I could really use some help if possible

[MikeyMartz96]

I’m seeing some pretty major issues on my high tech, heavily planted 40 breeder. Severe curling on almost all the plants. Significant lower leaf drop on almost all the plants. GSA development on some of the hardier plants’ lower leaves. And have started seeing green filamentous algae developing relatively rapidly.

This tank has been set up for like 4 years, but only since mid December have I converted it into a high tech set up with many stem plants, high lighting, consistent co2, and consistent fertilization.

On initial set up everything seemed to be growing regularly, but after my first round of topping I started seeing problems. Initially my super red ludwigia, and Rotala orange juice started developing very weak, pale and twisted side shoots. The old growth looked great and grew fast. I added in a lot of alternathera and most of it melted very significantly to the point where only the tops are alive, but the growth at the tips is very stunted. I have some nasaea triflora which was growing consistently and leaves were shaped regularly, but over the past 3 or 4 days it is now succumbing to the curling. Now all my plants are seeing curling even certain Ludwigia varieties that I haven’t topped yet.

Aside from my Elatine triandra, Pogostemon Kimberly, Pogostemon stellatus, hornwort, and limnophila aromatica; there is significant curling. What’s even more troublesome is the significant lower leaf drop, beginning with brown discoloration and spot algae, that all the other plants exhibit

I’m using Niloc G EI premixed liquid ferts with additional 1ppm addition of potassium on macro days (aquarium coop easy potassium). On micro days I dose and additional 1/8 tsp of Iron.

I do 2 25% water changes a week, adding in 1/2 tsp of equilibrium as my tap water is very soft with almost no magnesium and less than 20ppm calcium according to titration tests.

Parameters:
Light - Chihiros Wrgb 2, and a Twinstar e series
Ph 7.3
Gh 7
Kh 5
Nitrates ~ 40ppm
Calcium ~ 20ppm
Magnesium ~ 12ppm

I’m not sure what to do. The titration tests really confuse me because even with consistent GH readings of 7 degrees, my calcium and magnesium readings never rise from 20 and 12ppm respectively.

I recently lowered my green and blue light in an effort to combat the hair algae.

Any help would be greatly appreciated as I don’t have long term experience with the planted tanks. But it has quickly become my favorite hobby and I would hate to have the whole system collapse or slowly die out.

 

[Allwissend]

To me it looks like that plants are starting to become dense and maybe your CO2 levels and distribution need adjusting . It's weird that you get soft water with such a KH, could it be that the water source has a water softner installed?

 

[MikeyMartz96]

To me it looks like that plants are starting to become dense and maybe your CO2 levels and distribution need adjusting . It's weird that you get soft water with such a KH, could it be that the water source has a water softner installed?

Im thinking that could be the case as well regarding co2 distribution. Do you know of any good tips to help spread the bubbles? I added a water pump near my diffuser to help spread them but there’s still quite a bit that makes it to the surface.

My water hardness is very confusing to me. Out of the tap it is incredibly low. KH is 0 and GH is about 1, so I add the equilibrium which bring it up to like 3 degrees. There is some seiryu stone in the tank which I’m sure is a major contributing factor to the kh. But even with both KH and GH reading over 5 on various different strip and titration tests, mg and ca tests don’t match up with the values. Using ca/mg specific titration tests on my tank water always shows less than 40ppm calcium and 12.5ppm or less magnesium. In my mind, if my gh is 6 or above, there should be twice as many ppm of these solids

 

[Allwissend]

Yes, it's just how diffusers work... you have to play a bit with the direction of the water flow so it pushes the bubbles down towards the substrate and towards the back where the plants are most abundant usually. Using a different, fine diffuser can help somewhat but you will still loose some at the surface level.

An easy test for your... GH test is to add the required ammount of Equilibrium to increase your GH by , say, 5. Mix well and test it, does it come up 5 degrees higher than the initial test, if yes the GH test is reliable. You can also do the same for the Mg and Ca test since Equilibrium states its contents, or just use https://rotalabutterfly.com/nutrient-calculator.php to figure out the levels you would have.

The values look good for a seiryu-like stone buffering, since it's mainly CaCO3 in some form or another with some other minerals mixed in. I would try adding some MgSO4 or just increasing the Equilibrium dose, see if the older leaves loose their white/discolored look.

 

[MikeyMartz96]

Yes, it's just how diffusers work... you have to play a bit with the direction of the water flow so it pushes the bubbles down towards the substrate and towards the back where the plants are most abundant usually. Using a different, fine diffuser can help somewhat but you will still loose some at the surface level.

An easy test for your... GH test is to add the required ammount of Equilibrium to increase your GH by , say, 5. Mix well and test it, does it come up 5 degrees higher than the initial test, if yes the GH test is reliable. You can also do the same for the Mg and Ca test since Equilibrium states its contents, or just use https://rotalabutterfly.com/nutrient-calculator.php to figure out the levels you would have.

The values look good for a seiryu-like stone buffering, since it's mainly CaCO3 in some form or another with some other minerals mixed in. I would try adding some MgSO4 or just increasing the Equilibrium dose, see if the older leaves loose their white/discolored look.

I’ll do some experimenting with the gh readings

Do you think it would be worth it to get a second diffuser and have the co2 coming into the tank from two separate points? I have my hob positioned so that flow hits the front of the tank instead of traveling the full length and I’m sure that’s contributing to my problem. But I can’t reposition it because I won’t be able to get my light placed properly

 

[Allwissend]

It's possible but often a bit of a hassle to have 2 things to tune and clean. I would play around with the water pump you added , it's position and the position of the diffuser first.

 

[MikeyMartz96]

I shall fine tune and report back. Thank you for the advice!

 

[MikeyMartz96]

So things are looking better about two weeks after increasing the co2! I started using the water pump but based on my HOB’s position it wasn’t circulating the gas enough to reach like 75% of the plants. So about a week ago I added in a second diffuser in the back of the tank, and set up a second pump.

I added a duck bill nozzle to this pump and angled it downward like 30 degrees so the bubbles are immediately thrust into the substrate once they leave the diffuser. It seems to be doing a great job at increasing the amount of diffusion going on and I’m seeing significant improvement in all the plants

With hair algae still being a big issue, I think I’m gonna cut down to 75% of the standard EI dosage that I’ve been using. That should help with further limiting my nitrates and hopefully lead to some better coloration in my Rotala

One issue I have seen as of the last two days is my Ammania Triflora has some leaf browning on the newer growth. Large spots are developing and kill a leaf in like 3 days but that can probably be attributed to the stems not yet having been physically planted in the substrate.

My Rotala Kochi has a pretty good deal of yellowing at the crowns of the new growth as well. Not sure how to address that as my nitrates are still north of 20ppm. I might try using some iron tabs in my substrate and see if that helps remedy things as I know Iron is easily bound up in the water column and that’s gonna interfere with uptake