Guppiesgonewild Posted February 10, 2022 Share Posted February 10, 2022 Hi there fellow fish keepers. I hope you all are having a wonderful 2022. This is my first post so be gentle. I have recently set up a new tank. I kept fish about ten years ago and am about 4 months back into the hobby. The following are a few details about my set up. Diy stand and canopy, 75 gallon tank that overflows into a 20 gallon sump (will probably upgrade to a 29), I run CO2 and have plant specific substrate. I think its fluval. Lighting is an LED shop light from Harbor freight. I also run a 1 micron filter with a carbon filter after that to help polish the water. The aquarium has mostly tetras of different types. Some Cory cats, otos, one pleco, ghost shrimp, cherry shrimp, and amano shrimp. There are also zebra Danios guppies and Molly's. A few snails. Ammonia is zero consistently, nitrite zero, and nitrates at around 20 ppm. Tank is kept at 78.5 F. CO2 is somewhere around 30. I have two questions. In the past I always used aquarium salt and this time around is no different. 1 heaping tablespoon for every 5 gallons. I have had good success with most of the plants I have put in the tank. However would I have better success with less salt? My second question is on algae. I have minimal issues with algae on the glass but recently developed a black hair algae that seems to be covering several plants. I make an effort to remove the algae by hand and have reduced lighting, double checked the co2 and have had minimal success. My goal for this tank is to have minimal maintenance including water changes. I currently do around 15% weekly and would like to get to less than that. Any suggestions on fish that would help with the hair algae? Or any other suggestions would be welcomed. Thanks in advance. A few pictures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lefty o Posted February 10, 2022 Share Posted February 10, 2022 (edited) some folks will go bananas and say you cant have any salt with plants. i dont agree with that, and i myself like a little salt in an aquarium. id maybe go 1 tablespoon per 10 gallons, but thats just me. as for the hair algae, you will probably want to cut down how many hours per day the light is on. Edited February 10, 2022 by lefty o Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mmiller2001 Posted February 10, 2022 Share Posted February 10, 2022 How are you measuring CO2? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mmiller2001 Posted February 10, 2022 Share Posted February 10, 2022 And although difficult to see, I see staghorn algae. This is usually caused by an immature bio filter allowing some ammonia that staghorn can take advantage of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guppiesgonewild Posted February 10, 2022 Author Share Posted February 10, 2022 On 2/10/2022 at 8:20 AM, lefty o said: some folks will go bananas and say you cant have any salt with plants. i dont agree with that, and i myself like a little salt in an aquarium. id maybe go 1 tablespoon per 10 gallons, but thats just me. as for the hair algae, you will probably want to cut down how many hours per day the light is on. Thanks for the reply Lefty O. How many hours of light would you recommend? Would you start the CO2 before the lights come on? If so how long before? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lefty o Posted February 10, 2022 Share Posted February 10, 2022 playing with co2 is outside my wheelhouse, but in the ballpark of 6-7 hrs of light a day is plenty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guppiesgonewild Posted February 10, 2022 Author Share Posted February 10, 2022 On 2/10/2022 at 8:32 AM, Mmiller2001 said: And although difficult to see, I see staghorn algae. This is usually caused by an immature bio filter allowing some ammonia that staghorn can take advantage of. Thanks for the reply Mmiller2001. I have a drop checker in the aquarium. I also measure the kH and pH of the aquarium water and reference a chart. The filter is probably still immature. I am using eheim bio media. I am not familiar with staghorn algae but will do some research. When I get home this evening I will post some pictures of the different algae in the tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guppiesgonewild Posted February 10, 2022 Author Share Posted February 10, 2022 After looking at some photos of staghorn algae. Staghorn is the correct algae in my tank. Not hair algae. There is some hair algae but it is not nearly as prevalent. I did some reading and there are several articles about treating staghorn with liquid carbon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mmiller2001 Posted February 10, 2022 Share Posted February 10, 2022 On 2/10/2022 at 9:34 AM, Guppiesgonewild said: Thanks for the reply Mmiller2001. I have a drop checker in the aquarium. I also measure the kH and pH of the aquarium water and reference a chart. The filter is probably still immature. I am using eheim bio media. I am not familiar with staghorn algae but will do some research. When I get home this evening I will post some pictures of the different algae in the tank. What is your pH and KH? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guppiesgonewild Posted February 10, 2022 Author Share Posted February 10, 2022 On 2/10/2022 at 10:18 AM, Mmiller2001 said: What is your pH and KH? pH is around 7.1 to 7.2. kH is 13. This was the last time I checked it and it was in the evening after work. Maybe this weekend I will check again morning before CO2 and then throughout the day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mmiller2001 Posted February 10, 2022 Share Posted February 10, 2022 On 2/10/2022 at 10:39 AM, Guppiesgonewild said: pH is around 7.1 to 7.2. kH is 13. This was the last time I checked it and it was in the evening after work. Maybe this weekend I will check again morning before CO2 and then throughout the day. If that is the pH under CO2, you are low on CO2. You have to account for nitrification adding additional acids into the tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guppiesgonewild Posted February 10, 2022 Author Share Posted February 10, 2022 On 2/10/2022 at 11:36 AM, Mmiller2001 said: If that is the pH under CO2, you are low on CO2. You have to account for nitrification adding additional acids into the tank. That's a good point I never thought of that. What would be a decent baseline for the acid contribution from nitrification in your opinion? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mmiller2001 Posted February 10, 2022 Share Posted February 10, 2022 (edited) If I was using this chart. I'd want to push the pH to 6.8 or 6.9. A better way to measure CO2 levels is to take a sample of water from the tank and set it out for 24 to 48 hours. Then you measure the pH, that is your degassed pH. Then, when your tank is under CO2 injection, for at least 2 hours, take another pH. That is your gassed pH. You are looking for a one to 1.5 pH drop. That will put you right around 30 parts per million CO2. Edited February 10, 2022 by Mmiller2001 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guppiesgonewild Posted February 10, 2022 Author Share Posted February 10, 2022 On 2/10/2022 at 12:51 PM, Mmiller2001 said: If I was using this chart. I'd want to push the pH to 6.8 or 6.9. A better way to measure CO2 levels is to take a sample of water from the tank and set it out for 24 to 48 hours. Then you measure the pH, that is your degassed pH. Then, when your tank is under CO2 injection, for at least 2 hours, take another pH. That is your gassed pH. You are looking for a one to 1.5 pH drop. That will put you right around 30 parts per million CO2. Awesome. Thanks for the info. I will pull some water tonight for a baseline and see where I am at. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guppiesgonewild Posted February 11, 2022 Author Share Posted February 11, 2022 I took some additional photos of my issue. Also I have taken some water from the tank to de-gas. And sorry for the quality. I do not have the skills when it comes to taking pictures as many of you do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guppiesgonewild Posted February 12, 2022 Author Share Posted February 12, 2022 I had a chance to check the pH of de-gased water vs water from the aquarium with CO2. 7.6 vs 6.8. Attached is the tube side by side. Also this is my filtration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mmiller2001 Posted February 12, 2022 Share Posted February 12, 2022 There's a lot of room to push higher there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guppiesgonewild Posted February 18, 2022 Author Share Posted February 18, 2022 Folks just wanted to say thanks for all the advice and feedback. I am happy to say the algae issue has been resolved. I have bumped up my CO2 a bit and am dosing with liquid carbon. The plants have really taken off as a result. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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