Still Constant Algae Issues

[Zikofski]

i am thinking of getting liquid carbon to dose along side my co2 injection as altho taking out my 5400 lph power head has reduced the algae is it still growing even on new leafs
 
not as severe as before i do have one plant i know off that is sensitive to liquid co2 and thats my vallis they are small in numbers but would like to keep them how would i do that without killing them off?

 

[snazy]

Liquid carbon is a good idea to compensate for some CO2. Some people say a normal dose doesn't do damage to vallis.
The other option is to make sure you are indeed injecting the max CO2 your tank can take. Maybe you can boost it more without any side effect to fish.

 

[Zikofski]

hm okay whats the best liquid carbon to get?
 
and i was thinking of taking the vallis out and putting them into a tub out of lights for a few days or even under the lights not sure? but i think i may try boosting the co2 up even more see how that goes i guess

 

[snazy]

The cheapest liquid carbon is best

They are all the same if you ask me.
I'd try first boosting the CO2. If you have shrimp or something sensitive, concentrate on them. Spend some time near the tank and boost by a bubble per second every 30min and observe. Shrimp will start trying to escape and have funny movements. If you reach that, use an air pump to outgass the CO2 and then set the CO2 to the amount of bubbles just prior to that, when the shrimp weren't "jumpy"

 

[Zikofski]

okay thnx i have tried upping the co2 also put fresh new drop checker fluid in so as mine was a tad fadded, if they go yellow but no problems with fish thats not going to cause problems right? i may even add an airstone in over night just in case as most my problems seem to come at night in relation to o2/co2

 

[This Old Spouse]

Do you turn off the CO2 at night?

 

[Zikofski]

yes i do but for some reason sometimes there seems to be a o2 crash at night not enough i have some surface movement very minimal not much that has helped over the last few months im worried that now becasue im adding even more co2 that the o2 may suffer at night?

 

[snazy]

You need to observe the fish with the current level. They should show no sign of stress, gasping, lack of appetite, etc...That's why I mentioned shrimp. A couple of mine were trying to escape on just a double dose of easy carbo(because they weren't used to it too though, so hence gradually increase the level rather than all of a sudden) Shrimp are faster to react, tolerate less CO2, so they are a good guide. While adjusting the CO2, spend more time around the tank and outgass it if needed, roll back to the previous value.
 The drop checker is a helpful indication of approximate level, but it isn't error free. If plants are showing you they don't' get enough CO2, then they don't.  They'll basically consume the CO2 before it becomes dangerous to your fish. If the drop checker is yellow and your fish aren't bothered by the CO2 injected, then what is the conclusion?
It's a good idea keeping an eye on everyone with the increased level to see if it's ok. At night time it's a separate story. See if the fish go at the surface at some stage, etc...and use an air pump on a timer for some time if you have to. Or have the CO2 on a timer instead. That's just my logic. There maybe a better way.

You can still use some surface aggitation for O2 to keep the fish safe day or night. That just means that you may need to inject more CO2 but on another hand it will keep the O2 levels higher too.

 

[Zikofski]

yes makes sense i guess i have just lowered my co2 down a tad from what it was because like you said fish showing signs of a little stress so ye, i have been doing over the course of today upping it slowly very slowly i have also cleaned my diffuser to help aid co2 diffusion as i noticed the higher the co2 came the bigger the bubbles and the co2 was just rising up to surface and disappearing so i guess lost into the air i have also added some filter floss to the pipe using a pipe cleaner and shuv'ed that up that seems to have helped more so than anything else i have tried only a few large bubbles coming out a more finer mist is appearing now may find a permanent solution to this as it works well
 
but that is surprising, and probably the reason to my last deaths, where my lights cam one without co2 and there for when lights went of there was no o2 and fish died, explains a lot
 
wired but yes i have upped the co2 i may buy a small tub of AE liquid co2 and spot dose some spots of the heavier areas like my anubias that may help things as well

 

[snazy]

Liquid carbon would help, because it's kind of independend of the injected CO2, so once you've reached the level of CO2 the fish can tolerate, then you can supplement with liquid carbon on top, slowly increasing too or just spot dosing as you say, whatever you figure works best. I also read that plants like anubias and microsorum need a lot of phopshates in their diet. So spot feeding them or checking the phosphate levels maybe worth it if you have more of these types of plants.