Help with plants needed
Jean-Paul Knapen
About four weeks ago, I bought a used tank (200 gallons). I cleaned out the tank and refilled with new water (deminiralization *ion changer*
system) and added the fish. Water temperature is about 28 degrees celsius.
The fish are : Discus (11), Neon tetra (13), Corydoras (15), Bloodheart tetras (10) and 2 scalara.
Water quality : Ph (~6.5), kH (1.0-2.0), gH (2.0-3.0), NO2 <0.1 mg/liter.
Light sequence : 14 hours (1 TL's of 58 Watts), 12 hours (3 TL's of 58 Watts). (2x Gro-Lux and 1 Aquastar of SYLVANIA)
Filtering : External monobloc bio-filter (40 gallon), Eheim 2217 (265 gal/hour), Internal biofilter (250 gal/hour)
After a week I added some plants to the tank. All went well (fish look pretty good, plants started growing) but the green algea started
growing as well. I decreased the lighting time by an hour (12 down to 11 hours, 14 hours remained) and indeed the green algea disappeared
(stabelized) but within a week a brown color popped up on the plants. I increased the lighting time to 12 hours again but nothing seems to
change now. The plants will not recover. I added some 5 algea eaters (Ancystrus) to the tank.
Current water quality : Ph (~6.0), kH (1.0-2.0), gH(4.0-5.0) -too high ?-, NO2 <0.1 mg/liter.
Changed 1 GRO-LUX Sylvania for 1 PHILIPS 83/0 (3000 Kelvin coulour temperature warm white) 2 weeks ago.
Still nothing changes. (Green and brown algea increase) I'm changing water every week (40 gallons), clean the bottom out and refill with
demi-water. Add fertilizer to the new water (high concentrate 5 ml/100 liter demi-water). At the same time I ad minerales and spurs to the
demi-water (one teaspoon / 25 gallon demi-water).
I've changed the other lights too with a PHILIPS 89/0 Aquarelle (10000 Kelvin) and a PHILIPS 83/0.
I'm thinking about getting a CO2 injector, but I don't know wether this will help or not considering the fact that the pH around 6.0
and the kH is low also.
Am I expecting result to quickly or is there something wrong with the plants itself or the water maybe ?
PS:
The fish are still doing pretty good (3 discus pairs and the scalara lay eggs continuously) which I think indicates that the water quality
as such is good. (Even have young -3 days old- discus in the tank now *will probably not survive*)
Beverly Erlebacher
In article <6hq7kg$j8c...@nl.cis.philips.com>,
Jean-Paul Knapen <J.P.K...@nl.cis.philips.com> wrote:
Jean-Paul, it can take months for a tank to stabilize. It's common for
algae of several kinds to come and go during that period. Your plants
were grown under different conditions than you are providing, probably
outdoors or in a greenhouse, and probably emersed (leaves out of water).
It's normal for plants to shed their leaves and grow new ones when the
growing conditions are changed. Meanwhile they will be growing roots, too.
>About four weeks ago, I bought a used tank (200 gallons). I cleaned out the tank and refilled with new water (deminiralization *ion changer*
>system) and added the fish. Water temperature is about 28 degrees celsius.
>
>The fish are : Discus (11), Neon tetra (13), Corydoras (15), Bloodheart tetras (10) and 2 scalara.
>Water quality : Ph (~6.5), kH (1.0-2.0), gH (2.0-3.0), NO2 <0.1 mg/liter.
>Light sequence : 14 hours (1 TL's of 58 Watts), 12 hours (3 TL's of 58 Watts). (2x Gro-Lux and 1 Aquastar of SYLVANIA)
This may not be enough wattage especially if the tank is 24" (60cm) or
deeper. You said 200 gallons - this is about 750 liters. Is this correct?
You may need to consider metal halide or mercury vapor lamps, or stick to
plants that don't demand strong light.
[ description of changing flourescent tubes and experimenting with fertilizers
deleted]
>Am I expecting result to quickly or is there something wrong with the plants itself or the water maybe ?
I think you have to be more patient, and let the plants adjust to consistent
conditions. I don't think plants should be fertilized unless they are
showing some signs of nutrient deficiency. Otherwise you are just fertilizing
the algae. When plants let their old leaves die in order to grow new leaves
suited to new conditions, they draw the 'good stuff' from the old leaves to
use in the new ones, so they don't usually need fertilizer right away.
>PS:
>The fish are still doing pretty good (3 discus pairs and the scalara lay eggs continuously) which I think indicates that the water quality
>as such is good. (Even have young -3 days old- discus in the tank now *will probably not survive*)
This sounds wonderful! My best wishes for further success with these
demanding fish!
I'm sure your tank will be very beautiful in 6 months.
Dana J. Laude
Norbert Doerre wrote:
<snip>.
Try replying to a message within 60 chars length across. It's Totally
annoying to scroll across your reply to read it all. (suggested in a
good sort of way!) ;-)
Dana
Norbert Doerre
Hi,
The problems You have are well known to all experienced aquaristics. I'm just 'booting up' a new discus tank with netto 1260 Liter. The water
condition is more sensible than Your's: Temperature is 29.5 deg Celsius, PH is 6.0, KH is 0.2 and GH is 2.1 with 55 猶.
The gravel is free of CA and the mineral level is very low.
Fresh water for water exchange is only added via osmosis, just like the tropical rain water in nature, four times within 24 ours, 30 Liters
each time.
During the first two months without plant and fish I had to wait until the water became about 50猶 built by some minerals diffunding through the
gravel and dieing algae. Herafter, I placed the first plants, Amazonas swords, about 20 of them.
The result was naturally that they started to grow quickly during the first week but did not get new roots. This is caused by the much higher
temperature in the tank than in their native environment where they grew up. After all 'food' buffered inside the plants is exhausted, the next
new leaves become very small and the old ones yellow to light brown, even if enough CO2 and FEII chelat was added continuously.
Clear, the water was too poor for plants. I added ammonia and all other necessary plant food until the water had about 90猶 - and the plants
grew much better just after two days.
The process above took about three weeks.
During all that time algae were always present. It is remarkable that after adding the ammonia and so on, the algae decreased very much. They
even disappeard compleately from the leaves of the plants. Currently, they are only present directly on the gravel.
Normally, with a 100 Liter tank, it takes a small 'boot up' time until all is in balance. The cause is that the relationship between plants and
water is much better in a small tank than in a large. You would have to invest hundreds of $$ to have the same effect in a large tank. So You
must be patient and clean the gravel as often as possible to hinder algae from growing too fast.
You also should dim the light to provocate the plants to grow faster. The faster they grow the earlier the balance will be reached.
Currently, my tank is installed since two months, the water is still kept at 90猶 and the plants begin looking more fresh than ever. New roots
have grown, but it will certainly still last a period of about three months until a secure balance will be established. But, as my experience
with large tanks shows, this balance will be much more constant than that of a small tank. So, please be patient and keep Your plants always
clean as possible. Don't cut the leaves until they are completely brown. The plants use to reduce first all chlorophyllum from the leaves to
avoid a collapse.
Norbert Doerre
Germany
Jean-Paul Knapen wrote:
> About four weeks ago, I bought a used tank (200 gallons). I cleaned out the tank and refilled with new water (deminiralization *ion changer*
> system) and added the fish. Water temperature is about 28 degrees celsius.
>
> The fish are : Discus (11), Neon tetra (13), Corydoras (15), Bloodheart tetras (10) and 2 scalara.
> Water quality : Ph (~6.5), kH (1.0-2.0), gH (2.0-3.0), NO2 <0.1 mg/liter.
> Light sequence : 14 hours (1 TL's of 58 Watts), 12 hours (3 TL's of 58 Watts). (2x Gro-Lux and 1 Aquastar of SYLVANIA)
> Filtering : External monobloc bio-filter (40 gallon), Eheim 2217 (265 gal/hour), Internal biofilter (250 gal/hour)
>
> After a week I added some plants to the tank. All went well (fish look pretty good, plants started growing) but the green algea started
> growing as well. I decreased the lighting time by an hour (12 down to 11 hours, 14 hours remained) and indeed the green algea disappeared
> (stabelized) but within a week a brown color popped up on the plants. I increased the lighting time to 12 hours again but nothing seems to
> change now. The plants will not recover. I added some 5 algea eaters (Ancystrus) to the tank.
>
> Current water quality : Ph (~6.0), kH (1.0-2.0), gH(4.0-5.0) -too high ?-, NO2 <0.1 mg/liter.
>
> Changed 1 GRO-LUX Sylvania for 1 PHILIPS 83/0 (3000 Kelvin coulour temperature warm white) 2 weeks ago.
> Still nothing changes. (Green and brown algea increase) I'm changing water every week (40 gallons), clean the bottom out and refill with
> demi-water. Add fertilizer to the new water (high concentrate 5 ml/100 liter demi-water). At the same time I ad minerales and spurs to the
> demi-water (one teaspoon / 25 gallon demi-water).
>
> I've changed the other lights too with a PHILIPS 89/0 Aquarelle (10000 Kelvin) and a PHILIPS 83/0.
> I'm thinking about getting a CO2 injector, but I don't know wether this will help or not considering the fact that the pH around 6.0
> and the kH is low also.
>
> Am I expecting result to quickly or is there something wrong with the plants itself or the water maybe ?
>