# problems with fuzz and plants



## yme (Jul 25, 2005)

Hi everybody I made some changes in the setup, basically to improve the plantgrowth and remove fuzz algae from the plants and glass. Unfortunately, everything got worse&#8230; (more fuzz algae, more problems plants)

This is my current setup. (bold indicates that I changed that setting)

Tank: 100x40x40
Pomp: eheim professional (containing just white foam)
CO2: pressurized
Substrate: amtra plant depot (1.5 years old)
Light: 
*1x Philips TL 840 (middle): 13.00-23.00 
1x Philips TL 830 (middle): 13.30-22.30
1x Philips TL 830: 19.00-22.00
1x Philips TL 840: 19.00-22.00 
1x Philips TL 840: 19.00-22.00 
1x Osram PL 840: 13.00-23.00 *
*liquid fertilzer: 2x/week 10 ml profito (=2 recommended dose), 3x/week 4 ml ferrocell (= recommended dose)*
*pH: 6.4*
KH: 3.0
GH: 5.5 (after water change lower, but I add MgSO4.7H2O and CaSO4.1/2H2O in a Ca:Mg ratio of 3:1 until the desired Ca and Mg levels are reached)
Ca: 20 mg/l
Mg: 7 mg/l
*PO4: 1-1.5 mg/l (0.25 mg/l is every day added auromatically) (calibrated the test kit)*K: 20 mg/l
NO3: 10 mg/l (every day 6 ml of a solution containing 6 g KNO3/600 ml is automatically added. This results is a pretty stabile NO3 concentration, although it rather tends to drop than raise) (calibrated the test kit)
Conductivity: 460 µS
Water change: 50 litres per week, 30 litres of RO water and 20 litres of tap water (pH 8, KH 5, GH 8, 660 µS, NO3 10, PO4 0)

Let´s explain the changes. First the light: to slow down metabolism and avoid deficiency I lowered the light period as well as the intensity. However, I saw after 4 days that the elantine tiandra was now growing upwards instead of horizontally, so I increased the light intensity to the setup described above. I added 1 PL lamp to have more light for the tonina fluviatilis, since it is planted on the side of the aquarium and I have problems with the growth of this plant (see below).

pH: lowered the pH to get higher CO2 levels to improve plant growth

People from APC suggested that I was starving my plants, so I increased the dose of profito (complete fertilizer in which iron is included) to 2x the recommended dose and on top of this I added an iron fertilizer because the new leaves of some plants (elatine tiandra and heternanthera zosterfolia) were to yellow.

PO4: to get rid of the fuzz algae I increased the PO4 concentration from 0.5 mg/l to a level above 1 mg/l (constantly). In the past, I had to clean the glass two times a week, now at least 3 times, but one can already see new algae growth the next day. The same is true for the fuzz on plants: increased growth.

I tried to take some pictures, but some of them are of poor quality, sorry about that.










the zosterfolia has rather yellow new leaves. In the old leaves, there are some holes and bba and fuzz algae is growing on it.










Since all the changes, the elatine tiandra is doing strange things. This plant used to grow beautifully, but now the old leaves and stems are "melting" and some little holes surrounded by yellow tissue can be seen.










Sorry for the quality, but I hope that you can see that there is fuzz algae growing on the leaves of the echinodorus










The same plant shows now major holes in the new leaves. I have seen it before and it disappeared when I added more micro´s. For the moment, I hope that this deficiency was formed before I increased the dosis of profito, otherwise I mat need to increase the dose further?










This is not correlated to the recent problems, but I would like to get rid of early death of the lower leaves of the tonina fluviatilis. I thought that it could be due to a lack of light, so I placed one additional 11 watt PL above this plant.










As one can see, the new leaves are just fine, although some algae is growing on it as well.

This was it! I hope it isn't too long and that somebody could explain why this is happening!

Greetz,

yme


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

The holes in the new swordplant leaf are definitely due to physical damage, not a nutrient deficiency. 

The holes in the Elatine new leaves and stems looks like symptoms other APC members have had. I have not had these symptoms myself. I suspect they are due to some kind of toxicity. Tom Barr recently suggested that higher CO2 would cure these. 

The pale new growth on the Zosterella might be due to iron deficiency. The Zosterella seems to be also showing symptoms similar to those of the Elatine, but not as severe.


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## AaronT (Apr 26, 2004)

I think your test kits for PO4 might be reading too high. I would try adding twice the amount of PO4 you are now and see if that helps. Your CO2 levels are fine though make sure you are testing on the opposite side of wherever the CO2 comes into the tank to get an accurate reading. If flow is an issue the pH nearest that point may be a false indication of the amount of CO2 in the whole tank.

Plants should all be ever so gently swaying in the tank from the flow to indicate that it is adequate. Good CO2 levels are useless if it's not reaching the plants...or any other nutrients for that matter.


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## yme (Jul 25, 2005)

thanks for the answers!

@HeyPK: you can see the holes in the echinodorus when the leves are very small. Since I do not tough the pant, I really doubt that it is mechanical damage.

Could be iron deficiency. However, I am adding three times the recommended dose of iron. Unfortunatley, I do not know the concentration of iron of both fertilzers. 

@AaronT: I checked my test again using solutions of 1, 1.5 and 2 mg/l PO4. It showed the same results as before, indicating that the PO4 concentration was accurate. Today I measured 1 mg/l, so that can surely be increased to 2 mg/l.

I indeed measure the pH at the opposite side of the pump which is connected to an external CO2 reactor. To be sure, I measured the pH at several places in my tank and found that the pH differed at most 0.02. However, the plants do not sway, apart from the najas next to the pump. I have an eheim professional 2224, which pumps 700 l/h. since my tank is 100x40x40, I thought that would be enough flow to provide enough CO2 and nutrients. Possibly this is not the case???

Thanks again,

yme


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