# Killies Import > Planted Tanks >  Mission Against HC&Algae. Submerged&Emerged.Cylinder+Excel=Double C02 Final ShowDown!

## dna9179

I'm going to give my tank another try with regards to the HC "Cuba" and the Stupid Hair Algae Challenge!

Before i carry on i want to thanks all those who help me and give advice regarding the problem i'm facing in the thread before this. LINK

Guess what, the hair algae totally outgrow my HC, I see hair algae more than my HC and they are not growing well too. After going through the old thread, i decided to give it another try.

I'm going to carry out the step mention by all the expert in few phrase.

Phrase 1:
Today i took out all the HC that is covered by the hair algae and those that grew out from the sand. But no matter what, there is still some hair algae here and there. Not possible to totally remove that.

I concluded 1fact that why is my tank can be totally infested by hair algae. I believe 1of the reason is because i do not have enough plant to help in taking up all the nutrient therefore the hair algae is getting stronger and stronger. That time i only have HC and some hairglass and the 4 stem plant. The area i plant the stem and hairglass i notice got no algae and the area only with HC is infested with algae.

This time after i remove all the algae and infested HC, i bought a few time of plant including both Submerged And Emerged HC.

I bought the 1pot of Glossostigma(small leaf), some red leaf stem plant. together with emerged HC (it's the type that grew on the sponge like bedding) and Submerged HC (It's the type that tight to the metal grid)

As usual separate the Glossostigma into 5 part from the 1pot and planted them around my stone and cover the gap between the stone.

I also planted the red leaf stem plant on the right side of my tank.

Here comes the Main Plant:
HC aka Cuba.

Emerged HC (sponge)
Ok let talk about the emerged HC that grew on the sponge.
Normally i'll remove the HC from the sponge and plant them into the sand. 
Problem: Uproot and bcoz i place them too far apart, they never sent runner to join up.

This time i try a different way to plant them. From the original piece of HC i cut them into 2 piece. Then right below the HC where the sponge is, i tear the sponge out until i can see the root of the HC. Then recommend by the lfs directly place them onto the sand and cover the edge with sand. 

From the full view photo below, the 2piece of emerged HC is on the left and right of the tank. 

Submerged HC (metal grid)
Now the submerged. Again recommend by the NA and Y618 Lfs, they said we can try to place the whole piece of HC in and let them sent runner to cover up. Reason is because when they are in big group, they tend to be stronger and the root is not damage or loosen when we pull them out from the sponge ect. I do not know if it's true but to me no harm trying since i had try to remove them and plant bit by bit and fail.

From the full view photo below the submerged HC with metal grid is right in the middle foreground. the 1 big piece. Again i cover the edge with sand too.

Main Photo (Full View)



To be continue

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## dna9179

Just an Update to the detail of my tank again
Tank Dimensions (45x35x35, CM):

Lighting Intensity(No of Watts) : 16x2 (32)
Number and type of Lighting (FL/PL/MH) :T5
Age of light bulbs : New
No. of hours your lights are on : 10am- 8pm (10 or slightly less)

Just updated the C02
CO2 Injection Rate (bps) : about 3 Per second
Type of CO2 (DIY/Cylinder) :Cylider)
Method of Injection (e.g. Diffusor/Reactor) :Glass Diffusor
*(I follow the advice and place the diffuser right under my internal filter and let the bubble goes through by pump for a better coverage ect)*

Liquid fertilisers Used :Seachem Trace
Fertilization regime :2-3day 1dose 1time according to what is needed
*EXCEL! Finally i decided to try out the excel, i can't believe after i buy the cylinder c02, i still go and get this excel to provide the best and additional c02 to the Dear HC...

I got something to share about the method of dosing the liquid fertilizer.
I remember i read from some where that people do use syringe to drew up the fertilizer and place them right on top of the plant and apply the solution. 
This way the plant will receive direct supply instead of dosing into the tank and dun know where the solution is running too. 

But as you know the 5ml or sometime even less amount of ml is require to dose, so for my tank with that few patch of HC and plant, 5ml inside the syringe is not going to last before i could apply onto the rest of the HC.
So i was thinking that maybe i can take out like 500ML of water from my tank, Dose the Excel into the 500ML of tank water, then i use the syringe to drew up the premixed excel solution and then apply to the plant like HC. This way i got more amount of premixed excel to dose fairly among all.
*


Other fertilisers :multi bottom

Other additives :Seachem Prime, *Tetra Easy Balance 2time weekly(i stop dosing the easy balance for now)*

Type of Filter : Internal Boyu
When was the filter last washed : Weekly
Filter media used : sponge *(I cut the sponge into 2piece, when i wash the sponge with tank water, i only clean either 1of them)*
When was the media last changed :None


Age of setup : 2month

Water surface movement : Normal
Circulation : Gentle

Tank Temperature : 29++


Bioload (Number and type of fish and plants)
------------------------------------------
3guppy
1oto
5yamato 
30++ tetra 
8 Baby fries

*I remember some expert told me to dose NPK either from seachem or wondergrow, i do remember but for now i can't affort to get the 3bottle of NPK yet. I would like to see how well the Excel can excel the HC 1st then i will get the NPK when time and money arrive

Question: currently i'm having C02 from cylinder providing C02 to my tank, So do i still dose Excel "daily" as per recommended on the bottle? Do i dose a bit less since i already providing cylinder C02 or i should just dose as per recommended? I do not want my fishes to die of double C02. 

If i'm not wrong, i can dose this excel when i turn on the light so it can access to the excel when light is on right?

Really hope to receive advice from the old timer here again like Shadow and others. Thanks for your value comment
I also posted this thread in the Tom Barr forum to seek advice from both side
*

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## StanChung

A concentrated carbon supplement like Seachem Flourish Excel can damage plants so it's not advisable to dose it so close to the plants in concentrate form.
I've dosed close to mosses and some of it turned brown.
Excel IMO is not and 'instant' fertilizer like CO2. It needs to break down a little before it becomes available so take note. Dose small amounts regularly.

You did not mention the temperature of the tank. 24-26C is better for HC.

Your tank is considered a new tank so dose only Potassium for the first week till you see new growth/runners before dosing something like ADA Step 1. 


You only have Seachem Flourish Excel and Trace elements. You will need a bottle each of Comprehensive, Iron, Potassium, Nitrogen and Phosphorous.
Plants need NPK + Fe, Ca, Mg, Br, Mb, etc.

Good luck on your experiment and your efforts seem to be in the right direction>Growing plants.

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## blackBRUSHalgae

Can't wait to see the progress! Best of luck!

I didn't realise that HC tied on SS mesh is submerged while the sponge version is emerged!

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## FC

*Restart*
Since your tank is small, I suggest that you restart the tank by:
1) Clear all algae by hand patiently
2) Do 100% water change
3) Redose trace and excel
4) Reduce fish load to 20 small fishes and feed once a day
5) CO2 at 0.5 bubble per second (estimated)

*Filter*
For filter, reduce the flow rate by cutting the propeller 30% shorter.

*Injecting Fertilser*
I was the pioneer in injecting fertilisers into substrate. Always dilute 5:1 before use. For Excel, dose in water only.

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## StanChung

Yeah-Freddy I do believe you were the first to mention it because I thought that was brilliant.

Amano with his 'Green Drop' contraption is a very interesting piece of equipment.
The 'Green Drop' is versatile in that you can use it to supply fertilizer/any liquid into the substrate or water. It works when you pump from one of the bottles, the liquid goes into small reservoir and drips slowly down a tube into the tank.

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## dna9179

With the tremendous amount of help from the forum barrreport, aka Tom Barr with his team, i manage to get those Dry fert including Macro and micro dry fert which total cost less than $30 and can last me for about 1 year. And it's much better than any of the fertilizer in the market and the best is, it's so much cheaper. I can use up to a year and providing my tank with NPK and traces ect.

I just done with my water change and dose the 1round of EI. Following the basic of EI, Monday Wednesday and Friday dose macro; Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday dose micro. Sunday enjoy fishes. i believe with the advice i got here in AQ and Tom Barr team, My tank will gets better and HC will spread and grow well.

Once again thanks to everyone who given me advice. THANKS!  :Smile:

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## AquaZinYaw

> With the tremendous amount of help from the forum barrreport, aka Tom Barr with his team, i manage to get those Dry fert including Macro and micro dry fert which total cost less than $30 and can last me for about 1 year. And it's much better than any of the fertilizer in the market and the best is, it's so much cheaper. I can use up to a year and providing my tank with NPK and traces ect.


Can share us where do you get those Dry fert and what exactly are they?  :Smile:

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## dna9179

there are actually basic dry fert like KN03, KH2PO4 ect. provide NPK and micro to your plant and they will do well. i'm doing this for the HC, it's a very demanding plant

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## AquaZinYaw

Ya, I know what is the meaning of dry fert, bro. I'm too harsh to ask you. Sorry about that. What I mean is ~ where do you buy or order your dry fert? (in sg or order online?) how many quantities did you buy? Thx for prompt reply.  :Smile:

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## FC

> Yeah-Freddy I do believe you were the first to mention it because I thought that was brilliant.
> Amano with his 'Green Drop' contraption is a very interesting piece of equipment.


Amano Injecting Fertiliser into Substrate
When I saw Amano came out with equipment to inject fertiliser into substrate, I can't help but thought that he used my idea. Such fertilisation technic is clearly logical that feeds rooted plants directly.

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## dna9179

> Ya, I know what is the meaning of dry fert, bro. I'm too harsh to ask you. Sorry about that. What I mean is ~ where do you buy or order your dry fert? (in sg or order online?) how many quantities did you buy? Thx for prompt reply.


you can get some from NA not all.
go to those florist at Thomson near MacRitchie Reservoir. there is alot of florist shop there. Or any wholesale florist  :Smile:

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## felix_fx2

Hi all,

You can take Bus 163 from Toa payoh interchange.
It will pass by the said florist/plant nursery, likewise there are other nursery along Thomson road but i dare not commit they have the dry fert.

hope this is of some help to the others.

Warm regards
Felix

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## AquaZinYaw

ok.. thx dna9179 and felix_fx2. I'll try my hand on dry fert and EI dosing after I've finished my Wonder-Gro liquid ferts.  :Grin:  with liquid fert I can't make sure how much and what exactly am I dosing.

BTW, back to the topic... how is the status with HC? any update?

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## tarzanboy

Hi,Aquazinyaw is HC stand for 矮珍珠 in chinese.

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## Tamama

I just planted my HC for a small area in my 3 ft tank. I separated them about 2 cm apart.. lets see what happens

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