New tank and correct ferts??

[Paul]

I now have a new tank, its a 80 us Gall tank, stats are below:

50/50 tap/ro water
2.5 wpg (9 hours a day)
c02 added
ph 7.2
kh 5
gh 5
TDS 300
Nitrates in tap about 40

I have 15 giant swords in the at the moment and am planning on adding a few more plants
Currently dosing twice a week with
12ml csm+b with extra iron (mixed 20g to 500ml water)
5 grams KNO3
1 grams KH2P04

I managed to lose the battle with algae in the last tank and want to win in this one. I know I need to add more c02, I only set the bottle up 2 days ago and am still sorting it.

(I was adding sulphate of postash for potasium and magnesium sulphate, but not started osing these yet)

 

[quenton]

Re: New tank and correct ferts??

While I am not an expert (yet -- working on it ), a couple of things struck me on reading:

- your CO2 is likely really low given those stats -- is this pressurized or DIY?
- if you tap nitrates are 40, and if you change 50% water each week you will want to watch you nitrates closely

Anyway -- good luck -- tom will likely have more detailed analysis

 

[Paul]

Re: New tank and correct ferts??

While I am not an expert (yet -- working on it ), a couple of things struck me on reading:

- your CO2 is likely really low given those stats -- is this pressurized or DIY?
- if you tap nitrates are 40, and if you change 50% water each week you will want to watch you nitrates closely

Anyway -- good luck -- tom will likely have more detailed analysis

Ta

Its a 2kg c02 bottle - I know its low, but I have just added five stendker discus in there, I want to ph to go down slowly and not shock the fish too much.

yes, I change 50% a week with a 50/50 mix

 

[quenton]

Re: New tank and correct ferts??

You may find DIY a bit much on an 80g -- I am the biggest DIYer for CO2 here I think.

I have a 65g with 5 bottles going on it, and a 29g with 3 bottles. I change bottles every 14 days (spread out across that period).

The diffusing on my 65g is as follows -- 2 bottles feeding a single line going directly into the intake of a powerhead, and 3 bottles going into another powerhead. A bit noisy at first, then I put a bit of filter material in the intake thingy as well, that broke up the co2 bubbles a bit before the impeller got to them. I think my CO2 is about where I want it, actually even maybe not quite there yet, but I will wait and see how my slight amount of algae goes.

I figure I may be limited by my diffusing and I may try going down to 4 bottles on the 65g after a bit and see what changes.

My wife says the area around the tanks looks like some mad scientists lab.

 

[Paul]

Re: New tank and correct ferts??

Its a pressurised c02 bottle

 

[quenton]

Re: New tank and correct ferts??

Its a pressurised c02 bottle

OK ignore what I said. I read your "2kg CO2 bottle" as "2L CO2 bottle"
and assumed DIY -- so you just need to up your CO2 some then.

 

[Paul]

Re: New tank and correct ferts??

One thing I have noticed is the swords have a few leaves that are going see through, I would have put this down to lack of iron(?) but as c02 is only just set up, I wouldn't have thought they were using that much ferts before I added c02.
I will be increasing the c02, I want the ph at around 6.6-6.8 - its 7.4 in tap

 

[quenton]

Re: New tank and correct ferts??

One thing I have noticed is the swords have a few leaves that are going see through, I would have put this down to lack of iron(?) but as c02 is only just set up, I wouldn't have thought they were using that much ferts before I added c02.
I will be increasing the c02, I want the ph at around 6.6-6.8 - its 7.4 in tap

You might up your trace elements a bit -- with the dosage you are using, up to 3 times a week. But since you say extra iron, I would not have suspected lack of iron.

 

[Paul]

Re: New tank and correct ferts??

Some leaves are clear, others have brown spots on them
Got a wate change to do tonight, so will have a good look at them

 

[VaughnH]

Re: New tank and correct ferts??

One thing I have noticed is the swords have a few leaves that are going see through, I would have put this down to lack of iron(?) but as c02 is only just set up, I wouldn't have thought they were using that much ferts before I added c02.
I will be increasing the c02, I want the ph at around 6.6-6.8 - its 7.4 in tap

If you want a specific pH for the fish, you need to adjust your KH so that when you have enough CO2 in the water, the pH hits your target. Right now you are just inviting algae to invade. Also, if your tap water is 40 ppm nitrates, weekly water changes with 100% tap water will do for dosing nitrate. But, if you are relying on a test kit for that nitrate value, beware! Test kits just aren't that good that you can rely on them. Why are you not using tap water alone instead of mixing with RO water?

 

[neil1973]

Re: New tank and correct ferts??

Did you buy the swords recently? If so they will probably have been grown out of water and will die back a bit before growing new leaves.

 

[Paul]

Re: New tank and correct ferts??

Why are you not using tap water alone instead of mixing with RO water?

Because I keep discus and have tap water with a ph of 7.4, kh of 12 and a gh of 18 and dont like rifty fish

Yes, I realise that I will need to put the kh to where I want it to get the ph where I want it, thats why I want the ph at 6.6 - 6.8 then theres around 30ppm of c02 in the water.....

 

[Paul]

Re: New tank and correct ferts??

Did you buy the swords recently? If so they will probably have been grown out of water and will die back a bit before growing new leaves.

I did, buy I know where they came from (greenline) and the plants are usually good, allof the leaves are going see thtoug, its making me wonder if its a temp problem as the tanks at 30c

 

[Bill]

Re: New tank and correct ferts??

I have Discus in my tank and they seem very hardy and their not affected by the pH shift. I have shifted it back and forth a lot trying to get things just right and it doesn't bother them. One thing I have noticed with my Discus is before they start acting weird from to much CO2 their color will start getting darker, so you can tell ahead of time when the CO2 is reaching max.

So don't worry about them and get your CO2 up before you run into algae problems.

I would go ahead and add a little KNO3 at each water change just to be sure, I think you should be ok by adding it.

Again don't worry about the Discus, good plant growth will make a healthy tank, which will make your Discus happy.

Bill

 

[neil1973]

Re: New tank and correct ferts??

I did, buy I know where they came from (greenline) and the plants are usually good, allof the leaves are going see thtoug, its making me wonder if its a temp problem as the tanks at 30c

I too have bought swords from greenline and agree that they are good. Comercially available swords are generally grown emersed and will loose leaves while they adapt but will then start growing again. I bought 5 standard swords from greenline which did die back initially but eventually had to be removed them from a 120 litre tank as they were doing too well and got far too big!

I can't comment on the temperature in relation to the swords as i havn't tried keeping any plants this warm for an extended period. From the fish point of view you could reduce your temp by a few degrees. If you are using standard aquarium thermometers it is worth bearing in mind that they can easily be out by 2 or 3 degrees C.

regards
Neil

 

[Tom Barr]

Re: New tank and correct ferts??

Most all plants do well at warmer temps, you have to keep up with things more, but otherwise things are fairly much the same.

Rather than pH, focus on KH. Reduce the KH to 3. Leave it there.
Add enough CO2 to get 30ppm or so.

That's about all there is to it, GH should be about 4-5 etc.

Regards,
Tom Barr

 

[Paul]

Re: New tank and correct ferts??

Thanks Tom, I will get the kh a little lower, what do you think on the ferts side of it though?

 

[Tom Barr]

Re: New tank and correct ferts??

Nothing really to add about the ferts, add them
I'd go a little light on the KNO3, and add some K2SO4 perhaps if you feed heavy.

Regards,
Tom Barr