GSA problem

Re: GSA problem

I have the same problem, high co2, high phosphates, lots of GSA I'm beginning to think that it may have something to do with me having very hard water 30GH.

 

Re: GSA problem

Ditto

 

Re: GSA problem

I use pressurized co2, about 6 bubbles per second, on a 90 gallon tank. It gets turned off at night.

 

Re: GSA problem

I just don't see any way that it could be my co2, it is cranking.

Here is my setup.

90 gallon 24" deep medium heavy plant load.

4x 54 watt T5 tek light 4hoursx2 5hoursx4 3hoursx2

co2 6 bubbles p/sec estimate turns on 2 hours before lights and off 1 hour before lights go out. I cannot actually count the bubbles becuase they are going too fast for me to keep up.

weekly 50% water change

dry dosing, I do not dose nitrate, tap is around 20-40(hard to read test kit)
day 1 - 1/4tsp phosphate
day 2 - 1/4tsp csm+b with iron
day 3 - 1/4tsp phosphate
day 4 - 1/4tsp csm+b with iron
day 5 - 1/4tsp phosphate
day 6 - 1/4tsp csm+b with iron
day 7 - water change, run diatomaceous earth filter for 3 hours

My tank is only about 2 months old, and the GSA seems to be decreasing, but not going away, almost as annoying is the green dust that builds up on
the glass.

I do get intense pearling with all 4 lights on(so much that I don't like it) and there is a slight film on the surface of my water, held in check by 4 black mollies.


I can try increasing the co2 even more, but I think it is near maxed out right now becuase my reactor gets a buble of co2 at the top during the day.

My ph drops from 7.1 to 6.5 during the day, and my KH is also very high, although I don't trust any of the test kits on this. I attribute this to high co2 levels. The ph I am very confident of, I use a digital probe and its calibrated at 7.0 and 4.0.

 

Re: GSA problem

i too have had the algae problem everyone talks about.my gh 12 and kh 9 in my co2 pressurized tanks.i have to run bubble almost at a steady stream to get enough gas in tank.i 'm thinking now that it is a co2 LOSS that is the problem.by getting more surface movement and alot of general circulation in tank has helped considerably. i think bba comes with the tank,free,at no extra charge. co2 seems to allways be the hardess correction to make in a planted tank.after trying several reactor designs,the mist idea may be just the problem solver.it allso helps to get that fertilizer program right for the species of plants in a particular tank. its not all that easy,if it were everyone would be a genius and there would be no need for websites like this one,unless one wants bragging rights. EVERYONE HAVE A NICE THANKSGIVING ! regards,cornhusker

 

Re: GSA problem

Isn't it obvious that you are starving your plants by not dosing nitrate? With that much light and CO2 the plants need the nitrate desperately!

 

Re: GSA problem

Well no its not obvious to me, my plants grow like crazy. Ill try dosing the nitrate as Tom recommends for a week and see what happens.

 

Re: GSA problem

I'm sorry if my last comment was too curt. I didn't mean it to be. The logic behind what I meant was that once a week you add 50% water with 20 -40 ppm NO3, leaving the tank with 10-20 ppm nitrate. But, the high CO2, high light and other ferts cause the plants to use up that nitrate rapidly, so that for most of the week the nitrate level is near zero. That unbalances the levels of fertilizers, so that the algae can gain the upper hand over the plants. The water change, in effect, is a once a week dosage of NO3, instead of the repeated dosage thru the week that Tom recommends.

 

Re: GSA problem

Been dosing NO3 for a few weeks now, that did the trick, I still do get GSA, but not on the plants, just on the glass. My biggest problem now is the green dust, which is a real pain in the ass.

 

Re: GSA problem

i have a 55 gal tank that has been a pain in the a.. for almost a year.plants just sat there looking stupid. i was using the yeast method.it's so hard to get co2 consistant that way in a tank that size.green spot was allways there on glass.at that time it had 2wpg.thinking that considering where tank was,a dark room,i decided to add another 2 wpg.completely cleaned gravel and anything else that needed attention.still no luck.went to press.co2.still nothing.decided to try with just 2wpg again.same dosing,allmost.bingo! tank began to respond.gs algae allmost non existant. i did go to the mist idea,that helped the co2 issue considerably,going back to 2wpg.imo i was under doseing tank with the higher lighting.high light tanks require a lot of attention,mainly because you can't count on these so called test kits.if things are off a little they show up as a more agressive problem.landing lights belong on a airport runway!this website is trying to make things easier and simple for keeping plants in a confined envirement.
regards,cornhusker