Is this GSA??

[mike]

Hi Everyone,

Is this GSA? I'm not seeing any on the glass, only the Anubias and Sag leaves, and it appeared quite fast.

View attachment 3641

View attachment 3642

View attachment 3643

My tank specs are as follows

125G (been flooded for 4 weeks)
Soil substraight that went through a 10 week dry start
Lights are 2 x 54W T5HO on for 7 hours, then there are 2x39w T5HO and 1x96W PC on for 5 hours in the middle.
Pressurized CO2, PH drops by 1 before lights on and is down by 1.2 by mid photo period.

Within the first week of flooding my tank I did 6 x 80% water changes, 4 in the first 3 days. Then for 2 weeks I was doing 60% to 70% water changes every other day. Now I'm doing 50% twice a week.

In addition to what looks like GSA there are diatoms but they seem to be lessening.

Ferts
7.5ppm NO3 - 3 times a week
1.0ppm PO4 - 3 times a week
0.5ppm Fe from CSM+B - 3 times a week

I know GSA is from too little PO4 in proportion to the NO3. Now does this mean there is too much NO3 due to the soil or should I add a little more PO2? Also, if you look at the second picture you can see a little bit of yellowing or burning on one edge, what could that be?

Mike

 

[Gerryd]

Hi Mike,

GSA for sure...Up your p04 and no3 and check your c02 as well.

Lights are 2 x 54W T5HO on for 7 hours, then there are 2x39w T5HO and 1x96W PC on for 5 hours in the middle.

Sounds like a lot of light. If you must do the other lights, go for a 1-2 hour burst and see. You would be surprised what 2x54w t5ho can do..

 

[mike]

Gerry,

I'm just worried about the light spread with the 2 x 48 inch fixtures. the tank is 72 inches and I have one going left to right and the other from the opposite side. The other 2 that are on in the middle of the photo period are 36inches and go down the middle. In any case I'll lower the lighting period of this 2 to 1 to 2 hours and I'll keep the 2 54w units on for 7. I'm just worried my glosso will get leggy.

Also, I measure my PH with a meter. Is it safe to say if I have a drop of 1 in the PH that I have about 30ppm?

Why would you suggest upping both NO3 and PO4? Do you think my light it creating more need for both. Also I thought GSA was a sign of low PO4.

Still trying to learn.

Thanks

Mike

 

[Gerryd]

Hi Mike,

Please describe your fixtures and light positioning in more detail??

A ph drop of 1 is a good place to start benchmarking unless fish or critters already show stress at that level. It may be more or may be less...I try not to worry about how many ppms. It is either enough or not. Yes, light drives demand for ALL nutes, not just c02. Leibigs law of the min illustrates what occurs when a deficiency in ANY of them is present.

GSA COULD be low po4, but I dosed the crap out of it and still had it, until my c02 was adequate. Other times extra po4 did the trick.

Try and stay away from algae x is caused by Y. Just know it is usually a sign that something is out of balance or maintenance is overdue or something is amiss.

Try and concentrate on growing healthy plants and the rest will come with that...

 

[mike]

Please describe your fixtures and light positioning in more detail??

Gerry,

There are 4 differant fixtures inside a canopie, the canopy fits over the 72 inche tank.

1. 54w T5HO 48 inches
2. 54w T5HO 48 inches
3. 2 x 39W T5HO (Hagen GLO Light) 36 Inches
4. 96W PC from AHS 36 inches

At the front of the canopie I have 1 of the 54w lights going from right to left, at the back of the canopy I have the other 54w light going from left to right. Each start about 6 inches from the edge of the canopy. Then right down the center of the canopy I have my 2 36 inch fixtures (numbers 3 and 4 above) end to end. The 2 54w lights are on for 7 hours, so that gives me 108w during that time. When I turn on the other 2 fixtures I have a total of 282w for about 5 hours, last night I reduced that to 2 hours.

Also, this morning I dosed 10ppm of NO3 (as opposed to 7.5) and 1.3ppm of PO4 (as opposed to 1). This weekend I will raise my CO2. As it stands my fish do not seem very stressed but I do have some cardinals that seem to hide about 3 hours before the end of the lighting period and the guppies gather more at the top.

Thank you for the advice.

Mike

 

[Gerryd]

Gerry,

There are 4 differant fixtures inside a canopie, the canopy fits over the 72 inche tank.

1. 54w T5HO 48 inches
2. 54w T5HO 48 inches
3. 2 x 39W T5HO (Hagen GLO Light) 36 Inches
4. 96W PC from AHS 36 inches

At the front of the canopie I have 1 of the 54w lights going from right to left, at the back of the canopy I have the other 54w light going from left to right. Each start about 6 inches from the edge of the canopy. Then right down the center of the canopy I have my 2 36 inch fixtures (numbers 3 and 4 above) end to end. The 2 54w lights are on for 7 hours, so that gives me 108w during that time. When I turn on the other 2 fixtures I have a total of 282w for about 5 hours, last night I reduced that to 2 hours.

Also, this morning I dosed 10ppm of NO3 (as opposed to 7.5) and 1.3ppm of PO4 (as opposed to 1). This weekend I will raise my CO2. As it stands my fish do not seem very stressed but I do have some cardinals that seem to hide about 3 hours before the end of the lighting period and the guppies gather more at the top.

Thank you for the advice.

Mike

Mike,

More later on your lights, but add some surface ripple NOW as the fish show c02 stress. Do this prior to increasing c02.

 

[mike]

but add some surface ripple NOW as the fish show c02 stress. Do this prior to increasing c02.

I would have thought my 4 foot overflow with about 1500GPH of water going over it would have provided more than suffinet O2 exchange. I will point one of my 4 loclines twards the surface and see how the fish behave tomorrow before I start adjusting the CO2 on Saturday.

Thank you,

Mike

 

[Gerryd]

Hey,

Just want you to be careful is all...

Well if your 02 is good but fish show stress towards the end of the c02 period, then perhaps you have reached the fishes capacity for c02...

t does build up in the tank and guppies are smalkl fish. Even with niagara falls you can gas fish.