"Tony Volk" wrote in message
...
To start with, my tank specs:
So to start with, my tank is 55 gallons - 40" long, 20" tall, 16" wide. I
have two single 15 watt 15,000K fluorescent bulbs (30W, I know its low,
and
I leave it on for 14-16hrs/day to compensate), adequate heating and
filtration. I have mixed gravel substrate, rocks, and driftwood in the
tank
(all aged,
all rocks non-porous.
In the tank I have a 10" pleco, 4 3" pictus cats, 2 1-1/2" corys, a 4"
Siamese flying fox (the useless kind), 2 1" SAE, a betta, 3 1" Otocinclus
vittatus, 5
1" lemon tetras, 7 small zebra danios, and 5 2" scissortail rasboras. I
have two java ferns, four bunches of val (gigantica and americana) and a
couple of amazon sword plants.
My donated tank recently (over the last two-three months) went from an
old-tank syndrome of nitrate level of over 200ppm to the current 30ppm
(thanks to many gradual water changes). Other water stats a ammonia 0,
medium water hardness (GH), virtually no temporary hardness (KH), and a pH
of around 6.4 or so. I also had a significant problem with black brush
algae, but I've manually removed most of it from the tanks, and plan on
letting the plants and the SAE oust the remaining parts (plus my pH has
dropped from 7.3 ish). My java ferns are both doing very well, as are my
Amazon swords (after almost being overcome by BBA, the removal of
dead/covered leaves seems to have prompted reasonable new growth). My
questions a
1- My vals shot up about 4-6" six weeks ago, but now they appear to be in
real trouble. They are developing yellow/brown coloration in the middle
of
the leaves, then small holes, and then end up splitting into two (much
like
split ends on hair). Seeing as they grew so well before, I don't think
this
is due to light problems. I would guess it's one or more of the
following:
my Otos (who are always munching around the center of these Vals), a
depletion of nutrients in the tank (I can't yet afford to buy extra Fe or
K
kits, but I did initially add Fe fertilizer before I found out about the
old-tank water issues, so I imagine there's a lot of nutrients available),
or it's the water flow from new hang-on-back filter that I placed in
between
them to help reduce the nitrate/ammonia levels (but I thought Vals did
fine
in a modest current). Any suggestions?
2- I am interested in increasing the light in my tank, but don't have a
lot
of free cash (I'd love to just buy double-bulb hoods). It's a rental
house
too, so I can't go around mucking with the wiring to put in my own
fluorescent lighting. The inside of the light fixture is white- would
reflective material make a significant difference (any numbers or
percentages)? And would adding an external plant growth light to the top
rear side of the aquarium help (so it shone in from the back of the tank)?
Or would that just promote a localized growth of algae?
3- I would love to add another couple of plants for aesthetics and to help
lick the BBA. Given my set up, I was think of anubias or wendt's crypt on
some of my driftwood to compliment the java fern. Any suggestions?
4- Any suggestions on how to get my oto's turned on to zucchini etc., or
do
I just have to wait (currently, they ignore it while the Flying Fox and
SAE
munch on it).
Thanks very much,
Tony
I don't have a specific answer, but here are my thoughts.
1: too little light, you are correct there. Leaving the light on longer
does not compensate for intensity though. A simple 48" shoplight with 2-40W
bulbs would be a huge improvement over what you have currently..
2: oto's are not damaging your plants, guaranteed.
3: a 10" plecostomus IS a plant destroyer
4: having a kh of 0 is very dangerous for the fish and harmful for the
plants. You need to add some baking soda or some other alkalinity
enhancing agent to bring the kh up to at least 3-4°. Your plants need that
carbon to live, and your fish need it to help keep the ph stable. This is
another big problem.
5: have you put any fertalizer pellets in the gravel around your root
feeding plants?
6: are you dosing any types of liquid fertalizers?
--
Margolis
http://web.archive.org/web/200302152...qs/AGQ2FAQ.htm
http://www.unrealtower.org/faq