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Optimising plant growth and minimising algae


Jennifer

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Sounds like you have a good system there. The riccia and hairgrass will grow well with very low nutrients. One thing you need to keep in mind is if you add CO2, it is like turbo charging the engine - the plants will use up nutrients faster (and thus require more and be more prone to deficiencies and algae). Assuming the 'Aquatic soil' that you are using is enriched with nutrients, some will leech into the water and feed the riccia, and the hairgrass will get all it needs through the roots. It might be worth trying this tank with no CO2 and a relatively short photoperiod. Then if you want the plants to grow faster, you can add Flourish Excel carbon supplement every other day (it will be very economical for that sized tank). If you add Excel or CO2 you may need to add more fertilisers. I would recommend adding Flourish Comprehensive. It's worth its weight in gold and produces excellent results.

Let us know how you get on! :thup:

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Hi Jennifer,

Thanks for that, but I want to go high tech now :facepalm: after buying a CO2 system and buying come flourish comprehensive yesterday.

So if I add co2 and the comprehensive I should be fine? How often should I dose comprehensive? The packet says 1-2 weekly but with EI dosing it's 3x weekly? I have emailed hydroponics.co.nz in regards to the KNO3 and KH2PO4 that KP mentioned on the first page. Is this pointless getting it now (because I have comprehensive?)?

Thanks Jennifer

Matt

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Flourish is a good product. I like the Iron one too. Pity they all smell so bad :D

So it sounds like getting the NPK from hydroponics isn't a waste of time. Cheaper than Seachem NPK.

And dosing macros will help to balance your CO2 and lighting

Get ready to prune lots!

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Hi Jennifer,

Thanks for that, but I want to go high tech now :facepalm: after buying a CO2 system and buying come flourish comprehensive yesterday.

So if I add co2 and the comprehensive I should be fine? How often should I dose comprehensive? The packet says 1-2 weekly but with EI dosing it's 3x weekly? I have emailed hydroponics.co.nz in regards to the KNO3 and KH2PO4 that KP mentioned on the first page. Is this pointless getting it now (because I have comprehensive?)?

Thanks Jennifer

Matt

If going high tech, my advice would be to take it slowly and use less light than you think so you don't get algae. Make sure your lights and CO2 are on timers. Make sure to get your macronutrients (NPK) and micronutrients sorted. Hydroponics can help. I would give them a call, they are really helpful. Also consider adding Magnesium (epsom salts) and if your water is soft, you may need to add some Calcium as well. My personal experience is that Flourish Comprehensive produces the best result. To reduce the cost, you can use a bulk dry micronutrient mix 2-4 times a week and the Comprehensive 2-3 times a week. You just need to experiment with what works for your particular tank. Some things to keep in mind:

- Some plants use nutrients faster than others so adjust the doses according to how fast the plants are growing.

- Fast growing plants will use up nutrients and this will help prevent algae.

- Light drives the whole process. If you have a lot of light, the plants will need more nutrients. The more carbon/CO2 is available, the more macro and micronutrients the plants will need. :wink:

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If you change the photoperiod and fertilising regime the plants will spend a week or so adapting, and when you come back, it will take a week or so to get them back up to it.

It really depends on your situation. What you suggested would work but hairgrass and riccia are very tolerant so would probably do fin even in blackout conditions for a week.

When I go away, I plan it so that the house-sitter won't have to do any water changes. On my high tech tank, if I halve the photoperiod and dosing, it can go three to four weeks without a water change. I always recommend getting someone who knows about fish and if you can't do that, put the food and fertilisers into daily doses (like a 7 day a week pill container) so there is no guess work. The number one thing for me is identifying that the CO2 hasn't gone wrong so I leave instructions to contact me if the drop checker isn't the right colour, or if the fish are gasping. The lights and CO2 can be easily turned off completely if needed.

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  • 1 month later...

Hi Jennifer,

I'm hoping you can give me a few pointers with regards to ferterlizers,

I have been running my 300L tank for about a year now and have be getting ok results from what I have been doing so far... However, I have invested quite a bit of money in lighting and a CO2 system and feel my tank should be looking a lot better than what it currently looks like as most of the plants don't really look 100%. I had a bit of a problem with blue/green algae which was starting to get out of control, covering plants etc, so I completed a 4 day black out. This completely killed off the algae, also the green spot algae that was growing on the front glass. But, the blackout also left the plants in a bit of a state, with the stargrass and lotus shooting up towards the top of the tank and looking very pale.

Tank Specs

Tank: 300L 122x50x50cm

Filter: 1x Fluval 305

Substrate: Aquamix with fine gravel covering

Lighting: 8 x 36" T5's, 1x 18,000k, 2x 6,500k 5x 10,000k (currently only running 6 lights)

CO2: 1 x Bottle system which comes on and off with lighting

Fish Stock: 30+ Neon Tetra, 1 x Blue Ram, 1 x Sliver Fox, Plus soon to add 5 x Discus

Plants: Riccia, Stargrass,Micro Swords, Glosso, Various Sword Plants, Lotus

Anyway, all I have really been dosing currently is Flourish Comprehensive, 2 x caps twice a week. I now understand that this doesn't really contain enough macronutrients for what I am doing and is probably contributing to the problems I am having with poor plant health and algae. I have now purchased some ferts from Valray off TM that contain macronutrients as well as microutrients which I intend to start dosing daily at twice the recomended doseage. Since Valray doesn't add Phosphate to the mix I have purchaed Seachems Phosphate so I can add this also.

Any tips you have would be very much appreciated :)

Fraser

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Guts man! You have the nicest tank in the region!

Surely you mock me. :cry:

Anyway, all I have really been dosing currently is Flourish Comprehensive, 2 x caps twice a week. I now understand that this doesn't really contain enough macronutrients for what I am doing and is probably contributing to the problems I am having with poor plant health and algae. I have now purchased some ferts from Valray off TM that contain macronutrients as well as microutrients which I intend to start dosing daily at twice the recomended doseage. Since Valray doesn't add Phosphate to the mix I have purchaed Seachems Phosphate so I can add this also.

Any tips you have would be very much appreciated

I can never really get my head around the nutrients thing. I use the drops from Valray also and have found them pretty good. I started increasing the dosage week by week and trying to observe the results. I just dropped the dosage a little when I noticed BBA starting to emerge.

I know that probably doesn't help much but in my experience, it is easier to sustain plants at 90% health and make minor adjustments than to get rid of an algae outbreak.

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+1 to what dbden said although I get nutrient deficiencies with the stocker micronutrient mix so I supplement it with Flourish Comprehensive. Most people don't add enough micronutrients so try dosing daily with micronutrients and cut back to every other day if you can still get the same results.

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  • 1 month later...

I recommend using the dose on the bottle. That said, the dose I use for all of my tanks where I use excel is 5mls per 40L twice a week. I would dose daily but it is too much work for me and this dose is perfectly tolerated by all plants and all fish...but, I don't have twisted val.

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