I mentioned in an earlier thread that I redid my 2gal betta hex as a
"real" planted tank. Before I had Mayaca and Rotala indica growing on
ambient sunlight and UGF. Shoulda left well enough alone, but I wanted
to grow something in the foreground. Not enough light was making it
past the tall stem plants and I was in the process of killing a banana
lily after killing some nice dwarf Sagittaria.

Now, I have a 14 watt 5500K spiral compact screwed into the hood (it's a
LOT of light), a nanofilter, and the UGF has been replaced by 2" of
fluorite. After the changes, the Rotala indica started growing 1/2" a
day, two tiny crypt offshoots that I scavenged from the "big" 5gal tank
have put out new leaves, and the banana lily seems to be keeping its
leaves. Current supplements are Kent Botanica iron, trace elements, and
K, and Flourish Excel. All are dosed as on the bottle and iron tests at
0.25 ppm chelated iron.

However, I've started getting cyanobacter on plants, sparse green fuzz
algae on the glass, and the Mayaca that was doing fine before refuses to
grow and is going brown. I just did my usual water change routine, and
to my surprise nitrates are only 2 ppm now. My Mardel test strips led
me to believe there was more, but I just got an accurate Seachem test
and the tapwater has only 3-4 ppm at the moment. I use half tap and
half RO or rainwater so I'm actually adding very little nitrate with
water changes. I don't know phosphate levels at the moment - no kit for
that one.

I'm rather amazed that a betta in 2 gallons isn't putting out enough
ammonia for more plant growth, but that seems to be the case. This was
a 50% water change, so I was only at 4 ppm before it.

So...

Earlier this month when someone else had BGA and it was diagnosed as
nitrate deficiency. Is adding nitrate what I need to do now? I have
cleaned all the algae out of the tank, of course. I would prefer not to
black the tank out if it's not absolutely necessary.

I know CO2 is also an issue for plants vs. algae, but trying to balance
CO2 and pH in a 2 gallon tank seems like a really good way to either
kill my betta or entirely fill the tank with C02 equipment. Flourish
Excel will have to do.

I'd appreciate any feedback before I add nitrates, in case there's
something I've overlooked.

--
__ Elaine T __
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