bubbles?

[sergo]

ok when looking up from the bottom of the tank to light i can see what looks like thousands of bubbles. now these are not the same size bubbles like plants make when they are "pearling", these are much smaller. they kind of make the water appear slightly cloudy when looking up from the bottom towards the light. when looking down from the top the water is clear. over the last 3 to 4 weeks there seem to be more. my water conditions are too good as i have 2ppm phosphate and 0ppm nitrate (i have never had any for some reason) and have very little algae in the tank. comments, guesses, ideas?

[Chrona]

ok when looking up from the bottom of the tank to light i can see what looks like thousands of bubbles. now these are not the same size bubbles like plants make when they are "pearling", these are much smaller. they kind of make the water appear slightly cloudy when looking up from the bottom towards the light. when looking down from the top the water is clear. over the last couple of 3 to 4 weeks there seem to be more. my water conditions are too good as i have 2ppm phosphate and 0ppm nitrate and have very little algae in the tank. comments, guesses, ideas?

Well first off, you need to get your hands on some KNO3 (either from greg watson or from a local hardware store in the form of stump remover) and get your nitrate levels up. It looks like your plants ate up all the nitrate, and they will show stunted growth as it is one of the most important nutrients. Try to aim for 5-10 ppm. You can also try feeding the fish more, but that's not really the best solution ;)

As for the bubbles, are they in the water column? Where are they coming from? Are you sure they are bubbles and not just little bits of dust/dirt?

[Chrona]

Actually, how much light do you have on the tank? DIY CO2? The test kit may be bad.

[sergo]

i swear they look like tiny bubbles but it could be dust or debris. i can't really tell it's too difficult. my lfs did tell me that water conditions are low but do fertilize with flourish once a week to week and a half. is that not good enough?

[Chrona]

i swear they look like tiny bubbles but it could be dust or debris. i can't really tell it's too difficult. my lfs did tell me that water conditions are low but do fertilize with flourish once a week to week and a half. is that not good enough?

Flourish is a supplement or micronutrients. NPK is a macronutrient. I believe someone on another forum put it best when he said that Flourish is like vitamin pills, and N (nitrate), P (phosphate), and K (potassium) are like cheeseburgers. In relatively low light, non CO2 tanks (where growth is slow), the fish waste can usually keep up with the nitrate needs of the plants, but as you increase lighting and add CO2, the uptake of the plants exceeds the fish waste output so you end up with 0 nitrates. How much lighting do you have on that tank and do you have CO2 rig?

[sergo]

Actually, how much light do you have on the tank? DIY CO2? The test kit may be bad.light is 30w. no co2 yet but looking into a diy setup possibily this weekend. i have thought that the test may be bad but i can't remember if i had any nitrates show up when cycling but i did have most of my plants in there when cycling. i am however running my 305 with 3 slots filled with filter pads for my whisper 60. maybe those pads just don't filter out the very fine particles. i may look into getting something better to put in there.

[Chrona]

light is 30w. no co2 yet but looking into a diy setup possibily this weekend. i have thought that the test may be bad but i can't remember if i had any nitrates show up when cycling but i did have most of my plants in there when cycling. i am however running my 305 with 3 slots filled with filter pads for my whisper 60. maybe those pads just don't filter out the very fine particles. i may look into getting something better to put in there.

Yeah, I would say the test kit is bad then. I don't know much about fluvals, but you probably need one of those micron pads to polish the water. Or use a water clarifer that clumps particles.

[sergo]

did you see the pics of my tank? do you think that's enough plants to deplete all of the nitrates and phosphates? my apogenton bon. and anacharis grow fairly fast. the others not so.

[Chrona]

did you see the pics of my tank?

I think I did last night....did it have 2 plant plants on either side? Can you link me? My memory is foggy after 3 hours of sleep + 3 red bulls -.-

And no, I don't think you can deplete the nitrates with only 30 watts and no CO2, given a decent number of fish. Heck, I can't even deplete my nitrates with CO2 + 2.8 watts/g, but then again, my tank is fairly overstocked.

[sergo]

I think I did last night....did it have 2 plant plants on either side? Can you link me? My memory is foggy after 3 hours of sleep + 3 red bulls -.-

And no, I don't think even a tank full of java moss can deplete the nitrates with only 30 watts and no CO2it's in this section titled sergos tank.
i have 3 java ferns, 2 java lace, 3 banana plants, lots of anacharis and 2 apon. bon. bulbs (very visible in each corner). the pic really sucks and you can't see any details. i'm going home for lunch so i'll try to get a good pic up.

[Chrona]

How fast does the anacharis grow? They are known to be nutrient suckers. Still though, I would say I'm 80% sure it's the test kit. Does your LFS do water testing? I'd get a second opinion on nitrate levels. Also, while you are there, make sure to test your tap water nitrates.

[sergo]

i'll take sample to them this weekend for testing. sorry no pix, damn dead batteries in camera.
good idea on testing the tap. i've never test the tap for nitrates. you think there should be some in it? i'm gonna do it after i eat. stomach has priority right now.

[Chrona]

I don't know whether or not your tap water has nitrates (mine does), but it should provide some insight on what's going on.

[sergo]

oh and my anacharis i'd say grows at a moderate rate. but in spurts it seems at times.

[Chrona]

oh and my anacharis i'd say grows at a moderate rate. but in spurts it seems at times.

Spurts usually after you do a water change?

[sergo]

no i use ro water so there's nothing in it. more like after i put in som ferts or when i go 10-14 days between water changes.
testing the tap right now.

[Chrona]

no i use ro water so there's nothing in it. more like after i put in som ferts or when i go 10-14 days between water changes.
testing the tap right now.

Do you use any kind of remineralization product after RO'ing the water? Or mix half of it with half tap water? It sounds like you are stripping the water of some neccesary minerals for plants growth. You can just mix half the RO water with half tap or get a product like Seachem's Equilibrium, which replenishes the minerals you want, as well as adding in some buffering ability.

Also, if it's pure RO water, make sure to add 1 teaspoon of baking soda per 10 gallons of water, or else your pH will drop by ALOT with CO2 injection.

[sergo]

well either the test kit is bad or my tap has 0 nitrates. my test card goes from 0 to 5 before the first color change and the test was yellow with no hint of orange.

i do have some equilibrium but i haven't started using it yet as i'm trying to get my ph down from 7.8 (about 7.5 right now). i'm still unsure about that stuff and i just use the ro water to help bring down my ph and add ferts for the plants. like a idiot i was using an alkaline buffer in the ro water because the ro water's ph was 4-6 so i'd bump it up to 7. well i could never figure out why i couldn't get my ph down until i figured out the buffer was building up and actually making my ph rise slightly. so now i don't buffer at all until i can get it down to around 7.
also my kh is 7 right now.

[sergo]

also i even let my tank get some direct morning sunlight (since it faces the east side of my house) and i still can barely get any algae to grow. i really think the results are correct (at least i hope they are).

[Chrona]

I'll get back to you on the algae issue. I have a link saved on my laptop that I don't have access to about the causes of various types of algae. Suffice to say that high nitrates is not often the actual cause of algae.

As for the water, if you are going to be doing CO2 injections, your pH will drop by about 0.8, so you'll be at 7 exactly without any buffers. Do you mean your tap kH is 7 or your tank water kH is 7?

[sergo]

tank water is 7 kh and 5-6 gh.
i wonder if there is anything around the house i can test for nitrates with if i put in tap water so i can find out if the test is good or not.

[Chrona]

Hardness is good. Try testing your tap water kH and hardness. You tank kH is a little high for CO2 injection, but I'm guessing that's because of the alkaline buffer that's still in the tank.


In any case, heres the link to the algae thingy. As you can see, no algae growing doesn't really point to anything about your nitrates, as the source of algae can be low and high nitrates.
[Only Registered Users Can See Links.]

[sergo]

i tested the tap in the past and it was pretty high. i have softener pillow that does a good job of bringing it down if needed. i'm sure that's part of the growing spurt cycle with my plants since it removes a lot trace minerals, almost like carbon. i don't think i will be be using it anymore unless absolutely necessary.

ok so what are the tiny bubbles again? :ezpi_wink1:
we got a little off.

[Chrona]

i tested the tap in the past and it was pretty high. i have softener pillow that does a good job of bringing it down if needed. i'm sure that's part of the growing spurt cycle with my plants since it removes a lot trace minerals, almost like carbon. i don't think i will be be using it anymore unless absolutely necessary.

ok so what are the tiny bubbles again? :ezpi_wink1:
we got a little off.

lol, I still say it's either pearling or minute dust. Hard to say without a picture, and I'll bet taking a picture is even harder :)

[sergo]

well i don't think is pearling because it doesn't appear to be coming from the plants like what i've seen before. these bubbles are so tiny that you can hardly focus on them and i bet i can't even get a pic of them.

i don't know, i've been eyeballing them in the dark with the light on for a while now and i'm starting to think that it may be some very fine particles not caught by the filters. i guess i'm going to have to get some polishing pads for the 305 and some stuffing for the 60's cartridges and i guess we'll see what happens. thanks for all of the help.

[dishmando]

I just caught wind of this post and its exactly what im experiencing now. My tank however is unplanted, using an eheim 2213 and penguin 350. I have a minor outbreak of brown algae, but my water parameters are ideal.
I think i'll be taking a sample in to my lfs for further investigation.

Great to see someone else is having the same issue as me. My waters crystal clear except for this minor annoyance.
I bought the 350 to help clear my problem, but it looks like its only made it worse. Seeing this, im thinking the constant churning of the biowheels is creating it the issue.

[sergo]

i also turned my filters down a little as i think they are keeping all junk from the bottom stirred up.