Hello,

I have a planted tank that isn't doing so well anymore. This is partly
due to my lack of time on it and partly due to the way the wind has been
blowing, the alignment of Jupiter as opposed to my lunch yesterday, etc.

I want to revive the tank and have it blooming as it used to do, but am
not sure where to start. I don't want to do anything too drastic in case
I get an algae explosion. I would like some advice on how to revive the
tank in a controlled manner.

Brief tank history is that is a 140 litre, freshwater tropical tank.
Substrate is Aquagrit, lighting is via three Triton 48" fluorescent
tubes on for about ten hours per day, filtration is by two Fluval 2s,
one each end. The tank has been running for about 18 months and was
doing fine until a couple of months ago when growth stopped and plants
started looking rough.

The light bulbs are probably too old, having been there since the tank
was used before, so that could be one issue, although I'm not sure why
it would suddenly affect things.

If you look at http://fish.alansilver.co.uk/Mark2/ you will see more
details. The picture there is from last June. As you can see, it was
doing fine. The amazon sword on the right had exploded !! It's growth
was tremendous. I was fertilising with Tetra Flora Pride and
occasionally adding Flora Sticks under the main plants.

I had a DIY CO2 kit in there, but I took it out as it didn't seem to be
making much difference. In the good old days it helped, but when the
tank started its problems, I took it out.

I'm not sure if I've said too much or not enough. Please feel free to
ask any more questions if I've missed out anything. Any advice on how to
revive the tank would be appreciated.

Advice that is reasonably easy (due to lack of spare time) and
reasonably cheap (due to having spent loads setting up our new tank, see
http://fish.alansilver.co.uk/Mark3/ for details) would be appreciated.

TIA

--
Alan Silver
PSG Fish Tanks - http://fish.alansilver.co.uk/

Alan Silver wrote in message

The light bulbs are probably too old, having been there since the tank
was used before, so that could be one issue, although I'm not sure why
it would suddenly affect things.

I don't think so, Tritons are pretty good and have a very long life
span vs most bulbs(90% till they fail). You can swap one out for a
cool white cheapy bulb and see. A mix of these two bulb types looks
nice also.

I had a DIY CO2 kit in there, but I took it out as it didn't seem to be
making much difference. In the good old days it helped, but when the
tank started its problems, I took it out.

My bet is that your tank had enough macro nutrients and then after the
plant mass gfot so big, the plants removed all their source of
nutrients, basically the plants ate themselves out of house and home
after they got too big.
Swords are especially good at this since they are not pruned like stem
plants and kept at a relative constant biomass.
All the CO2 in thwe world will not make up for a lack of NO3,K+ or PO4
etc.

To fix: KNO3, traces, KH2PO4/Fleet enema and water changes(50% weekly)
will do a world of good. Add the DIY CO2 back.

A typical routine would be 50% weekly water change, prune trim first,
then do the water change. Refill tank, add 1/4 teaspoon of KNO3, one
to two drops of fleet enema(PO4), 7mls of trace afterwards and then
once more more 3-4 days later. Keep the CO2 up high.

Main thing to test: pH to make sure CO2 is good.
2x a week dosing of 3 things. Once a week water change.

That's not too bad.
If so, we can turn this into a non CO2 tank also.

Let me know if the above routine is too tough. It will not cost much,
KNO3/fleet enema/CO2 are very cheap and available in the UK. You have
enough light, Traces already etc.


Regards,
Tom Barr

In message ,
" writes
Alan Silver wrote in message

The light bulbs are probably too old, having been there since the tank
was used before, so that could be one issue, although I'm not sure why
it would suddenly affect things.

I don't think so, Tritons are pretty good and have a very long life
span vs most bulbs(90% till they fail). You can swap one out for a
cool white cheapy bulb and see. A mix of these two bulb types looks
nice also.

When you say fail, do you mean the actual bulb stops lighting up ? If
so, then these are doing pretty well as I've had them there for quite
some time and they still work.

I had a DIY CO2 kit in there, but I took it out as it didn't seem to be
making much difference. In the good old days it helped, but when the
tank started its problems, I took it out.

My bet is that your tank had enough macro nutrients and then after the
plant mass gfot so big, the plants removed all their source of
nutrients, basically the plants ate themselves out of house and home
after they got too big.
Swords are especially good at this since they are not pruned like stem
plants and kept at a relative constant biomass.
All the CO2 in thwe world will not make up for a lack of NO3,K+ or PO4
etc.

To fix: KNO3, traces, KH2PO4/Fleet enema and water changes(50% weekly)
will do a world of good. Add the DIY CO2 back.

OK, the CO2 and water changes are easy. For the fertiliser, do you
reckon that Flora Pride would do the trick ? I ask simply because I've
got some and it worked in the past. They say it contains "essential
nutrients and trace elements, such as iron and manganese, together with
macronutrients such as potassium" (quote from their web site). This
sounds like pretty much what you suggest, but in one premixed formula.

A typical routine would be 50% weekly water change, prune trim first,
then do the water change. Refill tank, add 1/4 teaspoon of KNO3, one
to two drops of fleet enema(PO4), 7mls of trace afterwards and then
once more more 3-4 days later. Keep the CO2 up high.

Main thing to test: pH to make sure CO2 is good.
2x a week dosing of 3 things. Once a week water change.

I actually do twice-weekly 10% water changes. Any problem with this ?

That's not too bad.
If so, we can turn this into a non CO2 tank also.

Depends. I don't mind using the CO2 if it's going to work. If leaving
out the CO2 is easy and a likely to work, then I'll consider that too.

Let me know if the above routine is too tough. It will not cost much,
KNO3/fleet enema/CO2 are very cheap and available in the UK. You have
enough light, Traces already etc.

Thanx very much for the reply. Any further help would be very much
appreciated.

By the way, I realised last night that I never actually said in my
original post what the problem was !! I am going to post a follow-up to
my original with some more details. Please have a look and see if it
gives and extra info. Thanx

Ta ra

--
Alan Silver
PSG Fish Tanks - http://fish.alansilver.co.uk/

In message , Alan Silver
writes
I have a planted tank that isn't doing so well anymore. This is partly
due to my lack of time on it and partly due to the way the wind has
been blowing, the alignment of Jupiter as opposed to my lunch
yesterday, etc.
rambling snipped

I realised last night that I never actually said what the problem is !!

The plants are still growing, albeit slowly, but a lot of the leaves are
raggedy at the ends. Old leaves suffer much more quickly than they used
to. I have a small amount of light green algae that grows on the glass,
but this is not much and comes off very easily with a pad. There is some
black algae growing in small clumps at the edges of many plants leaves
and some pinkish algae (I presume it is) amongst the Java moss (which is
still growing quite well).

Water is soft, neutral and well conditioned. Last time I checked,
ammonia and nitrites were zero and nitrates were about 12.5mg/l. I do
twice-weekly 10% water changes.

Hope this helps. TIA

--
Alan Silver
PSG Fish Tanks - http://fish.alansilver.co.uk/