# Anyone have input to my fert regime



## Carpenter (Jan 26, 2014)

Hi guys and girls,
Have gotten rid of my bba , almost completely. Plants and fish are doing well thanks to all of your helpful posts. But I am having some algae growth still, green and another kind of brown algae on the glass.i am running co2 @ 3 bubbles a sec . It is a 50 gal with 2 t5 lamps one 39 w glo life and 1 power glo I believe. I am doing 1/2 of the dose for flourish iron , trace, and comprehensive at 20 % water change once a week. Does anyone have any suggestions on perfecting this regime. And o yeah just moved lights to a 5 -1.5-5 siesta break


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## CRS Fan (Apr 21, 2010)

I would go with different spectrum of bulbs. I highly recommend 1 Geissemann "Midday" and 1 "Aquaflora". This will give you a good and natural colour rendition. 

JMHO

Stuart


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## Carpenter (Jan 26, 2014)

Ty Stuart , so you think it maybe light not fert causing the algae? Or just a lighting suggestion ? The Aquaflora is a full spectrum like the glo life I assume ? And I have been wanting to get rid of the power glo as it is super white and is too high in kelvin, I have read lol.trying to get a year out of them cause they aren't cheap,. I will investigate the geissmann midday as it sound much warmer probably more to the red spectrum. 
Thanks again,
Ps can any I'd the red broad leaf as I bought a few plants and the guy tossed a couple bulbs it all are starting &#55357;&#56397;


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## Carpenter (Jan 26, 2014)

Ty Stuart , so you think it maybe light not fert causing the algae? Or just a lighting suggestion ? The Aquaflora is a full spectrum like the glo life I assume ? And I have been wanting to get rid of the power glo as it is super white and is too high in kelvin, I have read lol.trying to get a year out of them cause they aren't cheap,. I will investigate the geissmann midday as it sound much warmer probably more to the red spectrum. 
Thanks again,
Ps can any I'd the red broad leaf as I bought a few plants and the guy tossed a couple bulbs it all are starting &#55357;&#56397;


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## Carpenter (Jan 26, 2014)

So I investegated Stuart , and pretty sure I'm really close on the spectrums with both lights as midday is white . But it seems those geissman bulbs have very specific wavelength spikes for aquarium use . Will give them a try when the wife goes away lol.


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

Get rid of the Hagen Power glo. Its 18,000k and meant for Saltwater. You plants want around 6,300k to 6,700. That's ideal light for plants. Salt water coral is a whole different ball game Using a salt water bulb is not recommended for plant growth. Many people will use a 10,000k with a 6,500k but nothing higher than 10,000k. Its the wrong spectrum and maybe the cause of some of your algae. Give the plants more usable light. They will grow faster and out compete algae in your tank. 

Id also up the water changes. 20% is minimal. New fresh water is always a good thing.

Im not a fan of the whole siesta thing. Im not a scientist or expert but I can say I've grown lots of different plants from indoor to outdoor and aquarium. None of which had a break of sun in the middle of the day. Its not natural. I prefer dialing in on the right amount of time. Start at 6hrs and work your way up. 8hrs +/- seems to be where most people are at.

As for your Fert dosing. I used the Seachem line for a long time and always liked it. Any reason why you are half dosing it?


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## Reckon (Jul 25, 2012)

jbyoung00008 said:


> Get rid of the Hagen Power glo. Its 18,000k and meant for Saltwater. You plants want around 6,300k to 6,700. That's ideal light for plants. Salt water coral is a whole different ball game Using a salt water bulb is not recommended for plant growth. Many people will use a 10,000k with a 6,500k but nothing higher than 10,000k. Its the wrong spectrum and maybe the cause of some of your algae. Give the plants more usable light. They will grow faster and out compete algae in your tank.
> 
> Id also up the water changes. 20% is minimal. New fresh water is always a good thing.
> 
> ...


Congrats with reducing BBA - that's quite a challenge there. Looks like you just need a bit more work to tweak your tank.

I concur with what Justin brought up here.

Stick to ~6700K spectrum lights as this is what plants use.

Plants need time to ramp up photosynthesizing. Algae are faster to adapt. There's little evidence to show that the siesta actually reduces algae... 
Reference: Split Photo Period/"Siesta", Pros/Cons - Aquarium Plants

Yes, test kits are not accurate but they at least give you an idea if you have SOME nutrients in the water. You should try testing to see if you are not bottoming out. Seachem's products are watered down, and it's possible by 1/2 dosing you aren't providing enough for your plants, especially if you don't keep a nutrient rich substrate. Speaking of which what substrate do you have in there?

Are you bufferng your tank? What is your KH and GH? This is often an additive most hobbyists pass over and it's very tough to have a good looking tank without adding some buffers. If you haven't done this then raise your GH and KH to at least 3:2 respectively.

Finally, algae growth on glass is normal. You should be cleaning it at least once every two weeks. Greater frequency is even better. Use a magfloat to keep the algae off the glass. Use an old credit card or plastic library card to clean off the harder spot algae then do a decent sized water change after that. More algae in the tank means you should be doing a bigger water change - as much as 40-50%.
Maintenance is just a part of planted tank keeping. Suck up algae and detritus on the substrate by hovering the hose over it (do this especially if you don't have a carpet yet). Don't forget to add back your buffers and nutrients as well as declorinator afterwards.

Also, what are you using as a filter? Brown algae usually means the tank needs more cycling or that there is too much gunk in the water. When was the last time you cleaned your filter? Do not leave your filter uncleaned for longer than 3 months. I know some guys leave them for up to 6 months but likely they aren't keeping planted tanks. Even by the middle of the 3rd month you'll start to see some accumulation of algae.
If you have in fact righted your tank - again the reduction of BBA means you are in the right direction then you should just work hard at cleaning. You'll have your tank looking great again very soon.


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## Carpenter (Jan 26, 2014)

Thanks again for the responses jbyoung and reckon,

Start at the top Agree the power glo is to high a k. Will replace with a different daylight bulb to go with my 6700 k glo life maybe I will try to fill any gaps in red and blue spectrums not provided already.

Water changes 20% twice a month and 40 % twice &#55357;&#56397;

Siesta I just thought I would try, 1 week so far no noticible difference in algae but seems plant growth slowed. Going to stop and go back to my strait 8 as before.

Fert 1/2 dose iron and 1 dose trace per week instead of 2 , 1 dose comprehensive per week, flourish root tabs in substrate. My substrate is 80 % fluval stratum and 20 % old tank stock gravel ,oops didn't get enough.lol. As I garden a lot I learned sometimes not a good idea to over fert so maybe babying it a little bit , but I will juice it up and see how she goes . Maybe not the iron as the colours of my red plants seem good, and i worry most about that additive.

check nutrient lvls&#55357;&#56384; 

I do buffer a little but water at home is very close to 7.0 ph so I use Sechem acid and alkaline after lowering ph slightly to get about a 6.8 . And I have not checked kh or gh in a while because the numbers were very good for about a year now. And notice very little movement in ph +\- .2 should check anyways

Cleaning mags and scrapers &#55357;&#56397; every time before water change . filter cleaned after water change when flow seems decreased or approx every 2 weeks sometimes more. Filter fluval 302 two tiers bio max and another more pourous media last 1 peat and one carbon. With pillow stuffing polishing pads lol.

So in short I need to put a little more elbow grease into it.&#55357;&#56490;

Thx everyone, and if there is anything else I am open for suggestions.


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## jimmyjam (Jan 11, 2011)

Def keep up to date with your glass cleaning, otherwise that stuff gets thick really quickly. Bulbs should be in the daylight range. I have always used phillips daylight with 1 or two bulbs in the pink spectrum just because I want some more of the reds to pop. I have compared them to geissmans and I really dont see a huge difference as long as my ferts and co2 are in check. It does play a difference if you are struggling to get your min watts/gallon. I create my own diy csm+b with extra chelated iron which is pumped every other day. I also currently only use diy root tabs for my macro. I have found this to be the best way to control my algae growth, some gets leached out into the water column but my plants just take it up nicely. I dont really care if my nitrate bottom out , as long as my hc cuba is doing well, its my indicator that they are feeding via roots. If I see them struggling a bit because I havent trimmed and kept everything up to par, then I would dose a bit more macro. I find doing too much macro is really what triggers algae blooms, espeicially if you get the stuff on the glass, its most likely nitrate. Phosphate leads to more green water and hair algae for me.


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## Reckon (Jul 25, 2012)

Carpenter said:


> Start at the top Agree the power glo is to high a k. Will replace with a different daylight bulb to go with my 6700 k glo life maybe I will try to fill any gaps in red and blue spectrums not provided already.
> 
> Water changes 20% twice a month and 40 % twice ��
> 
> ...


Technically, 6700K is all you need for growing plants. Any other "pink" bulbs (ie. Giesemann Aquaflora) you add is just to get the reds in your plants to reflect. Nevertheless, stick to your neutral white, pink, or yellower bulbs. Minimize use of the blue or green bulbs.

When I said check your nutrient levels, I mean there are nutrient test kits out there that tell you how much nitrate and phosphate is in your tank. Use them to find out if you have enough.

I know guys differ on water change regimens, but the way I see it is if you need to "right" your tank you need to be doing water changes. 20% x2 per month isn't enough. You either should be doing this 1x per week, or %40 x2 per month. Water changes reduces TOCs in your tank which research suggests leads to algae growth.
Reference: Nature Aquarium

Buffering refers to GH and KH, not necessarily only about PH. Please read here:
http://www.bcaquaria.com/forum/freshwater-chat-9/water-parameter-faq-kind-rant-me-p-15518/

I'm glad to see you are cleaning your filters every 2 weeks or so. Remember to rinse your media with tank water and not tap water - chlorine will kill your beneficial bacteria and you need that to reduce ammonia and nitrites that tend to lead to algae growth.

It's just a bit more elbow grease for now to manually remove algae and TOCs from your tank. Since algae begets more algae. Once you remove the majority of algae and your tank is balance you'll notice you'll have to do less work.


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## Ambrose (May 6, 2014)

Try a one hour less photo period and see what happens. I would recommend not making more than one change at a time otherwise you will not know the exact reason for the algae.


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## Carpenter (Jan 26, 2014)

Thanks again everyone , 
Rekon those question marks were actually thumbs up on my ipad lol. And as for the water changes i meant to do 2- 20% and 2- 40 % a month .And i thought if there were no swings in my ph that my gh and kh would be within reason? but i will test for s---- and giggles.

Jimmy jam is there a post about those diy root tabs?


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

GH has nothing to do with PH/KH and its essential to plant and fish health.

Most BC tap water has no GH. So if you aren't adding a product like Seachem equilibrium. Chances are you have little to no GH. Ideal is 3-6dGH


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## Carpenter (Jan 26, 2014)

Sorry rekon,

The thumbs up on my ipad came as question marks lol.Water changes i meant 2 @ 20% and [email protected] 40% each month. I also noted a change in growth over the last week with full doses of fert. staggered throughout the week plants bigger, algae less ,and more pearling Sweet.Also i thought that if my ph stays stable that the gh and kh are relatively stable as well? I did read the water parameter FAQ and it made a lot of sense , also i do occasionally check my nitrite, nitrate and phosphate levels . now that i am increasing my fert regime i will watch for higher levels of these.And of course i dont wash my filter in chlorinated water lol. After two years trying to figure out this fluval tank i have learned a lot from all of you and you tube lol. Why fluval sells a high teck lighted tank with no CO2 is beyond me wish i had known this stuff before i started . Like everyone says there is a balance between light co2 and nutrients which fluval and the person selling you the tank should let you know when you spend that kind of money.

thx again,

Carpenter


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

If your Ph stays stable than you probably have KH but how much? Easiest thing is to buy a tester. Once you start testing and learnig more about KH and GH your tank will go to a whole nother level.

GH is General Hardness. In short its a bunch of minerals that plants and fish need. BC tap water comes from mountains and lakes with very little minerals so most of the time are tap water has zero. Somewhere like Alberta has high GH right out of the tap because their drinking water sits in the ground where there is lots of minerals. Most things you read online will not mention this. BC water is very different than other places. Most people with a nice planted tank test GH and KH. Its one more thing to learn but worth the outcome.

Found a decent explanation of water chemistry.

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/fwsubwebindex/fwh2oquality.htm

Good luck with the tank!


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