Questions about fertilizer/CO2

So, to provide useful info, here are my tank specs

Water changes: 1.5litres every other day
Tank size: 55litres
Plants: Java fern, Anubias Barteri Var, Hygrophila 'Siamensis 53B', rotala indica, and the other one I'm unsure what it's called.
Cycle: It's a 2ish-year-old tank, so fully cycled.
Lights: I have planted aquarium LED lights and they are on from 3 pm to 1 am (I've adjusted it to 3.3pm till 12 am (Does have normal light from window when lights are not on, but is not in direct sunlight)
CO2: Flourish Excel. Dosage: 1ml a day (I've been using Flourish Excel to get rid of black algae but also as CO2, but need to buy the CO2 canisters again soon)
Fertilizer: 0 (I'm ordering Easy Life Pro Fito https://amzn.to/3e6yL2C as I realized that maybe where my shortfall is)

I've been having some issues with algae recently after not having any for a few months. I've added (A fair amount now) Algumin from tetra to remove it. That used to work pretty well, but have been struggling to get rid of algae and had to overdose.

My other issue is the plants are not looking too healthy. Yellowing of leaves with some holes and blackening marks on the Anubias. Topped off with little growth. Water quality seems to be good, though haven't done any test kits (API Freshwater Master Test Kit) in a while as fish are breeding happily. That and the tank is cycled and planted. I recently split and replanted the Hygrophila Siamensis and cut the rotala indica as it was growing too high, but its growth has slowed a lot.

MacWhinny said:

So, to provide useful info, here are my tank specs

Water changes: 1.5litres every other day
Tank size: 55litres
Plants: Java fern, Anubias Barteri Var, Hygrophila 'Siamensis 53B', rotala indica, and the other one I'm unsure what it's called.
Cycle: It's a 2ish-year-old tank, so fully cycled.
Lights: I have planted aquarium LED lights and they are on from 3 pm to 1 am (I've adjusted it to 3.3pm till 12 am (Does have normal light from window when lights are not on, but is not in direct sunlight)
CO2: Flourish Excel. Dosage: 1ml a day (I've been using Flourish Excel to get rid of black algae but also as CO2, but need to buy the CO2 canisters again soon)
Fertilizer: 0 (I'm ordering Easy Life Pro Fito https://amzn.to/3e6yL2C as I realized that maybe where my shortfall is)

I've been having some issues with algae recently after not having any for a few months. I've added (A fair amount now) Algumin from tetra to remove it. That used to work pretty well, but have been struggling to get rid of algae and had to overdose.

My other issue is the plants are not looking too healthy. Yellowing of leaves with some holes and blackening marks on the Anubias. Topped off with little growth. Water quality seems to be good, though haven't done any test kits (API Freshwater Master Test Kit) in a while as fish are breeding happily. That and the tank is cycled and planted. I recently split and replanted the Hygrophila Siamensis and cut the rotala indica as it was growing too high, but its growth has slowed a lot.

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Get rid of the excel, it's basically poison in a bottle, it has an ingredient in it used to sterilize medical equipment and used in embalming.
As for CO2 tomm Barr said the number one cause of algae in a tank is inconsistent CO2 levels.
CO2 is naturally occurring in the tank unless one has high light red plants CO2 is doing more harm than good. Co2 will increase the speed of growth and in response the plants need an increase in other nilutruents if those nutrients aren't in full supply algae takes hold of the plants not having what they need.
I'd suggest stopping CO2 and focus on making sure your plants have all the necessary nutrients to their shoots,( leaves) and roots. Comprehensive liquid fert will feed plants through leaves and a comprehensive root tabs will feed the roots. If one of the I think 17 nutrients
Here's some charts of nutrient deficiency signs in leaves

I was using Excel to treat the black algae. As that's the only thing I've seen that gets rid of it. So untill it's gone, I have no other choice.

Thanks, I guess I'll stop dosing till the new Easy Life Pro Fito Ferts kick in and I get stable growth.

Aren't stem plants the only ones that need root tabs?

Anubias don't need much light or nutrients. Too much of either often results in BBA on their leaves.

Changing 2.75% of the water means that you are leaving 97.25% of whatever bad stuff has built up in your tank (nitrates, unused ferts, potassium, hormones etc etc) gets left behind and are probably becoming more concentrated, and possibly more imbalanced. In my 54l tank (which only holds 40 litres of water) I replace 30 litres every week. Changing this in one go has a far better effect on diluting the "bad stuff".

Since you have not been doing regular large changes I would suggest you change 20% a day for a week before moving to larger changes. Chances are the water in your tank has a very different chemistry to that in your tank and swapping it all at once may shock your fish. Another benefit of large changes is that your tank stays close to your tap in terms of chemistry - so if you ever have to do an emergency water change it won't cause undue stress.

How is doing 1.5litres every other day worst than a 20% water change a week? I'm actually doing more, thus removing more nitrates and stuff.

MacWhinny said:

How is doing 1.5litres every other day worst than a 20% water change a week? I'm actually doing more, thus removing more nitrates and stuff.

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You are changing more water but the dilution factor is less.

You do water changes for 2 main reasons.
1) to reduce nutrients like ammonia, nitrite & nitrate.
2) to dilute disease organisms in the water.

Fish live in a soup of microscopic organisms including bacteria, fungus, viruses, protozoans, worms, flukes and various other things that make your skin crawl. Doing a big water change and gravel cleaning the substrate on a regular basis will dilute these organisms and reduce their numbers in the water, thus making it a safer and healthier environment for the fish.

If you change 10% of the tank water each day, you leave 90% of the bad stuff behind. Each day when you change another 10%, you are only diluting the nutrients and disease organisms by 10%. During the 24 hours after your water change (and before the next water change), the number of microscopic organisms goes back up, as does the nitrates. Even if you somehow managed to stop the microscopic organisms from reproducing and stopped nitrate production, you are still diluting these things by a tiny amount.

If you do a 25% water change each week you leave behind 75% of the bad stuff in the water.
If you do a 50% water change each week you leave behind 50% of the bad stuff in the water.
If you do a 75% water change each week you leave behind 25% of the bad stuff in the water.

Fish live in their own waste. Their tank and filter is full of fish poop. The water they breath is filtered through fish poop. Cleaning filters, gravel and doing big regular water changes, removes a lot of this poop and micro-organisms, and makes the environment cleaner and healthier for the fish.

Sorry, but I still don't get how you think doing a 20% water change once a week. Removes more fish waste and micro-organisms from the water than doing 3% (1.5litres) water change 7 times a week.
That would mean, 6 days of the week would mean the fish would be swimming in a thicker amount of waste and micro-organisms

That's not to mention the 10% you stated. that being 5.5litres of a 55litre tank. Minus the volume for gravel/ filter/heater and plants.
Least doing more of a regular water change, would mean the tank water, even if it amounted to a 20% water change a week, would mean the water would be fresher each day than only doing it once a week right?

BTW, how much water should I be removed each week? I've heard 20%. I'm unsure if it's a bad thing or not if you remove too much.

Small water changes don’t dilute what we need to enough - if it was a closed off box with nothing polluting it eventually you would get to the point. But because you have sources of pollution (fish plants etc) your small water changes will only be achieving the same small change each day.

One of our members did a visual test where they added food dye to an empty tank and then removed varying percentages of the water and it was really only when they removed 50% or more that it made a significant difference.

Most members do 50% a week I do at least 50% 2-3 times a week. Though I’m only going to get chance to do one this week.

Wills

MacWhinny said:

Sorry, but I still don't get how you think doing a 20% water change once a week. Removes more fish waste and micro-organisms from the water than doing 3% (1.5litres) water change 7 times a week.
That would mean, 6 days of the week would mean the fish would be swimming in a thicker amount of waste and micro-organisms

That's not to mention the 10% you stated. that being 5.5litres of a 55litre tank. Minus the volume for gravel/ filter/heater and plants.
Least doing more of a regular water change, would mean the tank water, even if it amounted to a 20% water change a week, would mean the water would be fresher each day than only doing it once a week right?

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It wasn't suggested to change 20% per week. Seangee said to change 20% per day, for a week. After which, it is advisable to perform at least 50% water changes every week. Seangee's reasoning for the week's worth of 20% daily water changes, is so you gradually and safely, move closer to your water source (tap water) chemistry, as it is assumed your tank's water is currently quite different.


With regards to your initial post, I would agree that the issue is likely due to not currently dosing any ferts. Hopefully things improve for you when your order arrives and you start dosing again.

MacWhinny said:

How is doing 1.5litres every other day worst than a 20% water change a week? I'm actually doing more, thus removing more nitrates and stuff.

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As @Colin_T says - its about what you leave behind rather than how much you change. Simple spreadsheet demonstrates what is left in your water after 8 days if you start with 100 units of bad stuff. First column is your daily 3% change and the second is a weekly 20% change


Now that assumes that the fish aren't adding any bad stuff. So lets assume that the fish add back 5 units per day. Now the picture becomes a lot worse - so I added a 50% column

@Wills Hmmm, I didn't know someone had tested that. Online I see the recommended is 20% a week. Or saying at least that. Even YouTube channels (Popular ones that have online stores and physical shops) saying 20% Do you have the link to that forum post? I shall look for myself, but in the event, I don't find it.

@mbsqw1d I think you mistook what I was saying. (Or I didn't make it clear enough) I was referring to what I've seen online and YouTube videos as the recommended amount to remove a week.

@seangee If that is correct then dang. OK, I'm gonna have to start doing 50% water changes a week then.

I will add though, my water parameters the last time I checked, we really good. Even with doing 3% water changes a day. So my system must be doing well or my fish would just die. I have my cichlids constantly spawning, so can't be that bad.

I did a 3% water change, just to see what my water parameters were, and tbh, there pretty good. Even when only doing a 3% water change a day. I will change to a 50% water change a week though. Ammonia and Nitrite are none existent and Nitrate is say, 10ppm

Also, bear in mind that I also add Fert after a water change and had done before doing the water parameter tests. (So the Nitrate would be a little higher than if I hadn't added Fert) I added 3ml of Fert for the amount of water I removed. (Side note, I dose more than the bottle recommends because I have a fully established planted tank.

MacWhinny said:

Side note, I dose more than the bottle recommends because I have a fully established planted tank.

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I wouldn't overdose, as you don't have that many plants, and one of which is a slow growing anubias. If you have bare substrate then I wouldn't consider it a heavily planted tank.

It's still an established planted tank. Going off the max the bottle says, means you'd be underdosing. Meaning your plants wouldn't be getting what they need. I don't mean 3 4 5 6 7 x the does. But they do need more