[Chaos2611]

Lights:

I keep them on about 8 hrs a day.

Substrate: mix of gravel and seachem flourite

Plants: Amazon Sword; Java fern; Anubias; Radican Sword; Dwarf Sag; Green Crypts;

CO2: DIY co2

I do run airpump with the co2 as well.

Right now, the tank has some brown and green algae in it.

What kind of plant supplementary should i use to ensure good growth and not having the battle algae?

Thanks in advance!
(P.s. I have boesemanis, and gouramis in there.)

 

[Hoppy]

If you use DIY CO2 an air pump will get rid of the CO2 as fast as you add it. Use one or the other, but not both, unless you only use the air pump when the lights are off. What size tank do you have? If it is a 55 gallon tank, you need the CO2, or at least Seachem Excel. Then, look at http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=21944 for information about what and how much to dose.

 

[Chaos2611]

Okay. Ill change the airpump schedule from all day to nights only.
I have a 75g.

Edit: so for my setup, what things should i dose to balance my tank?

 

[Diana]

DIY CO2 is not very much, unless you have at least 3 bottles x 2 liters per bottle going. Rotate them out once a week for the most even supply. By the time you get that scheduled you may want to look into pressurized CO2.

Plants need about a dozen elements to live.
C, H, O are the three they use the most.

N, P, K are the next in line, and are referred to as Macros. In the Estimative Index method they are dosed as KNO3, KH2PO4 and K2SO4.
In a high tech tank you might use quite a bit of KNO3, and little or no K2SO4. KH2PO4 is dosed in smaller amounts.

Ca, Mg are next in line. They are secondary nutrients. If your water has a GH of at least 3 German degrees of hardness then you can assume the Ca and Mg are OK. If you need to raise the GH in the tank use a complete product like Seachem Equilibrium or Barr's GH booster. Do not just use Epsom salt. It only has Mg.

Iron is somewhere in between secondary nutrients and micros. It is used more than the other micros, and is often dosed separately. Chelated iron is good.

All the other minerals are lumped together as micros or trace minerals, and are usually sold blended together, such as CSM+B.

If you want to buy liquids, Seachem makes a complete product line, the Flourish products. They are more expensive for the amount of active ingredient you get.

 

[Chaos2611]

Thanks for the reply Diana. All of those nutrients sound quite expensive. If i have a low budget, what are the "essentials" for this particular tank? C H O? Carbon Hydrogen Oxygen?
Also are you saying i should run 3 reactors? I have two currently. And pressurized co2 systems are too costly. Like 500 dollars for a system!

 

[Raymond S.]

The plants you listed are either slow growing or very slow growing type.
Except for the Amazon and possibly the Radican Swords.
This link has everything you may need to dose/w. I would say that if you look down
the list till you see package pricing and get the third package deal/w the iron you will
have all you need for over a year of dosing. I say this because the regular dosing
would be three times a week. But with those plants you may need two, but I think
that one dose per week will be enough if you dose the amount shown on the link
that Hoppy gave you, for your size tank.
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/showthread.php?t=849634
Using all of the nutrients that the plants need will help insure they grow as best
as they can, which fights algae in the tank.

 

[lee739]

Thanks for the reply Diana. All of those nutrients sound quite expensive. If i have a low budget, what are the "essentials" for this particular tank? C H O? Carbon Hydrogen Oxygen?
Also are you saying i should run 3 reactors? I have two currently. And pressurized co2 systems are too costly. Like 500 dollars for a system!

They are all essential, just the quantity you need varies - they are dirt cheap too - look into EI ferts, you may not need to use much, but should be able to buy all the NPK and traces/iron you'll need for a decade for $50 or so....

 

[rick dale]

tank

You need to read up on co2. There is no way you can put enough co2 in a 75 gallon tank with diy co2 , and keep it stable enough without causing you problems. And your light is at best , low to medium lighting. You need to read up on low tech aquarium and possibly go that way. You'll be much happier with the end results. Just my opinion , from the experience I had doing the same as you are now , in the past.good luck with it .

 

[anastasisariel]

Thanks for the reply Diana. All of those nutrients sound quite expensive. If i have a low budget, what are the "essentials" for this particular tank? C H O? Carbon Hydrogen Oxygen?
Also are you saying i should run 3 reactors? I have two currently. And pressurized co2 systems are too costly. Like 500 dollars for a system!

Hey sir, it's not as bad as you think. You can order the EI ferts in a set from greenleafaquarium and have everything you need. When I did diy co2 I actually used 2 2liters and Was using a powerful reactor. I changed a bottle out every week and I venture to say I probably had better dissolved co2 than some others with pressurized co2 and cheap acrylic diffusers.

EDIT: just realized this was a 75.. I,would never try diy co2 on something that big...

 

[Chaos2611]

The co2 systems are too expensive.
Should I dose the green leaf aquarium products according to their instructions or instructions on here, in that post

 

[aclaar877]

I actually did DIY CO2 on a 155 gallon tank, with two gallon jugs. Couldn't grow everything I tried, but it was good enough to do this: https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected]/16971910918/ Swords, crypts, ludwigias, vals, bacopa were no problem. I've since upgraded, but threw away or sold plants many times over using DIY in a big tank.

 

[Chaos2611]

Does anyone know whether my lights are made for high tech or low tech tank