Plant Help After A Blackout!

[aibo210]

Hi

I have a 65l tank I have done a blackout for 4 days after scrubbing most of it and removing affected plants because algae toke over it. after it ive toke out most of my dead plants vacumed the gravel and put in a phos pad in my filter and started the nutrafin co2 again after a 50% water change the tank is now crystal clear.

I have got some new plants comming

and orderd some dry ferts

Mono Potassium Phosphate - 100g (K2P04)
Potassium Nitrate - 100g (KN03)

(NOT USED THEM BEFOR)

and a decent test kit to keep an eye on things

Lights on 8 hours a day.

I have done a small dose of SEACHEM FLORISH today. so do any of you guys have any tips of gettin this tank up and running again?

befor all I managed to do was put plants in one week after a few weeks of growing great they stoped growing went spindly thin and needle like then my tank was swamped in black algea.

So any ideas not to fall into the algae trap again?


Thanks in advance!

Carl

 

[TammyLiz]

What kind of light do you have? Just a guess but it seems like most of the threads I have been seeing with people saying their tank has been taken over with algae have compact fluorescents. Do you?

Light spectrum can give algae an advantage so whatever the case I'd look into that. Also it could be that you have just plain old too much light.

Just throwing it out there for you to think about since I don't even know what light you have.

 

[aibo210]

What kind of light do you have? Just a guess but it seems like most of the threads I have been seeing with people saying their tank has been taken over with algae have compact fluorescents. Do you?

Light spectrum can give algae an advantage so whatever the case I'd look into that. Also it could be that you have just plain old too much light.

Just throwing it out there for you to think about since I don't even know what light you have.

Hi

I forgot to mention befor. yeah I did have two arcadia original compact 11 watts and a interpet 18w compact triplus. I have toke all 3 out and managed to get hold of the original aquaone ones for my tank. there two 11 watt mixed Triphosphor 7.1k & Biolux 8k Fluorescent recomended to me for plant growth I installed after the blackout. the details on them on there website says:

• Balanced complete lighting
• Low Energy/Long Life Tube
• Easy to fit
• High Output & Enhances fish colours

There on currently for 8 hours a day now. befor I was running all 3 old ones for about 10.

Carl

 

[fozziebear]

id advise getting another nutrafin and changing them 1 on sunday and 1 on wednesday/thursday, also id look into EI dosing. your getting the ferts so why not, your gonna need traces though.

 

[aibo210]

id advise getting another nutrafin and changing them 1 on sunday and 1 on wednesday/thursday, also id look into EI dosing. your getting the ferts so why not, your gonna need traces though.

I have followed the EI method explained on the sticky its says you can use seachem flourish as a trace and ive got some of that kicking around

 

[fozziebear]

thats great, i dont think its your lighting, as you dont have too much, and the kelvin rating looks good, id say co2 was your weakness, you need to get it more stable, like i said either get another nutrafin or do a diy one and hook them both up to the same outlet, then change them bi-weekly.

 

[aaronnorth]

A stable 30ppm CO2 Is vital in EI dosing, i would reccomend a pressurized. If co2 isn't kept at approx 30ppm then plants don't photosynthesize as well or quickly, therefore when dosing more nutrients than necassary algae will use them up before the plants will.

 

[fozziebear]

as this is a small-medium sized tank, id say pressurized wasnt vital (although id rather have pressurized over yeast on any sized tank.) if you change them twice a week you will have a stable level, not exactly 30ppm but stable enough for the plants to out compete the algae in your tank.

 

[aaronnorth]

as this is a small-medium sized tank, id say pressurized wasnt vital (although id rather have pressurized over yeast on any sized tank.) if you change them twice a week you will have a stable level, not exactly 30ppm but stable enough for the plants to out compete the algae in your tank.

I said stable 30ppm approx is vital, and i reccomend pressurized.

 

[fozziebear]

i agree with you but i would say a dual yeast setup would suffice, because pressurized is a big spend. 100 posts! woooooo lol.

 

[aibo210]

Ok

well I have one nutrafin at the moment how often should I change that? I will prob look into gettin another. do I need to use the two bubble ladders? or connect the other canister via a T connection? what about airline taps? I aint got the funds for a co2 system less I mock up a soda stream lol!

Carl

 

[fozziebear]

you should change your cannister once a week, if you are using the sachets, then bin them, read the nutrafin article pinned in this part of the forum, it has a much better recipe, i thought you were on a budget as are we all, just connect both units via a T piece to the same ladder, you dont have to buy another nutrafin, you can use a 2litre coke bottle or any fizzy drinks bottle that is large, you dont need taps, just run it 24/7 and change it twice a week, change 1 unit on the sunday with the water change, and the other on the wednesday or thursday, which should keep your level more stable.