to try next? Should I just say to hell with it and pack the tank with plants in hopes that the new plants adjust and out compete the algae? Or should I change nothing and try to keep the tank as clean as possible and hope that the plants recover and start growing.
Suggestions please?
Thanks,
Filipe
here is some info some tank
- 46 gallon Approx 24" x 24" 22"T
- filtration 1 ehiem 2217 and one ehiem 2213
- light 5 55W CF bulbs @ 6400K. (2.3WPG) The fixture is a coralife deluxe unit. The bulbs were replaced two weeks ago
- C02, 20lb tank, aquamedic regulator, clippard needle valve, aquamedic500 diffuser. 2-3bps I think I'm getting 20-30ppm (drop checker is always bright green) using 4KH solution lab prepared. Solution is replaced once a week.
- fish, 1 juvie german ram. 4 endlers
- temperature is set @ 79
- Water, 35GH, 17KH, 7.8PH
- Plants
Ludwigia Repens (doing very well)
Brown Crypt (seems to be stunted and has never really grown)
Dwarf Sag (slowly dying off)
Dwarf Hair Grass (slowly dying off)
Limnophila sessiflora (melting)
Rotala Rotundifolia (doing very well)
Stargrass (killed it in two weeks)
HC (killed it in two weeks)
Ricca/cyrstalwort) added two weeks ago. (no change)
The tank is lightly planted
Dosing
KNO3 - 1/4 TSP 3X week
PO4 1/16 TSP 3X week
flourish 3X week
(I dose the flourish on a different day then all of the others)
Substrate is 50% fluorite and %50 regular aquarium gravel
So here's what's happening. I set this tank up two months back. At the time I was only was excel only no Co2 no ferts. I noticed that my plants were not really growing and other died within the first two weeks. I decided to add a co2 system to the tank. That was done about a month back. At the same time I removed some fish in order to decrease my bio load, and I stopped dosing excel. Once to CO2 was installed I started dosing as per the list above, and I added a powerhead to increase the circulation. Within day's there was algae growing like crazy and some of the plants began to start dying off. I have a few types of algae. One is green dust algae it only sticks to the glass, another is some type of black algae that is only found on the dwaf sag, and hair algae it's everywhere.
Is this a common occurrence in planted tanks when CO2 is added to a non co2 system?
I could wipe out the tank and start over but I really don't want to do that. I want to understand why this is happening. I am not known to quit and give up. The more I fail at something the more it drives me to learn and improve. I take this invasion of algae and poor plant growth as failure on my part and I take it personal.
I've been trying to solve this problem without posting to many questions in hopes of trying to figure this out myself. At first I thought the problem was that the light was to high so I reduced it. Then I thought the flow was to low so I added a powerhead.
now still I think it's a balancing issue. Perhaps I changed things around to quickly and the plants have yet to adjust. But what do I know
Now I'm at the point where I don't know what to try next? Should I just say to hell with it and pack the tank with plants in hopes that the new plants adjust and out compete the algae? Or should I change nothing and try to keep the tank as clean as possible and hope that the plants recover and start growing.
Suggestions please?
Thanks,
Filipe