Issues with ADA Aquasoil, pH and CO2

[cheeboonyong]

Hi,

started a new 4x 2 x 2 ft tank for about 1.5 months now. Using ADA aquasoil as the substrate.

For those who have used ADA aquasoil, you should be aware that it reduces the pH of the water, much like peat/ketapang leaves. This absolutely screws up the Co2 relationship with kH, pH, thus leaving me with no idea what the CO2 ppm is.

I've been having minor outbreaks of greenwater and BBA about 2 weeks ago. Very irritating . Anyway, so I proceeded to determine the root cause of the problem. First, I checked my nitrate. Ok, it's a bit high. 20-25ppm but acceptable. Phosphate <1 ppm. I don't really trust these test kits that much but I think it's not totally out of whack either, so can trust a little bit. By the way, my fert regime is 20ml TMG (will increase later but still cycling tank), 2 tablespoons of Potassium Sulphate every week.

Ok, back-track a little. About 1 month ago, I added livestock. Fish went into CO2 poisoning mood, so quickly reduced CO2. Didn't think about whether the CO2 was sufficient or not, but no way to check anyway.

Now, back to my problem. I suspected it could be lack of phosphate. So added phosphate but still didn't solve the problem. Think think think, can't be phosphate lah. I feed a fair amount of fish food, so phosphate should be enough. Maybe test kit not accurate.

Now, I'm beginning to think that the Co2 is too low. My plants still bubble but after increasing it by 1 more bps, I noticed that my plants are bubbling even more and doing better. However, BEFORE I increased my CO2, I bought some blyxa japonica. The BJ started melting even though all my other plants are doing very well (tonina, rotala indica, lotus, crypto balansae, rotala macandra). I used to grow BJ in my old tank with ADA too and had absolutely no problems. Now, I'm beginning to suspect that BJ requires high level of CO2 as compared to the other plants, so even though the other plants can make do, the BJ was melting away. Tried to find out more info on BJ but didn't see any reference to CO2 requirement.

Anyway, so now I'm upping my CO2, hopefully the GW and BBA goes away and if the BJ starts to recover, then I think the problem really would be the CO2. Hey, maybe if this theory works, all those who use ADA should grow BJ, just to use it as a live reference to whether the CO2 is adequate.

[PeterGwee]

BJ is a plant that gets injured easily if improperly handled during planting from what I have read somewhere. I doubt it has anything to do with CO2 or nutrients from the initial meltdown since the rest of the plants are fine.

You cannot get rid of Greenwater by means of proper CO2 and fertilization. What you can do is by means of a long blackout, UV or Diatom filter. The concern here is why an outbreak of Greenwater in the first place? Too much critters? New filter with no mulm added? No mulm added to the new substrate? You do the proper stuff of adding mulm to both the bottom of the substrate and filter plus low bioload to high plant load and you will not get this. I really don't know why folks like ADA aquasoil though...

Regards
Peter Gwee

[cheeboonyong]

Peter,

how does adding mulm help? Would appreciate it if you could enlighten me.

Personally, ADA is good for rearing Apistogrammas, since it lowers the ph. Also, I found that it's good for keepingi tonina.

[PeterGwee]

Mulm contains loads of organic stuff and nitrifying bacteria for breaking down of ammonia. Better to have bacteria than algae...

Personally, ADA is good for rearing Apistogrammas, since it lowers the ph. Also, I found that it's good for keepingi tonina.

You believe that? Measurement of pH with absolutely little to no buffering ions in water requires special probes which is not the type we are using. What a fish needs is good food and variety, loads of oxygen and an environment where it feels safe and comfortable in. What a plant needs is light, CO2 and nutrients (N, P, K, GH and traces). If it ain't the stuff mentioned, I doubt it helps. It ain't rocket science...just a fact.

Regards
Peter Gwee

[geoffrey]

Hi Boon Yong,

Have you tried taking pH of your water when it's enriched with CO2 and pH when left overnight for it to settle to ambient. The difference should give you an estimate of your CO2 level.

Take a look at the pH/kH/CO2 table. Just choose any row regardless of kH. Assuming ambient is 3~5ppm, adding that difference you measured to the pH at ambient will give you an estimate of your CO2.

[cheeboonyong]

No, I've not. Let me try and post the results in a couple of days.

[fleekk]

[quote:dbb6faff57="cheeboonyong"]Peter,

how does adding mulm help? Would appreciate it if you could enlighten me.

Personally, ADA is good for rearing Apistogrammas, since it lowers the ph. Also, I found that it's good for keepingi tonina.[/quote:dbb6faff57]

A lot of bros talk about having ADA soil for tonina, I do not agree with it as I am currently using normal gravel, it works fine with me.

[cheeboonyong]

pH just after lights off is 5.9

Fleekk, it's just that I've never failed with Tonina using ADA. Judging from your experience, it seems like tonina grows well in normal gravel too. I've friends who failed with normal gravel. Of course, the issue may not necessarily be the gravel, but I guess we won't be finding out by conducting some control tests of experiments.

[mkt]

experienced similar problem too
after lights off fish gasping for air ( - looks like CO2 high even though the feed rates is 0.5bps) PH ~ 5.9, KH ~2 NO3 ~30ppm, PO4~.2, NO2~0
substrate is flourite
plants don't bubble though wondering what's happening as well....

[cheeboonyong]

my ph just before lights on is 6.0, vs 5.9 just before lights off. So what is the level of CO2 ppm? thanks in advance for any intepretation.