Benvilles' Roma 240

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fr499y
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Stick a bit of sponge on the end or if you have any dowels floating around, file one down and stick it in the end :D
Benville
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That worked a treat @fr499y, thank you, cable tied a bit of filter pad on the end and it's done nicely.

Next query! :D I am now about 10 days into EI dosing (possibly just coincidence) but I am seeing the first strands of hair algae creeping in. I'm not panicking as I have two siamese algae eats, many shrimp, otos and bristlenose so all manner of algae munchers, but I'm wondering why it's just started.

I am seeing conflicting info online, some saying I should dose more EI, some saying cut the dosing. I am not running CO2 of any kind at present. Lights are on a 7 hour timer. Dosing 10ml a day of macro and micro with a rest day Sunday and 50% change.

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Last edited by Benville on Mon Jun 07, 2021 23:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Benville
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The fun keeps coming now, feel like I'm playing wackamole! :D

Went in with the tweezers to pull out some of the hair algae growths and the smell hit me, water was definitely not right. Did another batch of tests and Ammonia is at 0.25, so something is dead in there. How on earth do you find a tiny fish corpse in a heavily planted tank?!

Phosphate also at 0.5, but I have no idea if that's good or bad as it's been ages since I tested that one.

EDIT - so, figured there was no way to check for a corpse than to just get in. Rolled up sleeves, washed arms (no soap) and had a careful probe around, gently lifting plants and wood and ornaments bit by bit. I cannot find anything dead, anywhere. My first assumption was Otos, as they just seem a doomed fish (and there's been 5 in total over the last two donations). Able to locate 4 in the tank swimming, but then there are so many places to hide, but also can't find any corpses (of any kind). I can't be doing a water change at this time of night so I've dosed some extra Safe for the night and am going to have to try and do it before I go to work in the morning.
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Stephen
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A small amount of phosphates is good for plants
The trouble with fertiliser dosing is getting the balance right.
Too much and there is excess fertiliser for the plants and therefore algae will take up the excess.
Too little and the plants will show signs of deficiency.
I would cut back on the amount you are dosing (say 70%) and see if things improve over the next few weeks.
So if you're dosing 10ml a day then dose 7ml a day.

One of the nutrients is nitrate; nitrate is the end process of the nitrogen cycle ammonia>nitrite>nitrate, so if adding additional nitrate through the EI dosing then there may be too much.
The plant uptake of nutrients also depends on the amount of light, more/better light then there is normally an increase of nutrient uptake by the plants (less for the algae).
It's about getting balance right, lighting + fertiliser + CO2.
I only have a low-tech system and only dose about 30% (probably less) of the recommended fertiliser dosage.

All the best
425L SeaBray Elite aquarium - Rio Mamoré (Bolivia) theme
4 x Cupid Cichlids, 14 x Cory caudimaculatus, 13 x Cory sterbai 52 x Reed Tetra, 4 x Honeycomb Bristlenose (L519)

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Benville
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Thank you Stephen for the advice on the dosing.

The ferts I am using say for a CO2 injected system I should be doing 48ml daily. I found a guide that suggested 20% for low tech ad a starting point which is where I got 10ml from. I will try dropping to 7ml and see how that goes for a week or two.

My lights are only the default LED strip that came with the Roma 240L, so nothing fancy. I just checked my Alexa timers and they are actually on for 10 hours already, 1pm to 11pm.
Benville
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Just got home, ammonia at 0.5 now. Water changes here we come.
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AQAdvisor puts my filtration capacity at 277%, so my FX4 really shouldn't be struggling. I can't for the life of me find anything dead in there though, just been digging around again. The tank itself is a bit overstocked for it's physical size but the filtration should be more than adequate.

EDIT - despite being plenty on filtration, it is recommending bigger water changes at ~70% (I've been doing 40-50%), so time to try that and see how it goes.
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fr499y
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What filter media are you running?
Benville
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Whatever came stock in the FX4, which I believe is two trays of ceramic o rings and a load of coarse sponge around the outer edges. Last cleaned (in tank water) about 6 weeks ago.

I've just changed out around 160L of water, still showing 0.25 Ammonia, so going to do another hundred or so now I guess.
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I've just beed researching online based on your question and it looks like the FXs have plenty of space for more, so I dug out an old EF1000 I had in the garage. It has two trays of ceramics and a tray of plastic bio balls.

This weekend I'll give them a good clean, then pull out the FX4 and top up the media trays and see if that helps. In the meanwhile I'll just keep monitoring the water and do daily changes if needed.
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