GSA, Brown Spots and Holes...

fleuramore

Member
Mar 15, 2008
55
0
6
Hi Everyone,

I'm having a few issues in my tank that I am hoping some of you might be able to shed some light on.

Background:
75 gal
KH: approx 4 - ph goes to 7.4 overnight with no CO2. During the day, ph at 6.4.
GH: approx 5
PO4: approx 3-5 ppm
NO3: approx 5-10 ppm

Pressurized CO2 with Atomic 75 mm diffuser which is located directly below a Koralia 750 circ. pump
Filtration - Eheim 2213 and 2217.

Currently dosing EI - used Wet's calc to determine solutions for KNO3 and KH2PO4 for a 70 gallon tank (took out 5 gallons for substrate, etc.)
Using Flourish Comp. for traces 16 mL per day. Occasionally use Seachem Trace instead (trying to get rid of it) along with about 7 mL Flourish Iron. Also dose the substrate with either Aquariumplants.com total pellets, Seachem Flourish tabs. Add Excel daily - 7 mL


I just changed my lighting from a Current Nova Extreme(ly loud) 4x54 to a beautiful ATI Dimming Sunpower 6x54. I know... way too much light, but there are dimmers!!! That way I can utilize numerous types of bulbs. Currently, while I'm still waiting for 4 bulb channel to burn in, I am following this schedule:


12 PM - 2 PM 0-50% (2 bulbs)
2 PM - 3 PM 100% (4 bulbs)
3 PM - 9 PM 100%-0% (2 bulbs)

I am currently growing "beginner" plants as I want to try to get these growing well before venturing out to get others. Amazon Swords, Rotala indica, Cabomba caroliniana, H. difformis and Ludwigia repens. Here are the issues:

Rotala indica - some new growth is stunted and the older leaves are getting brown patches/spots
H. difformis - some new growth abnormal. Older leaves get holes on edges and get GSA (maybe guppies and mollies are picking at the new growth)
L. Repens - lower leaves get a lot of GSA on them
Swords get a lot of GSA and they sometimes get clear patches on them.
Cabomba caroliniana - healthy


One thing I did recently was add about 22 grams of MgSO4 after a water change. This might have caused the H. difformis issues but not sure. However, since then I have only been using Aquavitro Mineralize or Equilibrium to raise GH. Water changes are at about 75-80% each week.


I know the first thing that will come to mind is CO2. I just don't see how I don't have enough though... I go through a 5 lb container of CO2 in less than a month and I pump anywhere from 4-6 bps through the diffuser. I think that there is really good flow between the Koralia 750 and the two Eheim filters. Lighting may be high... Trying to find out what the ideal PAR would be. I have a PAR meter. La di da, but don't know what values I should be looking for and where in the water column... substrate, middle and surface. Advice on this would be much appreciated.
 
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Gerryd

Plant Guru Team
Lifetime Member
Sep 23, 2007
5,623
22
38
South Florida
Hi,

More later but quickly...

1. That is a strange lighting schedule :) There is not a lot of time where the light levels remain consistent. Say 50% for 4-6 hrs...May want to consider your setup again.

2. C02 - you know you need higher psi (25-30) on the c02 regulator when using an atomizer, correct?
Bps is meaningless in terms of how much c02. Is just a place to orient ourselves when adjusting. The plants tell you when c02 is good.

3. Why the switch from RO if that was doing well? Was the growth poor and issues start immediately with the RO swap? Or were there signs previously and the flip made them worse or you thought that was root cause?

4. Don't be afraid to dose higher macros/micros to rule out deficiencies. A little more will not hurt fish and critters.

5. Do a couple of water changes a week and dose after. That should help overall.

What is your maintenance schedule like for w/c? Are the filters clean? What type of atomizer?

Later!
 

fleuramore

Member
Mar 15, 2008
55
0
6
Thanks for the reply Gerry.

1. That is a strange lighting schedule :) There is not a lot of time where the light levels remain consistent. Say 50% for 4-6 hrs...May want to consider your setup again.

I thought I was simulating a sunrise to sunset thing, so that was my logic. The lighting is prob the biggest change. Also the bulb colors are different. Before I had 6700K and 10000k bulbs. Now I'm all over the place. On the 2 bulb channel i have 2 Giesemann middays. When run at 50%, PAR is about 90 at the surface, 70-75 midway and about 30-35 at the substrate. On the 4 bulb channel, there is 1 ATI blue plus, 1 ATI Purple plus, a GE Starcoat and a Giesemann Aquaflora.

I am still burning in channel 2 so I have to have them at 100%. PAR is really high, upwards of 185 at the substrate.

What kind of schedule would you recommend? I was thinking maybe

Channel 1 50% 12-2 PM
Channel 2 100% 2 PM to 4 PM
Channel 1 100% 4 PM to 6 PM
Channel 1 50% 6 PM to 9 PM
9 PM Off


2. C02 - you know you need higher psi (25-30) on the c02 regulator when using an atomizer, correct?
Bps is meaningless in terms of how much c02. Is just a place to orient ourselves when adjusting. The plants tell you when c02 is good.

Yes, pressure is close to 40. I raised CO2 enough that it has lowered ph another .4

3. Why the switch from RO if that was doing well? Was the growth poor and issues start immediately with the RO swap? Or were there signs previously and the flip made them worse or you thought that was root cause?

I was doing PPS Pro when using RO. Too much to deal with on water changes with EI as my RO is at my kitchen sink and I have to fill buckets and bring them to the tank.

The main difference I have noticed is sometimes there is more brown fluffy organic material that collects on the leaves. Seems to go away when filterscare cleaned though.

Did you take a look at my water report? Low KH and GH but high in silica and Ortho phosphate.

4. Don't be afraid to dose higher macros/micros to rule out deficiencies. A little more will not hurt fish and critters.

I just started to dose a little more NO3. Felt that 5-10 ppm was a bit low with my 5 ppm PO4... But have a lot of GSA so I just don't know. Hopefully the additional CO2 will help. The new Rotala growth that is small is strange though. Maybe PO4 creating a K def.?

5. Do a couple of water changes a week and dose after. That should help overall.
Not sure I have time. I would think that 80% 1 x a week would be good. No?

What is your maintenance schedule like for w/c? Are the filters clean? What type of atomizer?

I clean my flters every three weeks on opposite schedules. Just cleaned the tubing as well...probably do that every 3 months, but may increase to every 6 weeks as I notice a big difference with flow. That might be why my CO2 is not as high? more surface agitation. My diffuser is a 75 mm Atomic and i have it placed just mbelow my Koralia 750 Gph circ pump. Bubbles cranked up so high now you can hear them pushing through the diffuser and ph is at 6.0.


Whatcha think?
 
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