Help with browning plants and mistery algae/fungus

[triggergun]

I need some help. This tank (75g) is about about 5 months old and i have been battling brown/ diatoms forever. I feed appx 8-10 bps of co2 and use the E.I ferts. In the last few weeks my plants are browning and looking very thin and I have some mystery "algae" that looks like white thread. I use 1 48" t5 HO appx 20" from the substrate for 10 hrs per day. What Am I doing wrong!!! Thanks!

Mystery algae.. it looks green in the pic but it is white



Anubia with browning , curling leaves and holes


H/C and sad micro sword both starting to brown

[Trickerie]

Please give us more info on your light fixture (brand, bulb used), and your dosing (what do you dose on what days?).

[triggergun]

OK. I'm using a Catalina 2 bulb T5 H.O but I only use 1 of the bulbs (6500k) 54 watt bulb. Some times when I'm home I will burn the other bulb for a couple hrs " maybe 2-3 times a week". That bulb is a 10k 54 WATT BULB . Also I might add I inject Co2 for 10 hrs each day. " as long as the lights are on... so is co2" I intend to get some timers and turn on the co2 30min before the lights come on and off 30min before the lights turn off at night.

Here is my dosing of ferts.... basically this is what Tom Barr recommends for a 75 gal tank.
--------------------------------

tues: 3/4 tsp KNO3 (NITRATE)
3/16 tsp KH2PO4 (PHOSPHATES)
1/4 tsp K2SO4 (POTASSIUM)

wed: 1/4 tsp plantex CSM+B

thurs: 3/4 tsp KNO3
3/16 tsp KH2PO4
1/4 tsp K2SO4

Fri: 1/4 tsp plantex CSM+B

sat:3/4 tsp KNO3
3/16 tsp KH2PO4
1/4 tsp K2SO4

Sun: 1/4 tsp plantex CSM+B

Mon: 50- 75% waterchange

[royalbijoy]

Waiting eagerly for a reply. I too have the same problem. So thought to add to this existing thread, than create an all new diatom/brown algae thread...
The lower leaves of all plants are always covered by the brown mulm. Only the top leaves(1-2) are green in color. Some of the slow growers are always brown in color. I recently cleaned the substrate to get rid of it and was amazed at the amount of brown mulm that was in there. Got rid of most of it. But looks like its coming back soon. Whenever any of the fish touch the substrate accidentally, a big brown mulm explodes into the water and that mulm settles over the cleaned plants, turning them brown again.
Just read recently that silicates are responsible for diatoms. I use ground water and looks like its high in silicates. Is there any way around this?
Tank - 4x2x1.5ft(deep)
Light : 100W LED floodlights 8 hours daily
CO2: pressurized at 2-3bps
fertilizers: KNo3, K2So4, MgS04, iron chelate twice a week
filters: 1 external(1800l/h) and 1 internal(1200l/h) canister.
Substrate: Bottom JBL aquaplus(5L) and top controsoil.(20L)

Another thing that is frustrating is that my internal filter gets clogged with this mulm every 3rd day and I have to clean then. If not, the sponges in my internal filter become hard and do not filter any of the mulm. The water gets murky and diatom covers the glass..

[Trickerie]

Heres some general comments I have.

Lighting. You are injecting quite a bit of co2 (do you have a drop checker or kh/ph readings for us?), but using quite low light. The catalina 54w fixture only gives 50-60PAR with both bulbs on, so, with only 1 on, you are seeing half that. With co2 being injected, theres no reason you can't run both.

Ferts. Think you should tweak them.
CSM+b, you are only adding .25ppm Fe, which is close to the bare minimum. I would double this dose to 1/2 tsp.
KNO3, about right, maybe even a bit high.
KH2PO4, I would halve this dose. You are adding about double what you need for a 75g, or 2.6ppm.
K2SO4, skip it all together. You are adding plenty of K+, and and the SO4 adds nothing of value. It may even harm sensitive plants.

Micro swords, I've found, need medium to high light to thrive. Mine exhibited the same symptoms (curling and browning), when they were shaded by taller plants.

Finally, whats your substrate? Do you feed the roots? Im most concerned with the symptoms the anubias is presenting. Its a slower growing plant, and symptoms like that do not appear over night. They are the result of an ongoing deficiency. Furthermore, the plant may be happier attached to something, instead of buried. If you want the plant in that spot, simply weight it down with a plant anchor, and lay it on the substrate in that location. This is what I do, if I am not attaching it to an object.

[triggergun]

I do have drop checker. I ran it at 4-5 bps for about a month but doubled it to get a light " lime green color . I add the ferts by mixing them with some tank water and dumping it onto the tank.My substrate is black sand... Thanks for the suggestions! I will give it a try.

[brainwavepc.com]

probably fuzz algae and potassium deficiency or possibly nitrogen.

reading these should help you get some good answers.

http://www.guitarfish.org/algae


http://www.aquatic-eden.com/2009/06/...y-diagram.html

[Trickerie]

Originally Posted by triggergun

I do have drop checker. I ran it at 4-5 bps for about a month but doubled it to get a light " lime green color . I add the ferts by mixing them with some tank water and dumping it onto the tank.My substrate is black sand... Thanks for the suggestions! I will give it a try.

Ok, my next question is about your diffusion method, filtration, and surface movement. Do you use a reactor? Or a glass nano diffuser perhaps? Do you use a HOB, canister? Hows your surface agitation. 8-10bps is a lot, so I'm going to assume you are gassing it off too much. Also, bland sand is inert, and thus, needs supplementation with root tabs. I would look into getting some osmocote+ in gel caps from the sellers forum here. Several sell them

[triggergun]

I do use a reactor ( Ista max) The filter is a fluval 305 canister . I really don't have much surface movement due to I have my spray bar 8" below the surface of
the water. I have the spraybar so low because the co2 looked like it was just floating to the surface.

[Trickerie]

Ok... so youre seeing bubbles coming out of your spray bar? You may be adding more co2 than you need, then. You may see better results using a circulation pump to spread the co2 around, something like a koralia nano 425, or even two. Either way, the CO2 isnt your problem, but more efficient dispersion to your plants would always be nice

[triggergun]

I do see bubbles very very tiny bubbles..like mist. I used to use root tabs before I started E.I, I guess I need to use both? Also, i don't know if this good or bad but... I run an air stone during the night after the lights and co2 shut off. Thoughts?

[Trickerie]

An airstone at night, in my opinion, is pointless. However, others swear by it. Personally, I have a very small amount of surface shimmer all day long, co2 or not.

You do need to feed the roots as well. Some plants are heavy root feeders, and would fair much better with getting their ferts that way. You have many options for this

[triggergun]

Ok Back to root tabs it is. Tomorrow I will buy a power head or 2, run both lights instead of 1, cut my co2 in half and tweak my ferts as you mentioned. Thanks for all your help!

[Trickerie]

You dont need to cut your co2 in half. It will not help the situation if it will lower the concentration of co2. I was just trying to see if maybe you were pumping that much co2 because you were gassing a lot of it off. That doesnt seem to be the case, so you could probably leave your co2 where it is. As long as youre in the 30-35ppm range, you are good. You can follow your drop checker, but I would also take some ph/kh readings and plug it into the co2 concentration calculator.