# Problems with plants and water



## Nobody1 (Dec 9, 2014)

75 gal tank set up Nov15. Added cycle.

Fluval led light for planted tanks on for 9 hrs/day
Filstar xpl canister filter
Peguin 350 HOT biowheel filter 
Temp 76 
ordinary gravel

6 Cory catfish
5 Clown loaches
3 Siamese catfish for BA
8 Head and Tailights
3 Bala Sharks
20 Neons
3 Otocinclus catfish

Water 15%/week

Ph 6.4 Kh 3
Gh 5 Ammonia- 0
Nitrite 4.0 ppm

Nitrate- In the red- Can't be measured.

Am using Florish tabs and Rogers told me that the Nutafin plant sticks that I added were the problem. I removed them. I am now using a nitrate remover bag in the filter.

The plants are not doing well as you can see. I have gone here to see what I have to add but have now stopped because I don't want to lose any fish.

Aquarium Plants | My views, Steve Hampton, on how to succeed with aquarium plants

I don't know what I am doing wrong or what else I should be doing.

As of now I am doing 15% water change per day.

Any ideas

Arnie


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## Reckon (Jul 25, 2012)

How old are the plants (when did you buy them)? What are you using to increase GH?

Unfortunately, your carpeting plants will probably not survive without CO2.


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## scott tang (Jan 29, 2012)

Your growing hair algea try dosing florish excel I hav had success with this


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## Nobody1 (Dec 9, 2014)

Reckon said:


> How old are the plants (when did you buy them)? What are you using to increase GH?
> Unfortunately, your carpeting plants will probably not survive without CO2.


Plants were bought in Nov and Dec. I am using dolomite (have to check on brand) to increase gh. I stopped using this until I get the tank under control. Should I start adding some or something else?

I was thinking of starting it up again at 1 bbl/sec- (pressurized system). At the moment ph is 6.8.


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## Nobody1 (Dec 9, 2014)

scott tang said:


> Your growing hair algea try dosing florish excel I hav had success with this


I thought the catfish would take care of it. Once the plants catch up I would think the algae would go away.


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## mrbob (Aug 9, 2012)

based on your numbers maybe your at end of cycling your going to lose more then plants your fish will die! do 50-70% w/c until gets under control no more chemicals for now!! your tank newer/aged? you need some good bacteria/media find some soon if tank is aged check filter substrate maybe to dirty? do w/c now good luck!! and do 30-50% w/c weekly 15 NOT enough!


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## Nobody1 (Dec 9, 2014)

mrbob said:


> based on your numbers maybe your at end of cycling your going to lose more then plants your fish will die! do 50-70% w/c until gets under control no more chemicals for now!! your tank newer/aged? you need some good bacteria/media find some soon if tank is aged check filter substrate maybe to dirty? do w/c now good luck!! and do 30-50% w/c weekly 15 NOT enough!


It is cycled according to Rogers.

I only added a Nitrate remover sold by Rogers.

Cleaned both filters- Bio left alone.

Am doing 15%/day water change.

1 bbl/sec co2.


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## Nobody1 (Dec 9, 2014)

Update

Added Alk buffer and ph is 7.2. Added Excel for the algae. Added 2 caps iron.

Started co2 at 1bbl/sec and 2 plants are gassing.

Should I leave it alone for now or increase anything. The fish look happy.


Arnie


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## Goundar2010 (Jan 12, 2015)

I dosed 3 caps of Excel every other day in my 20G long and all the algae went away. For the plants could some of the fish be nibbling? What kind of substrate you using? Also to get off algae get endlers. I have 3 endlers in my 10G and it was full of algae. The 3 of them ate it all!


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## Nobody1 (Dec 9, 2014)

Goundar2010 said:


> I dosed 3 caps of Excel every other day in my 20G long and all the algae went away. For the plants could some of the fish be nibbling? What kind of substrate you using? Also to get off algae get endlers. I have 3 endlers in my 10G and it was full of algae. The 3 of them ate it all!


I tried excell and it was killing some of my plants. For now I just remove the leaves or the whole plant and garbage it. Hopefully I will have some left at the end.

No fish are nibbling. I think the problem is the problem is the amt of ferts and co2 I am adding. Haven't got it down right yet.

The other problem is the led light the moron at Rogers sold me. He told me that it was great. I found out after 2 months that they are crap. I can't afford a real light at this time. I no longer believe that idiot. 

I have used regular gravel before and never had a problem.

I do have algae eaters that are supposed to eat algae. But that advice also came from the idiot.

We will see what happens.


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## Goundar2010 (Jan 12, 2015)

Which guy told you from Rogers aquatics? The amount of time you have your lights on for is too much. Only have your lights on for 5 to 6 hours. What liquid ferts are you using? It's just regular gravel, right? How many flourish tabs you adding and how often?


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## red_sir (Apr 30, 2010)

1 bps co2 is quite low for a 75gal. If you have pressurized co2 i would turn it up a lot. If you can't increase co2, then reduce your photoperiod.

I also suggest picking up some dry ferts from Mykiss / Canadian Aquatics. It's dirt cheap and you never have to worry about nutrient deficiencies again.


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## Nobody1 (Dec 9, 2014)

I am trying the ei dose method. Some plants are ok and some still dying. Increased co2 to 2 bbl/sec. We will see and I will try for another few weeks. Hopefully I can grow some plants. Thanks for all the help.

Arnie


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## Chiumanfu (Oct 30, 2014)

4ppm NitrIte means the tank was not done cycling.

50% water changes until things settle.

You should get a drop checker so you know where you're at and you don't gas your fish. Aim for 25-35ppm.

Stick with EI dosing and leave out all the other stuff until things settle.

It's a good idea to calibrate your NitrAte test so you know what colours correspond to what ppm. I struggled with what I thought was high NitrAte for months before I realized my API kit was showing red at only 40ppm.
Calibrating Test Kits - for non-Chemists


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## Nobody1 (Dec 9, 2014)

Chiumanfu said:


> 4ppm NitrIte means the tank was not done cycling.
> 
> 50% water changes until things settle.
> 
> ...


I thought that you need some nitrate for the plants.

thanks for the rest of it.


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## Chiumanfu (Oct 30, 2014)

Yes, plants need NitrAte. If my memory is correct, EI dosing targets around 30ppm NitrAte. You have to adjust your dosing based on bio-load because the waste that the fish generate ultimately becomes NitrAtes. You may not even need to dose KNO3 if you are heavy stocked.
NitrIte should always be zero in a cycled aquarium. 4ppm is extremely high.

I just took another look at your setup and I have to say, unless your bala sharks and clown loaches are just babies, you are way over stocked.


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## Nobody1 (Dec 9, 2014)

Chiumanfu said:


> Yes, plants need NitrAte. If my memory is correct, EI dosing targets around 30ppm NitrAte. You have to adjust your dosing based on bio-load because the waste that the fish generate ultimately becomes NitrAtes. You may not even need to dose KNO3 if you are heavy stocked.
> NitrIte should always be zero in a cycled aquarium. 4ppm is extremely high.
> 
> I just took another look at your setup and I have to say, unless your bala sharks and clown loaches are just babies, you are way over stocked.


The Bala and Loaches are young. I took a good look the other day and you are right. I AM heavily stocked. No room for the angels.  Everywhere you look there is something happening. The fish are happy though. All I need is for all of the plants to start growing and not being dormant or dying. Some are doing ok and some are not.


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## Nobody1 (Dec 9, 2014)

Goundar2010 said:


> Which guy told you from Rogers aquatics? The amount of time you have your lights on for is too much. Only have your lights on for 5 to 6 hours. What liquid ferts are you using? It's just regular gravel, right? How many flourish tabs you adding and how often?


I am using NPK and trace elements and florish iron. Buffer is being added as needed. I am going to add more tabs as they are just about out according to the instructions. I have regular gravel but from past experience in another place the fish would poop and fill the gravel with "fertilizer". This is why I will never vacuum the gravel.

1- you get rid of bacteria that you need

2- I did that once and the plants let me know in no uncertain terms that they were not happy! Took months for them to forgive me. :lol:

I have the lights on that long so that hopefully they get enough light so they don't die- Lots of light for a short time or less light for a longer time.

With the light I have more is needed.


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## Chiumanfu (Oct 30, 2014)

Just to confirm my thoughts, I plugged your specs into aqadvisor.

Filtration capacity is 32%
Recommended water change 90%
Stocking Level 216%

Your tank

Of course, you have to take aqadvisor with a grain of salt. It assumes a lot. If your clown loaches and bala sharks are juvies then you might be ok but it won't take long for them to outgrown your 75G. You can play around with "Juvenile mode" to fine tune the calculations.

You should to a light gravel vac once in a while. It's enough to just poke the gravel to stir up the mulm then vac it out. This keeps your substrate from becoming anaerobic. No deep vacuuming in a planted tank.


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## Reckon (Jul 25, 2012)

Nobody1 said:


> Plants were bought in Nov and Dec. I am using dolomite (have to check on brand) to increase gh. I stopped using this until I get the tank under control. Should I start adding some or something else?
> 
> I was thinking of starting it up again at 1 bbl/sec- (pressurized system). At the moment ph is 6.8.


Your tank needs some amount of minerals in it. Get at least 4 GH in there. I use Equilibrium. Not sure about Dolomite, it contains Ca and Mg but not sure if the ratio is appropriate or if the plants need more K or other micros.


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## Nobody1 (Dec 9, 2014)

Reckon said:


> Your tank needs some amount of minerals in it. Get at least 4 GH in there. I use Equilibrium. Not sure about Dolomite, it contains Ca and Mg but not sure if the ratio is appropriate or if the plants need more K or other micros.


I was using dolopril but according to the article it gets rid of too much iron. I am adding NPK and trace elements. GH andKH is 5


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## Nobody1 (Dec 9, 2014)

Chiumanfu said:


> Just to confirm my thoughts, I plugged your specs into aqadvisor.
> 
> Filtration capacity is 32%
> Recommended water change 90%
> ...


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## Nobody1 (Dec 9, 2014)

Thanks to everyone for the help. Slowly getting the fert dosing under control.


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