Planted tank, algae, CO2

[Stan510]

One more- sure go Co2. 45 gallons? I'm sure you can get a great setup for less than $100 and maybe $50..Seem them on Amazon in two coke can size Co2 bottles. As usual,build your own will be better and bigger.

 

[utahfish]

Thanks for the water quality report it was hellpfull. I honestly think your problem is iron. Flourish trace doesn't have any. At your PH of 7.6 the best choice for an iron fertilizer is Fe DTPA. It is reasonably stable in the water up to a PH of about 8. Above that it oxides and precipitate out of the water and will probably no longer be available for plants. However I don't know if you can get it in Singapore. An alternative is Seachem Iron (iron gluconate). Iron gluconate is stable at any PH but bacteria will rapidly consume the gluconate making the iron unavailable for plants.



Yes with your fish and the waist they make there should be some nitrogen and phosphorous in the water. but plants also need potassium, sulfur, and chlorine (in the form of a chloride salt) to grow. i don't want to assume you have all of these in your water. Your test kit numbers show enough nitrate. You can get a phosphate test kit but assuming your nitrate is from the fish you probably have enough phosphate. I would not recommend flourish comprehensive since it has almost no zinc in it and your water quality report shows no zinc. Flourish trace does have zinc but more than I would prefer.

I would recommend doing one 50% water change per week and imediiently after that dose 40ml of flourish trace, This will insure you have a minimum of 0.02ppm Mn, 0.006ppm B, 0.039ppm Zn, 0.007ppm Cu, 0.0007ppm Mo. In comparison I dose my tank to 0.05ppm Mn, 0.02ppm B, 0.02ppm Zn, 0.01ppm Cu, and 0.001ppm Mo in my RO water tank. I would prefer to have higher levels of Mn, B,and Mo but that would push Zn level way up with flourish trace.

For Iron I dose to 0.1ppm. If you use Seachem iron gluconate I would split this up and dose 1ml 3 times a week evenly spaced. If you find Fe DTPA dose at 170mg (about 1/32 of a tsp) once a week. That is close to what I do in my tank for my macros and it works very well in my RO water tank. I also dose nitrate to 10ppm, and phosphate to 3ppm. and uses a GH booster to maintain my calcium and magnesium levels. Your water report shows calcium and magnesium so I don't think you need Calcium and magnesium.

I would then watch your tank, It may take some time but the plants should start to recover. If you don't see any indications of any improvement I would suggest adding some Magnesium sulfate (Epsom salt) 1tsp. This would increase magnesium and sulfur levels a little. Be sure to use Epsom salt with no die or perfume in it (pure Epsom salt).

If that doesn't work you can try using Seachem potassium use the instructions on the bottle to dose to 5ppm right after the water change. And then lastly you can use Seachem phosphate dosed to 2ppm.

I wouldn't use Excel it is sold as a carbon supplement but it can be harsh on some plants at the recommended dose. I have not seen any harm to fish but honestly I didn't see any significant improvements to my plant growth when I used it. If you are concerned about CO2 level for now just increase water aeration with a air pump. That will put CO2 in the water and maintain Oxygen levels. I do you CO2 but only a very small amount i my small tank since m plants tend to run out of CO2 after about 1/2 a day of growth. In your larger tank with all the fish you have you probably don't Need CO2 at this time. Later once your plants are growing you can consider it.

Flourish has Zinc in it. Also easy green from aquarium co op has iron from edta in it. Also pond flourish iron is edta iron

 

[StevenF]

Flourish has Zinc in it. Also easy green from aquarium co op has iron from edta in it. Also pond flourish iron is edta iron

If you follow the dosage guid for flourish comprehensive you will have 0.00015ppm of Zinc in the water. However when you study the nutrient levels plant tissue plants will do best with zinc levels between 0.01 to 0.02pppm. According to Seachem's webpage and my own memory aquarium flourish comprehensive uses Ferrous Gluconate (never heard of flourish pond products until now). however Fe EDTA is stable at a PH of 6.5 or less. Utahfish's tank has a PH of 7.6. Fe EDTA is not a good match for his water parameters. The best choice is Fe DTPA if he can get it. Ferrous gluconate is the second best choice, Fe EDTA (PH 6.5 or less) and Fe EDDHA (colors water red but is stable to a PH of 10) are not good choices so I didn't recommend those 2.

Note I got the 0.00015ppm of Zinc by using this aquarium fertilizer calculator. You can use it to compare many different fertilizers or use it to make your own blend.

 

[utahfish]

If you follow the dosage guid for flourish comprehensive you will have 0.00015ppm of Zinc in the water. However when you study the nutrient levels plant tissue plants will do best with zinc levels between 0.01 to 0.02pppm. According to Seachem's webpage and my own memory aquarium flourish comprehensive uses Ferrous Gluconate (never heard of flourish pond products until now). however Fe EDTA is stable at a PH of 6.5 or less. Utahfish's tank has a PH of 7.6. Fe EDTA is not a good match for his water parameters. The best choice is Fe DTPA if he can get it. Ferrous gluconate is the second best choice, Fe EDTA (PH 6.5 or less) and Fe EDDHA (colors water red but is stable to a PH of 10) are not good choices so I didn't recommend those 2.

Note I got the 0.00015ppm of Zinc by using this aquarium fertilizer calculator. You can use it to compare many different fertilizers or use it to make your own blend.

Cool, i actually use rotala calculator for dosing my RO water its a very useful tool as well as their light calculator. As for Iron i dont worry too much about it because of the studies of iron inhibiting other nutrients from being absorbed in plants. Any thoughts on that would be welcome? Also pond flourish iron is ferrous gluconate, i previously said it was edta my mistake. I use RO with an inert substrate any dosing tip you have on iron or any other nutrients would be appreciated. Theres so much conflicting info out there its tough to decipher what is correct

 

[grymeths]

Hi guys, thanks for your responses. I am very confused with these info, but i have on my hand Seachem Flourish Trace, Flourish Potassium, and Flourish Excel. May I know if I should carry on to dose these, and how often? Thanks!

 

[StevenF]

grymeths what I had listed earlier is
1. Add a iron fertilizer to your tank. Iron is not in your water and it is not in your fertilizers. In my experience if your water and fertilizer don't have it, it is the most likely nutrient to be deficient. You want a iron concentration in your tank of 0.1 ppm of iron.


2. Dose 40ml of flourish trace once after a water change.

3. Do one water change a week.

4. Continue to use Seachem potassium. dose 17ml after a water change.

These steps will insure you have 12 of the 14 nutrients plants need to grow. 10 from your fertilizers plus calcium and magnesium in your water Of the 2 remaining nutirents, Nitrogen and Phosphorous, I believe there is a good chance that you have enough of these two in your water. You listed nitrate at 20ppm which is enough, As to phosphorous (phosphate)you should have some in your tank if your nitrates are that high. With all neturients in the water your plants should grow. Excell and CO2 is not necessary at this time.

You might want to get a phosphate test kit and monitor your phosphate levels. You want to see about 1 to 2 ppm of phosphate in your water. For nitrate you want to have more than 5ppm nitrate.

As to which iron fertilizer to use if you can find it use Fe DTPA. if it is a powder dose 1/32 tsp (170mg) once a week in your tank. If you cannot find Fe DTPA look for Seachem flourish iron. This is iron gluconate. Dose flourish iron 1.7ml 3 times a week.

 

[grymeths]

grymeths what I had listed earlier is
1. Add a iron fertilizer to your tank. Iron is not in your water and it is not in your fertilizers. In my experience if your water and fertilizer don't have it, it is the most likely nutrient to be deficient. You want a iron concentration in your tank of 0.1 ppm of iron.


2. Dose 40ml of flourish trace once after a water change.

3. Do one water change a week.

4. Continue to use Seachem potassium. dose 17ml after a water change.

These steps will insure you have 12 of the 14 nutrients plants need to grow. 10 from your fertilizers plus calcium and magnesium in your water Of the 2 remaining nutirents, Nitrogen and Phosphorous, I believe there is a good chance that you have enough of these two in your water. You listed nitrate at 20ppm which is enough, As to phosphorous (phosphate)you should have some in your tank if your nitrates are that high. With all neturients in the water your plants should grow. Excell and CO2 is not necessary at this time.

You might want to get a phosphate test kit and monitor your phosphate levels. You want to see about 1 to 2 ppm of phosphate in your water. For nitrate you want to have more than 5ppm nitrate.

As to which iron fertilizer to use if you can find it use Fe DTPA. if it is a powder dose 1/32 tsp (170mg) once a week in your tank. If you cannot find Fe DTPA look for Seachem flourish iron. This is iron gluconate. Dose flourish iron 1.7ml 3 times a week.

Hi Steven, thanks for the summary.
Will the dosing of trace and potassium be too much? According to the recommended instructions on the bottle, it says 10ml of trace, and about 8ml of potassium as per my tank size. Meanwhile while waiting for an iron fertilizer, is it okay to use excel? Since the label also said it is also iron reducing, which helps plants utilise the iron in the water better. Thanks.

 

[utahfish]

Hi Steven, thanks for the summary.
Will the dosing of trace and potassium be too much? According to the recommended instructions on the bottle, it says 10ml of trace, and about 8ml of potassium as per my tank size. Meanwhile while waiting for an iron fertilizer, is it okay to use excel? Since the label also said it is also iron reducing, which helps plants utilise the iron in the water better. Thanks.

I wouldnt use excel. Its derived from a chemical sanitizer and isnt safe for fish and plants and is more likely to cause algae than deter it.
Stick with the liquid fert and root tabs excel is a waste of money and will lead to more problems

 

[StevenF]

Will the dosing of trace and potassium be too much? According to the recommended instructions on the bottle, it says 10ml of trace, and about 8ml of potassium as per my tank size.

NO I have seen other posts I have seen over the years and a lot of people have used even more than I have recommended. The levels I am recommending are not enough to harm you fish or plants based on dosing levels I have seen others used and on what I have seen in some water reports. I am recommending the higher trace dosing levels because the dose I recommend will get you closer to levels that I know work in my tank. Right now the recommended dose on the bottle are furbelow what I know works.

The dosage recommendation on the bottle are only recommendations. due to water, stocking, an tank setup differences no two tanks will behave exactly the same for two different people can often get two very different responses to fertilizer. For one person it will work very well. For someone else it will not work well at all using the same dose and the same fertilizer. So most people over time make adjustments to optimize fertilizer dose for their tanks.

Meanwhile while waiting for an iron fertilizer, is it okay to use excel? Since the label also said it is also iron reducing, which helps plants utilise the iron in the water better. Thanks.

I personally don't believe Excel is currently providing you with any benefit. I have never heard of exel reducing iron and don't know if that is true. But even if it is true there probably is very little to no iron in your tank for excel to make available to plants. Your water doesn't have iron, your fertilizers also didn't have iron. So any iron that gets into your tank is quickly used up and is depleted. So Excel will to help resolve your iron deficiency problem.

So for now I am not recommending using excel. So right now your plants are not growing due to nutrient deficiencies. And adding excel right now will not resolve that problem. Which means you are simply throughing money away right now if you use excel. When your plants have recovered and are growing you can try it but based on my experience I don't think you will see anything indicating it is helping.