Lessons learned are lessons well deserved

[pavlos]

I am sure I learn more from my mistakes than my success and this is an example that might interest some of you.
To make a long story long my big tank 1oo gal 4.1 w/gal after a long summer vacation when I came back it was a bit of a mess (no plants dead but lots of green hair algae 25 harlequins, 10 otos dead).
There are previous descriptions of this tank in the board (all are automated, dosing etc).

Mistakes during vacation of August (some were there for some time before but not much):
1) Electricity cut off, and timer on Air condition reset, temperature increased fast in room.
2) Mistake on iron gluconate mixture ratios before I left adding 10 times what tsunami recommends (which was aswell my “assumed” but not real addition) was added daily (blush).
3) NO3 was administered to half the prescribed dosage of about 2 ppm daily I have estimated to be needed (another mistake in calculation) ( i mala*$^ mou paei sinefo)
4) Micron mechanical filters on lifeguard were completely blocked and even complete emersion in water with lots of bleach overnight would increase the flow only for a few days so flow in the aquarium was low. (still CO2 was defused completely all the time (120 bubbles / min)).


Counter measures after return:
Ferts were adjusted but under the assumption that I hade the right mixtures which was not the case so iron was way high still NO3 really down.
K was ok all the time measurements were ok initially same goes for PO4
So the tank was stunted all the time even after all the above in the counter measures section.
Did major cleaning water changes lots of times eventually decreased light to 2,8 w /gal (I will still go back to 4.1 w/gal in while I am a bad boy ).
As of today all this problems are adjusted and proper dosing has commenced
Aquarium hasn’t completely recovered yet now.

And now the good part a talk with Tsunami gnaster and some other Top heads on the field (it was my lucky day) in the chat room of aquatic plant central.

<freemann>so tsunami shall I slow the big tank down lets say 2 150 MH instead of 3?
<tsunami> that'll give you 3 wpg for 100 gal PLENTY, sounds good
<freemann> what of the inert fluorite? I am pretty sure this gravel adds nothing; I could turn on the heating cable again.
<freemann> all mayaca tops are white
<tsunami> if the mayca is white
<tsunami> it isn't getting enough iron
<tsunami> I don't know why you have 4.5wpg over a 100g
<tsunami> that is way too much
<tsunami> if you look at Amano's tanks, his 100gs usually have between 2-3
<freemann> 2,5 ml iron flourish daily
<freemann> I know
<tsunami> only 2.5mL???
<freemann> you reckon more
<freemann> ??
<tsunami> is that all you are adding?
<freemann> yes
<tsunami> as far as traces?
<freemann> 5 ml flourish every other day
<tsunami> you are starving your plants of traces
<tsunami> ok, so you are adding the nitrate to keep 10ppm
<tsunami> and phosphate for 2 ppm?
<freemann> phosphates are 1
<tsunami> try adding 10 mL Flourish 5x a week
<tsunami> then lower your lighting
<freemann> I will keep it 3w
<tsunami> at least try 5mL flourish daily for 3 w/gal
<tsunami> 35mL
<tsunami> you need more iron/traces
<tsunami> you are starving your plants
<tsunami> you don't have enough traces in your aquarium until the tips of the mayaca turn light green rule of thumb from claus christensen of tropica
<tsunami> I used to add 15-20mL of traces to my 20g/76L daily
<freemann> NO3?
<freemann> K?
<tsunami> make sure that much that you have a 10ppm reading on your tests all the time
<tsunami> PO4: 2ppm reading on your tests all the time
<budak> so much PO4?
<tsunami> yes, to get those short internodes and bright colors lots of PO4
<freemann> good go on
<tsunami> K: 10ppm what you want to maintain by the weekly dosing...
<DorianG> with that much light, you need A LOT of PO4 freeman
<freemann> that much light is 4 or 3 (I reckon he meant 3 w/gal)
<tsunami> 20ppm NO3 weekly you must add
<tsunami> 5ppm 4x a week flourish (he says again)
<DorianG> and the tank in your webdirectory is lacking in plants
<tsunami> [/b]2-3ppm PO4 weekly you must add
<DorianG> looks too sparsely planted for that much light
<freemann> K 10 ppm weekly?
<tsunami> haha, budak's weird face
<tsunami> that's what you get when you put 4.5wpg over a big tank
<tsunami> just ask gnatster
<freemann> I know
<freemann> not enough plants
<gnatster> ask me what?
<tsunami> how much you dose your 120g
<tsunami> how much po4, no3, traces per week
<freemann> perfect
<freemann> go on
<gnatster> a lot!
<gnatster> well not so much right now as I cut down the plant load a ton
<gnatster> but I was dosing 20ml of a KNO3 stock sol daily<budak> do you all dose equilibrium too?
<gnatster> yeah I use that in my RO water
<gnatster> 45g in 30 gal
<freemann> so do you use RO with equilibrium?
<gnatster> yes
<freemann> 20ml of a KNO3 stock sol daily
<freemann> what that means?
<freemann> 20 ppm NO3 and what comes out in K?
<tsunami> hmm, what plants for an 8 gal
<gnatster> lets see, the stock sol is 250ml H2O and 183g KNO3
<gnatster> 12.4 ppm
<gnatster> when the tank was full of plants it would eat that much every day

Lessons
1) Always double and triple check your fertiliser preparations ratio calculatio when they are custom made.
2) Use expensive Tests the ones in the market tend to be crap or you are always unsure which is righ AP or sera that saw 10 ppm diferent reading on NO3 on the same water. Lamott is fine.
3) Make sure the people you live behind when away for long to take care of your tank are responsible enough, mine were, leave good instructions.
4) When it is not iron that makes your leaves yellow it is traces.

Major surprise for me is the realization (actually for sometime now) of the big amount of traces, iron they add.

And the story goes on, will keep you posted if you are interested ....

[pavlos]

For the tsunami details on dosing check this:
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/f...238&highlight=