I don't see any problem with continuous CO2 injection even when the lights are off. The only bad thing is wasting CO2 gas. If you worried CO2 fluctuating, that's why it is always recommended to turn on CO2 one to two hours before lights.

What is the water temperature? Unless I go filterless, temp is a problem to me.

I agree with them. Just go for soil. There's no need for the power sand. Down there at the bottom, there's not much oxygen for the bacteria to survive, unless it is denitrifying bacteria. I don't see any benefit at all. Also we don't need denitrifying media in planted tank anyway. Plants take ammonia (through root) or nitrate for nitrogen source. But plants do benefit from H2S that is created by anaerobic bacteria. So there's that. You can achieve this with soil alone. No need special & expensive sand. With 3 inch deep, you can get layer of aerobic & anaerobic area.

This post has been edited by kizwan: Jun 1 2021, 01:17 PM

Maybe at outdoor, even exposed to the heat, water temperature did not rise too much. I had a bucket with hydrilla & water lettuce, outdoor, it doesn't matter when, the water never feels warm. While indoor, water can easily go up above 30C when it is a hot day. I'm using fans now to keep water temperature from going over 30C. I get red algae on my plants, including java fern when temp spiked a couple of months ago.

That is why I like to use fine gravel than sand. Easier to vacuum & clean IMO. Did you use the turkey baster or similar when vacuuming? I use dropper, tied on the syphon tube. Very handy when vacuuming all the detritus trapped under the soil.

Just follow the recommended dosage. I have bombarded my tank with ferts. The worst thing happened to me is frequent trimming. You probably have high plant mass in your non-CO2 injection tank. So you should be fine using the recommended dosage on the bottle. Algae bloom occur when there is imbalanced of nutrients; between CO2, light & ferts.

You can follow the schedule that you can find online like the one from Seachem to schedule your micro & macro ferts. If you're using All-in-One fert like 12hr APT fert, you don't need to pump different kind of fert everyday.

Why do you changed to APT? Did you not satisfied with JBL & Fluval or you just want to try different fert? I'm using Flourish for micro from the beginning. 500ml really last long though. Aquaforest AF Macro for macro but it only lasted 3 months & I have gone through two bottles. I just got dry fert for phosphate, KH2PO4 & already started using it last week. I just realized it is not enough for potassium. I may get potassium chloride or potassium sulfate for potassium.

Sometime we don't know we're lacking something even though we dose everything. Sometime something in the soil absorb nutrients such as phosphate or nitrate or any minerals which cause nutrient imbalance which in turn cause algae bloom.

I had stubborn cyno in one of my tank. I ended up adding fine sand on top of the existing soil about a little over one inch because I don't want to scoop all the soil out. It killed cyno completely & after 3 months, I removed the fine sand & re-plant. The cyno & BBA have absorb a lot of nutrients from the soil. My plant growth slow down & need to add ferts.

This post has been edited by kizwan: Jun 6 2021, 04:01 PM

Same here, I'm struggling as well. I have been reading Tom Barr's old posts to get a hang on it. I'm still struggling with my first tank. The plants growing but not doing well. I have reboot this tank recently but my dumbass (me) think it is good idea to stop fertilizer for two weeks. The plants was growing well. Now the plants look horrible. I need to buy iron fert, potassium sulfate & magnesium sulfate because I think water is too soft. Iron is for making the plant stronger, not for the water. Tank is filterless. Ammonia 0 ppm & nitrate between 10 to 20 ppm.

My 2nd tank pretty much stable but growth slow down. I think BGA bloom that I had in the tank for much of 2020, may have depleted the nutrient in the soil. The plants overall are healthy except java fern leaves are curling - the tip of the leaves point downward. I'm trying not to kill another java fern. Water temperature doesn't go beyond 30C because I have fans to cool the water down. This is "dirted" tank with internal filter. Ammonia 0 ppm & nitrate is 40 ppm. The sole reason I got KH2PO4 is to increase phosphate in this tank to bring down the nitrate. This is the tank I bombarded with macro before because it is showing phosphate deficiency. Iron is low too. The plants in the tank doesn't show deficiency but when I put hydrilla/anacharis, the new leaves show Iron deficiency. Maybe few bacopa caroliniana showing phosphate or Iron deficiency but I can't really tell. I already replaced the unhealthy with healthy plants. The healthy plants took off very well. Right now I'm dosing KH2PO4 everyday to help plant growth & bringing down the nitrate. Flourish is 3 times a week.

Both of my tanks have experienced algae bloom before dosing fertilizer. The only algae bloom that I got after dosing fertilizer is green water in first tank. That time I just started dosing Flourish & Nitrogen (thought it was low in nitrate).

This post has been edited by kizwan: Jun 9 2021, 07:32 PM

1. "ADA Power Sand contains both slow-release organic nutrients which are decomposed by bacteria into a form absorbable by aquatic plants and fast-release inorganic nutrients that are directly absorbed by aquatic plants to provide nutrients to aquatic plants effectively."

It is unnecessary because with soil alone can provide necessary nutrients that your plants need. You can go with cheaper alternatives like root tabs or osmocote.

For proven root tabs, I think better go with branded like seachem, ADA, etc. I use this one no brand:-
https://shopee.com.my/product/40247096/2630...69-1623725970.9

I honestly don't see any difference with the stem plants that I have. Cryptocoryne wendtii red seems to like it, grow a lot healthier. I think heavy root feeder plants benefit a lot from root tabs like cryptocoryne, hairgrass, monte carlo, etc. I think stem plants prefer foliar than root when come to fertilizer.

I think I read somewhere some nutrients like iron depleted very quickly. ADA may last 1++ year. I know ISTA Premium Soil depleted less than a year. Maybe around 6 months with noticeable phosphorus deficiency. The compost organic soil that I use depleted some of the nutrients after 6 months but this most likely because of prolonged BBA & BGA blooming.

This post has been edited by kizwan: Jun 15 2021, 11:23 AM

Many people use Fluval stratum. Seems like less than ISTA Premium Soil & ADA. Anyway, should not matter if we dose ferts, with half doses in the beginning then increase to full dose, then increase again when plant mass increases. Even I failed doing this. Haha

Diatom most likely. That's normal. It will gone or reduced once tank stabilize.

This post has been edited by kizwan: Jun 17 2021, 12:46 PM

If for combating algae, if I'm not mistaken slightly more than dosage recommended on the bottle.

I just started experimenting with Hydrogen Peroxide 6%. For H2O2 3%, they said do not exceed 3ml per gallon, so for 6% I take it 1.5ml per gallon max. I dose slightly lower which is approx 18ml for 15 gallons. Going to do this 3-4 days. I have red algae (BBA but without the beard) in my tank.

I'm not really sure. I think when using in higher dosage, it become algaecide. Same thing with copper sulfate.

Yeah, sure. Increasing CO2 injection, nutrients uptake also more efficient & this lead to better plant growth.
EDIT: Just in case I misunderstood you, I actually meant CO2 gas injection, either using pressurized CO2 tank or DIY CO2. CO2 only become liquid under sufficient high atmospheric pressure. So there is no liquid CO2. The product over the counter that labeled as liquid CO2 is misrepresented to say it nicely. It is actually liquid carbon or contain chemical that its byproduct is carbon.

BTW, I dose 18ml of H2O2 6% in 15 gallons tank for two days straight. I changed water last night, two days late, usually I do this on Sunday. I want to clean the glass because I noticed GSA a couple of days ago but last night it's gone. The glass clean. How about that. I have 5 silver flying fox, 3 corydoras & 1 Thailand ghost shrimp, all are alright. I'm out of H2O2 right now, cannot continue spot treatment for red algae.

This post has been edited by kizwan: Jun 22 2021, 03:28 PM

H2O2 will kill snails. So make sure to take out your snails before dosing H2O2.

50% is a lot, yeah make sure to delute it properly. I use 6%, I just devude the dosage by 2. With 3%, some people adviced not to exceed 3 ml per gallon of water.

Definitely will kill beneficial bacteria. I can just hope most of the H2O2 reacted with all of the algae that what left of H2O2 is low enough to spare most of the microorganisms. The remaining H2O2 will break up to O2 & water a couple of hours later.

Mosses most vulnerable but a couple of video on YouTube where some people successfully medicated their moss with H2O2. I think it depends on the amount of algae on the moss & also the amount of H2O2 you use. These are two videos before & after when using H202 on moss.





This post has been edited by kizwan: Jun 23 2021, 12:31 PM

Anyone have any idea why leaves on Ludwigia look like this? I have tried increase potassium & phosphate but no improvement. Nitrate is high around 10-20 ppm. Right now started dosing more iron since last week.




I have read some people put inline diffuser on inlet pipe without any problem. I don't know if there is any negative effect especially on the beneficial bacteria in the filter. Well, beneficial bacteria in the soil should able to handle your tank if anything happen.

Use proper cabinet or table or rack that are designed for aquarium, that not easily tip over or failed under weight.

Spiking Iron challenge! 😁

I donno what that is but small creatures have come to my planted aquarium as well.

BTW, I actually have fixed this problem before but I posted here anyway in case some of you have experienced similar problem. I fixed it by resetting the tank. The problem is in the soil. Actually the soil itself. The soil is in reduced condition. This is what Tom Barr called it. Basically the soil is anaerobic, which means any aerobic bacteria including organic carbon eating bacteria unable to live in the soil. Organic matter like dead root for example is increasing day by day but there's no bacteria to deal with them. So it is progressively getting bad. The only reason the plants still alive because of the liquid fertilizer. This is second time this happened to me with the same soil in the same tank. Looks like I will need to replace the soil altogether.

Almost or already 2 years I think.