"Richard Sexton" wrote in message
...
But what will stop it from coming right back when I go back to twice a
month? I'm not sure what "cloating" plants are but this tank has a lot of
live plants that are fertilized weekly with Flourish or another aquarium
plant fertilizer.

It aint workin for ya. Diatoms (under low light) and algae (in the
presence of sufficient light) always form is there is consistanly
more ammonia than plant food. Your fertilizers aren't working for you
and if you add more light you'll have green instead of brown algae.

If it were me I'd do exactly as Tom Barr would suggest: change 80% of the
water for two days then use his "Estimative index" method to fertilize;
part of this is a weekly 50% water change. Some fish shit a lot, period,
and they either need a way biger tank or more water changed. That is what
works for a dozen pencilfish will not work for a 3" puffer. Remove all the
fish and add say a dozen shrimp and you'll never have this problem again
due tot he reduced bioload.

I understand what you're saying and will try to make a few major water
changes this week.

You could add WAY more plants, too. Well fed they'll consume ammonia.

That's part of the problem as well. Elodea and hornwart always thrived for
me but for the last few months these plants aren't doing well in any of my
tanks. The hornwart, usually taking over as it grew so fast, is barely
alive. It used to grow 6' long and be nice and bushy. Elodea would grow
into thick tangles. Nothing's changed so I don't know what's causing them
to fail. Even vals, a noxious weed in most tanks isn't thriving in this one
tank with the diatoms/black algae. The Java moss is hanging on but not
growing. Only the Amazon swords seem to do OK but I can't afford to buy a
load of them because they're so expensive.

Consider rigging an authmatic water draininge or changing system. You hit
an NTS wall without one at some smal number of tanks.

That's not possible as these tanks are in the sun-fishroom and not in a
basement. It's also cost prohibitive. What is an NST wall?

Step one: rent, buy, beg, borrow or steal a glass drill.

Step one is to win the lottery ........ :-))
--

Koi-Lo.... frugal ponding since 1995...
Aquariums since 1952
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://bellsouthpwp.net/s/h/shastadaisy
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