# Fertilizing and General Plant HELP!



## mahchay (Jul 21, 2009)

OK my plants all suck. I just cannot figure out what I'm doing wrong this all soooo frustrating!
I have a 75 gallon with a PH controller and i know my pressurized CO2 concentration is perfect. I use 2-3 inches of Eco-complete. And lastly i have 4x54 lights for 8-9 hrs a day. 
PH=6.9
KH=5
GH=8

Also I've been fertilizing using the EI method; based on this thread; minus the 50% water change i do 25%...
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/fertilizing/15225-estimative-index-dosing-guide.html

And still my plants do not look good. I constantly grow green algae on the glass within 2 days of scrubbing and brown algae all over my plants. I'm close to giving up on plants and going back to fake but I cant because that' well over a $1000 to waste just converting to planted. I love the hobby but since i switched to planted it's just been so frustrating that nothings working. The only thing I see that's good is my amazon are creating some oxygen. But either way the plants still don't look good. Oh and notice all the algae on the driftwood that can only be boiled off grrr.


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Mar 7, 2008)

Hi mahchay,

Tell me about your bulbs, what is the K (temperature/spectrum)?


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## clearleaf (Oct 4, 2008)

Also how old is your tank, and do you have any algae eating fish? A half dozen oto's should deal with that brown algae pretty quickly.


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## mahchay (Jul 21, 2009)

Seattle_Aquarist said:


> Hi mahchay,
> 
> Tell me about your bulbs, what is the K (temperature/spectrum)?


I have two 10,000K they're a normal color, One 18,000K that has a pinkish hue, and another 6,700K which has more of a yellowish color to it (all one week old bulbs)


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## mahchay (Jul 21, 2009)

clearleaf said:


> Also how old is your tank, and do you have any algae eating fish? A half dozen oto's should deal with that brown algae pretty quickly.


I started my tank February first. The manager at the pet store i work at recommended the otocinculus I should be getting 2 or 3 this Thursday i've heard alot of good stuff about them, thanks for reinforcing that idea!


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## Avi (Apr 7, 2004)

Well, it sounds like there's a nutrient source that's allowing the algae you mention to become adventitious. What fish do you have in the tank and what is your feeding schedule? What kind of filtration do you have on the tank?


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Mar 7, 2008)

Hi mahchay,

Taken from another post in this forum by Newt:

"Based on those measurements you have 4.74 cu. ft of H2O which equals 35.46 gals.
This equates to 3.89wpg.
I didnt know if your 10,000K bulbs were high output or not. The 96 watt is T5 but not HO.
If your 10,000K is actinic it may not be doing anything for your plants. It could actually shutdown photosynthesis as infra-red light does. Actinic bulbs are designed to emit at a wavelength of 460nm which is beyond the action spectrum for plants as shown below.










I really dont understand how/why people began using saltwater bulbs in planted tanks. There are just so many better bulbs for plants. I'd change them out."

I think that possibly the two 10,000K and certainly the one 18,000K need to be replaced. I run 6700K. You are running a lot of watts but possibly a lot less usable light than you may think.


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## mahchay (Jul 21, 2009)

Avi said:


> Well, it sounds like there's a nutrient source that's allowing the algae you mention to become adventitious. What fish do you have in the tank and what is your feeding schedule? What kind of filtration do you have on the tank?


I have an eheim 2213 and a aquaclear 110 and I feed once a day frozen bloodworms and flakes. In my tank i have
-Angelfish x2
-Glass Catfish x7
-Clown Loach
I give the angels and catfish a little extra blood worms since the clown ends up picking it up but for the most part i give only what they can eat


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## Avi (Apr 7, 2004)

That doesn't sound like an excessive amount of food at all, so I'm starting to think that Roy's on to it. I think that the lighting that he points out as being more suitable for a marine tank and so may well be the problem. The plants in your tank aren't able to photosynthesize sufficiently and aren't flourishing and aren't able to outcompete the algae. I think that so many advances in lighting that are so important to coral keeping have been made in the marine sector of the aquarium hobby that some of the critical technology has inappropriately crept into the freshwater aquatic plant hobby in which lighting, like in coral keeping, is so important. But, that's easily corrected with the acquisition of the right bulbs.

So, don't give up. I can assure you that you'll get this corrected, whatever the problem is...one step at a time.


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

How do you know you have enough CO2 in your tank? Do you have a drop checker? If you are relying on those charts they don't work. Sounds like you have enough filtration. Why don't you try putting some fast growing plants in for a while and see if that helps. A pH of 6.9 is high for a planted tank with pressurized CO2. My water stays in a range of 5.9 -6.1 (day to night). I have a pH controller too. Even at that I need more CO2. I've just purchased a needlewheel impeller to dissolve my CO2 better. My drop checker stays dark green and I want it spring green to yellow.

What is your water pH if you let it sit out overnight? I'm wondering if the Eco complete has made your water too hard. Most plants don't like hard water.

These are two suggestions. If you pair these up WITH the higher light spectrum I bet you have your answer.


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## bradac56 (May 9, 2007)

Eco-Complete is just another inert substrate so it's only going to leach trace Fe long term. 

The only thing funny about Eco is that they wash it in a "nutrient" bath after it's been fired so it does have some other traces on it at first but a good washing or a few weeks in the tank would drain that away.

- Brad


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## mahchay (Jul 21, 2009)

Tex Gal said:


> How do you know you have enough CO2 in your tank? Do you have a drop checker? If you are relying on those charts they don't work. Sounds like you have enough filtration. Why don't you try putting some fast growing plants in for a while and see if that helps. A pH of 6.9 is high for a planted tank with pressurized CO2. My water stays in a range of 5.9 -6.1 (day to night). I have a pH controller too. Even at that I need more CO2. I've just purchased a needlewheel impeller to dissolve my CO2 better. My drop checker stays dark green and I want it spring green to yellow.
> 
> What is your water pH if you let it sit out overnight? I'm wondering if the Eco complete has made your water too hard. Most plants don't like hard water.
> 
> These are two suggestions. If you pair these up WITH the higher light spectrum I bet you have your answer.


I do have a drop checker but i stopped using it after a month or so since levels were the tinniest bit off. I then decided to rely on the chart to make life a bit more simple. Well My water is definitely hard it goes up to roughly 7.5. Any way of fixing?


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