Lag time with CO2 to see results?

[slick]

After posting a couple weeks ago I got a resounding "add more CO2" to my problem of algae and plant die-offs. Some fert advice too.

Since then I've got my NPK all in a good range, micronutrients (Flourish) a bit everyday. Checked and added a touch of iron too. And I've got a CO2 tank running now for a week, which according to the little Sera test gizmo is in the happy range.

So, should I expect a delay before seeing the plants taking off? There's some promising signs on some plants, not much on others, and I'm still picking algae daily, long brown thread algae mostly. Some plants are almost smothered, like pygmy chain sword and java ferns.

Tank is: 135 gal, 390w PC light, pH holding it's own at 6.5, tds 90.

The fish load seems to be moderate comparing to other threads here. Nitrate was low when I first measured, meaning it's not building up on its own.

Anyway, my guess is that the plants need time to "get strong" again. Anyone care to comment? Thanks in advance.

[Alight]

If the CO2 is really in the sweet range (30-40 ppm) you should be seeing massive pearling of your plants. Massive pearling means massive growth, too, and this should be almost immediate. Fast growers should show noticeable growth in a day (I didn't check your plant list so don't know which plants to point to).

The algae problem is another thing. I'm still waiting for CO2 to have any negative effect on my algae (stop it somehow) as you may have read in my other posts. My problem may not have been CO2 deprivation, though.

[dean]

While waiting for your plants to take off and outgrow the algae,try adding Flourish Excel to the tank.It "seems " to have some sort of algaecide properties as well as adding a different carbon source that is readily availanble to your plants.
in addition to pressurized gas,I add Excel at every water change.
NO problems with discus. I even use it as my co2 source in a planted nano shrimp tank.
Do not use more than precribed dosage and be patient.
Before pressurized, using DYI, i finally killed a bad outbreak of hair algae with it.

[lhforbes12]

Slick,
You didn't mention what your KH is but I'll assume it's low from your 90 ppm GH. Try to get your KH at the 3 KH mark (ca. 54 ppm CaCO3) which you can easily do with plain old bicarbonate of soda. Your brown algae is probably cyanobacteria which, as Dean said, can easily be cleared up by using Seachem Flourish Excel, or erythromycin. Brown algae is usually caused by an imbalance of some kind: uneaten food, old substrate, dirty filter, or simply "new tank syndrome". Also once you know your KH and pH you can find your CO2 levels usung charts that are literally all over the Net, just Google "CO2 calculator". 30- 40 ppm CO2 is really too high for a discus tank IMHO and I would keep it down more to the 20 ppm range.

hth,
Larry

[slick]

Thanks folks,

I upped the co2 slightly and now have LOTS of pearling and growth on some plants, notably all the sword types, red lotus (wow!), and the aponogetons seem to be growing new leaves at about 4" per day (although this seems so unbelievable that I'm keeping a close eye to see if I imagined it.)

I don't think my algae is Cyanobacter because the threads are so STRONG. I try to pick off the tufts, but generally the leaves tear before the algae.

Anyway, I'll try the Excel. I also used it somewhat successfully when this was a low-tech tank, but I was overdosing at that time and think it harmed the plants too. I'll stick to the prescribed doses for a while and see what happens.

Thanks again.
Bruce

[Dissident]

Stick with it.
In a week or two with proper doseing you should beat the algae. You are right ODing EXCEL can be harmfull for some plants... mostly mosses and java ferns.

[lhforbes12]

Ahhhh... Slick you have the dreaded BBA (Black Brush Algae) luckily Excel will kill it quite easily. Just give it a massive overdose for 3 days (in your 135 I would use either 8 or 9 tablespoons every day for 3 days). I have done this with no ill effects to any of my fish, including discus, so from my expierence I know it's safe. If you wish to keep it away forever just do this; following a wc run either a UV filter or a diatom filter on your tank for a full day. Since I started doing this I virtually have no algae (I use a diatom filter).

hth,
Larry

[ItsGeoff]

you can also use tetra Aquasafe, applied directly to the BBA and it kills it in a couple of minutes. no idea whats in it that does it but boy does it work.

[slick]

Thanks for the tips, folks.
After the first day I used Excel all the brush algae turned dark brown, obviously dead, fading back fairly quickly from the most affected plants. And the co2 seems to having a dramatic affect on almost everything. That is, everything except the alternanthera. It thought these were easy; how do you make them grow??
Anyway, proper co2 and proper nutrients seemed to get it all going. It's remarkable how much you can tell from the pearling on the plants. At one point today it stopped, so I did all my tests, ended up adding a bit of Potassium, and within 5 minutes the pearling had resumed!! Nice to get instant feedback.
Thanks again, everyone.
Bruce

[Alight]

If this is Alternanthera reineckii ''roseafolia'' just wait a bit. It will take over your tank. I do put some plant tabs near its roots, since it does feed from the roots, but I'm not sure that it was necessary.

With high light and CO2, you will see very rapid growth.

When it grows out of the top of your tank, you can either just top it, and it will produce 2-4 more tops, or you can trimm off the top, pull out the roots, and replant the top in the place where the old plant was. Biggest problem is that it is very bouyant, so I find that I have to put plant weights on it to hold it in the gravel. Once the roots are expanded enough to hold the plant down, it's hard to retrieve the plant weights.

It struggles along in moderate light, with smaller leaves and much slower growth, but looks OK there, too.

Back to my algae struggles.

Al Light