Re: Aquatic Plants Digest V6 #2

[" Thomas Barr"<tcbiii at earthlink_net>]

Subject: PMDD and more

Deigo wrote:

"I monitor the PH, tap water is 7-7.2, currently the aquarium has a PH
aprox 6.6-6.8 so i slow down a bit the little the CO2 injection
because it seems a lot, but who knows i have no clue about the
hardness. It is pearling but not much, but some plants seem happy, so
i guess it is an improvement. It does not look like champagne but the
leaves get a lot of bubbles a some get that constant flow of really
small bubbles (very nice). The champagne efect did happen especially
when the yeast CO2 had a fresh batch."

There you go then. I was correct.
At that pH of the tap, plus the eeffects imedditely after a water change, plus
the effect of the DIY fresh change, you need to keep up on the CO2, you simply
do not have enough.

Another indicator was the small new growth.
I'd shoot for a pH of 6.3-6.5. I think your KH is about 2-3 which is good.

"I guess since there are a lot of plants i will have to begin
experimenting, now i can take of the list co2, since trace elements
shouldnīt be the problem, then i will have to find out what i am
missing N or P."

Well once we figured the CO2, which I'm pretty condifent with the above
analysis, your N/P traces etc can be regulated easily through weekly water
changes.

"Long  term  build up, that thought didnīt cross my mind, I was leaving
it   24/7   so   i   guess   i  will  connect  the  OTTO  co2  reactor
(powerhead+thing that goes round and round) to the timer that controls
the lights."

This tells me you are far under the needed CO2 levels also. 

"That is why i began to see the need to complete the N-P-K equation,
and a small aquarium is easier to work with, if it looks ugly is
doesnīt matter people always see the big one. Once i put a big
table of house fertilizer 46-0-0, the plants turned greener and the
ammonia test turned off the scale. Fortunately there were no fish. And
the only algae that appear is one that is a large filament with small
green things that look like leaves, but nothing else. The ammonia
disappear later but everything is pretty much the same, nothing grows.
So this is a nice laboratory to experiment."

It's a great idea to use a small experimental tank.
It'll teach you a lot without too much fear.

"Yes, yesterday i tried some chemical suppliers but they were all
closed, everybody is having fun, drinking, eating, dancing,
etc, etc, etc. So i will have to wait. :("

Till you sober up?:-)

"I recently bought small bottle ($100), valve and co2 reactor 100
aprox. That was maybe three days ago. Not a good valve it shows the
pressure of the bottle, small bottle, donīt know the lbs, i had a hard
time ajusting the flow, but it works."

Give it a try.
Is it metric fittings or standard US fittings(1/2" vs 1 cm etc)?

"I have a chinese algae eater, but i had algae the first month in the
big thank but as the vallisnera and the water sprite began to take
over the tank everything disappeared, latter i added more fish and now
i have been seeing a litte green spot algae, so there is a little
excess of something."

Or _lack_ of something.

"Well i donīt know Hydraplanta, most of the stuff i find is in english.
But what is Hydraplanta, a magazine or a web site?"
I think it's Italian but there's some Spanish based sites that are very good.
I'm trying to recall but cannot think of them at the moment.

Thanks for all the info. :)
Diego Carmona

Regards, 
Thomas en El Campo