Yippie!! Reptiles and Fishies!
Why is my Co2 all outta whack?? i am currently running a 3 feet and bubbling co2 at a rate of 3 bubbles per second...
the weird thing is that i dont know if that is enough or not...the plants seem to be doing fine but i am wondering why there is no bubbling...not even from the riccia....
when i measured the pH and the Kh..pH was 6.3 and kH was like 4...that should give me Co2 that is WAAAAY outta the charts..probably somthing like 50-60ppm... but i doubt that is so..because the fishes are not having any problems breathing...plus the riccia is not bubbling..so i'm thinking somthing is wrong...but i dont know what....any opinions?
It doesn't always have to be CO2 but I'll check it real good for stability before going onto the nutrients. How much light over the tank? How big is the tank? Is the tank heavily planted or just a few plants? What kind of nutrients are you dosing the tank with? How frequent?
Regards
Peter Gwee
Any how many hours after the light are turn on?Originally Posted by PeterGwee
It doesn't always have to be CO2 but I'll check it real good for stability before going onto the nutrients. How much light over the tank? How big is the tank? Is the tank heavily planted or just a few plants? What kind of nutrients are you dosing the tank with? How frequent?
Regards
Peter Gwee
Yippie!! Reptiles and Fishies!
Hi Peter..It doesn't always have to be CO2 but I'll check it real good for stability before going onto the nutrients. How much light over the tank? How big is the tank? Is the tank heavily planted or just a few plants? What kind of nutrients are you dosing the tank with? How frequent?
Regards
Peter Gwee
i'll try to answer all of your questions...i have about 186watts over tha tank which is a 50 gal or a 190 litres. Currently use LGA,LGM (for traces and daily dosing), KNO3 (one time dose at water change) and seacem equilibrium (for calcium) and K2Po4 (one time dose at water change). My regime is as follows..
Monday - water change plus dose KNO3 and K2Po4 and Equilibrium.
Tuesday - 16 drops LGM
Wednesday - 12ml LGA
Thurs - 16 drop LGM
friday 12ml LGA
Sat - 16 drops LGM
Sunday - 12ml LGA
The tank isnt as fully planted as i would like but its not "just a few plants". It is fully covered in terms of area...just wating for the plants in their position to fill in the spot..
The funny thing is that when i was underdosing (i accidentally misunderstood Jugglers calculator for LGA and underdosed the tank by 7 Times LESS)...it bubbled like crazy..but there was green dust and spot algae at the end of every week..
when i switched to this regime, the plants started showing better leaves and growth and the algae problem TOTALLY disappeared... but just NO BUBBLING!!
Whats wrong?? i really dont know!! Thanks for the hlep in advance..
Ranmasatome, LGA does not contain any PO4 as far as I know which could probably be the problem here. Consider dosing your KH2PO4 3-4x a week instead of just after the water change. Dose it on the same days you dose LGA. Regarding the CO2 issue, is your CO2 50-60ppm throughout the entire photoperiod or just at one point of the day? Correct the PO4 dosing first and monitor for 2-3 days to see if you get a positive response from the plants. If the rest of the nutrients and CO2 are in good shape, dosing PO4 to a PO4 limited tank will drive the plants into high gear (loads of pearling.).
Regards
Peter Gwee
Yippie!! Reptiles and Fishies!
Hi Peter...thanks... currently i dose KH2Po4 only during water change days as mentioned.. i will try to dose it throu out the week when i dose the LGA as well.. i have a question though..
Usually when i dose an amount for just the week i dose all that is needed..so during water change i dose so that the water is about 1.3ppm of Po4..and for my tank and formulation..that is about 19ml of it.
So if i were to switch to dosing a few days throughout the week...should i split that 19ml up into say 5ml portions and dose 4 times a week... or dose the 19 ml and ON TOP OF THAT dose more...like probably..19ml during water change and then an additional 5ml every time i dose LGA throughout the week??
thanks..
i'll be keeping an eye on the Co2 today.. measuring 1 hr after lights on... midway thru the 11hrs exposure.. and 1 hr before lights off..
19ml 3x a week should be more than enough for your PO4 uptake.
Regards
Peter Gwee
Yippie!! Reptiles and Fishies!
Wow!! that is alot!! how fast does Po4 get depleted? Everytime i dose 19ml i get 1.3ppm of Po4...so if i dose it 3 times a week my weekly Po4 dosage will be 3.9ppm?? isnt't that a bit too high??
Tom barr measured 0.2-0.6ppm of uptake per day with a 20gal well planted tank blasted with 5.5w/g of light. Your tank might not need that much but excess is not an issue here except if you feel that it is a waste of money.Running it lean can cause possible bottoming out and that is not good imo. Buildup can be prevented if you do large water resets...
Regards
Peter Gwee
Yippie!! Reptiles and Fishies!
thanks Peter... i think for now i'll dose it with just 6ml and not 19 everytime i dose LGA...will see how that works...
As for Co2..didnt have the time to check on it yesterday...but from the drop checker it seems it is okay.. will do it today. did one check last night just before lights off and i realised that me Kh WAS 2!!! actually to be more accurate its more like 1. something.. wa lao.. but lucky ph was around 6.2-6.3..so Co2 just b4 lights off was at 35-37ppm.. not bad..
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