Plursa Posted August 2 Author Share Posted August 2 Pepere, the KH and GH in the pre-softened water are off the charts, the KH and GH in the tank are about 100. I sometimes top off with bottled filtered water. Comradovich, the brown film is on the plants everywhere, not just near the air stones and bubbles. It's a smooth film, not raised. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepere Posted August 2 Share Posted August 2 I would be inclined to do some significant cleaning of the tank to manually remove algae. I would get a turkey baster and a gravel vac to go over the substrate puffing water into see if it sends up clouds of algae and detritus and hoovering up the clouds with the gravel vac. Also clean out your filters at the same time. You can use the softened water, maybe supplementing with some distilled or reverse osmosis water or rain water or water from a dehumidifier in order to dilute the sodium levels. The higher the source waters gh and kh, the more sodium will be in the softened water. Since you were having more success earlier, it would argue the softened water is not a significant issue in and of itself, but sodium levels may have increased over time and nitrate levels are getting a bit high. Doing this cleaning and water changes will reduce the nitrate levels and remove waste organics from the tank. Just using “bottled water” doesnt mean it is low in gh, kh and or sodium.. it could be bottled from a weel with loads of minerals. Topping off should be very soft water, which would be RO, distilled, rain, or condensate from a dehumidifier… once you have this done and you have reduced tank nitrate levels, you might want to consider increasing your fertilization at least initially. Maybe a double dose of easy green to increase the potassium and iron levels in the tank. Java fern and Anubias like potassium and deficiencies of iron or nitrate can first appear as yellowing leaves. Giving a bit more and seeing how plants respond can be a good thing. Changes are typically seen in new growth…. Then work at keeping things stable, continuing to remove visible algae and giving the tank 4-6 weeks of stability to see if things are improving.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepere Posted August 2 Share Posted August 2 I struggled with all sorts of algae and flailed about trying to find the knife edge balance between “light and nutrients” to no effect… I had the best results in freeing my tanks from visible algae from reading, studying and incorporating practices I read about in the 2 hr aquarist… https://www.2hraquarist.com/blogs/algae-control/how-to-control-diatoms https://www.2hraquarist.com/blogs/algae-control/how-do-you-control-algae-naturally these two pages would be a good place to start studying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepere Posted August 2 Share Posted August 2 In my estimation the following quote from the 2 hr aquarist sums it up best. It is the money quote for me. ”Plants that are growing robustly produce an array of anti-microbial chemicals; various alkaloids, terpenes, phenolics, as a defence against pathogens and microbes. Plants will prioritize defending the valuable new leaves first, as these newest leaves are optimized and adapted to the current environment and contribute the most. Leaves have limited plasticity, so older leaves have limited ability to be adapted to new environments. Parallel to this, the plant may draw reserve energy and nutrients from older leaves to fund the growth of new leaves. The bigger the change in environment, the more we see this in play. As the plant abandon defending the older leaves, metabolites leak from the leaf margins and attract algae to spawn. While the exact mechanism of plant defences and algae triggers can be complicated, the useful observation is this: Old or unhealthy leaves attract algae, while robustly grown, fresh new leaves are algae resistant. While hobbyists have been obsessed with correlating particular nutrients or parameters with algae growth, the far more common trigger for algae in most tanks is unhealthy/old leaves which plants have given up defending. Plants sacrifice old growth when they are under adaptation stress or not getting their needs fulfilled.” 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plursa Posted August 2 Author Share Posted August 2 Thanks, I'll try that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepere Posted August 2 Share Posted August 2 A good use of a minute and a half of your time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoeQ Posted August 2 Share Posted August 2 https://www.2hraquarist.com/blogs/algae-control/how-to-control-diatoms Im not sure if it mentions it in the article but also consider adding filter floss to your filter. Im not sure if it specifically catches diatoms, but I do know it catches free floating 'spores' which I like to call "pre algae" just looking for a vulnerable leaf to feed off of. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Plursa Posted August 3 Author Share Posted August 3 Thanks everyone! Lots of great info! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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