Iron addition for heavy planted tank

migdem

thank you all. I will definitely read it :)

hope though that the high tech tank will be good :)

redchigh

For many people it is.

My only complaint about it was the higher price (I'm cheap) and the fact that it's MUCH more work (I'm cheap and lazy).

Of course, you won't have the bright red Alternantheras and flourescent purple Cabomba Furcatas, but your plants will grow, and you there's still a wide variety of colors. (admittedly, mostly green.)

As for the algae, It's definately due to too much light. It's just kind of a guessing game on whether you're lacking CO2 or ferts... Might be both.

migdem

about co2 i increased it a bit, about ferts i usually fert on sat, now i will try and fert wed and sat.

Mikaila31

Okay, high tech planted tanks can be a bit of a pain to sort out, but they can be quite enjoyable. Your tank apears to be about 118 gallons w/ 215 watts of good light giving you 1.8wpg. So given the size of the tank and that light level you got a nice tank with some great potential. First off the algae is normal. Secondly you are going to HAVE to dose that tank with ferts. Its not an option. And given the size and light level you are going to need some major ferts. You will go broke using seachem and other brand things. Thats why the EI(estimative Index) was created. I highly recommend reading up on this, though it will probably sound like a bunch of gibberish at first. I honestly can't see any other way to effectively fertilizing your tank. Your weekly or biweekly fertilizing with a single product is not going to cut it. The way you have your tank setup right now its going to need ferts daily till it becomes stable and you get the hang of what ferts it needs. You don't just blindly add ferts, which will cause more problems then it will fix.

What is your nitrate level and CO2 level? Also do you have a drop checker(your playing russian rulet if you don't)? At this point don't worry about iron. I think your lighting level is fine, but like redchigh said its a nutrient or CO2 issue.

migdem

nitrate is 12.5mg/l
i do not know co2 but ph controller is set to 6.6

If I go with Seachem products what type of ferts do I need to add?

About EI that I did not like is because you need to do wc weekly whilst I am going to do the wc bi-weekly.

what is a drop checker?

redchigh

I think he MIGHT mean a bubble counter... I could be wrong though.

migdem

Hi Byron, I read your article a nice article.

now i have a 60 litre tank with 15 W t8 for 10 hours per day. As plants i have some crypts, marsilea hirsuta (never grows after 6 months it seems to die), Sagittaria subulata, moss and Anubias (very ugly :( ) I use seachem flourish per week and do 10 litres wc per week.

Crypts seems to melt a lot. I have a pair of kribs and 6 pygmy corydoras. As for water parameter 16GH, 8PH, 3KH. Tap water from where i make WC is the same.

What could be the problem? Water temp is around 27-28degrees Celsius.

redchigh

So you have a 15 gallon tank with 15 watts of light over it..

Any sort of enriched substrate (or fertiliser tabs)? That's probably the problem with the marsilea.. Plus marsilea species prefer cooler water than most tropical fish.

What kind of light are you using? We reccomend cheap 6500k flourescents (often called daylight). What kind of bulb is it? T5? T8?

migdem

Sorry for lack of details

substrate is enriched. Seachem Flourite Black Sand. No fertiliser tab ( Do not think that i need ). Temp is 27 degrees celclius.

Light i am using T8 Day-Lite from Juwel.JUWEL Aquarium Homepage It is on for 10 hour per day. I do not know the kelvin ratings thogh.

Byron

Last thing first, on their website you can click on "Lighting" and then "Day" and it says the tube is 9000K. That's pretty high in the blue with little red. Could be one problem with crypts melting.

Another crypts problem may be your high pH. This depends upon the species; some crypts do not do well in hard, basic water, some will if it is slightly (low 7's pH). Check the species in our profiles, this is mentioned.

Crypts melting means something has changed in either water parameters, nutrients or light. Or they have been disturbed (roots). All crypts do not like changes in any of these areas, and will often melt in response to any one of them. A few species are more resilient, this also is noted in the profiles.

Your temperature is quite high--is there a reason? Corydoras pygmaeus would be happier at a lower temp (profile notes 22-26C as preferred range). A degree or two may seem trivial to us, but to the fish in the water which controls their internal temp it is significant. And 1 Celsius degree equals about 2 F degrees in this range. As redchigh noted, this may also be the issue with the marsilea.

Fish and plants "work harder" at higher temperatures, and oxygen is in less supply (more important for fish), so maintaining fish and plants within the lower end of their preferred ranges is usually better.