That would be 1tbsp of baking soda. Normally, the water here is really soft
with a kH of about one.

chet

"chet" chet-at-surewestDOTnet wrote in message
...
The tank has five juvenile goldfish. details and photos are available at
http://home.surewest.net/chet/aquariumplants.htm

The tank has been cooking for four months. Water is clear, ammonia is 0,
nitrite is 0, nitrate is 20ppm, pH is ~ 7.5 (with addition of one tbsp
per
10 gallons). CO2 is usually ~13ppm

What stats are you looking for, I'll measure it and report.

chet

"kush" wrote in message
...
Something's out of balance. Please post your stats. Also, are you
dosing
with trace elements?

chet chet-at-surewestDOTnet wrote in message
...
I am still fighting algae. What I have now is dark reddish brown but
not
"powdery" like diatoms. It is definitely more like green algae in
texture.
When I trim the plants, the algae looks black once out of the water.

I have a 29 gallon tank with a 55w CF, fluorite substrate, and
Nutrafin
CO2
kit. Plants include Nana, Amazon Swords, Onion plants, Java Fern, Pond
Penny, Anacharis, and Rotala indica. After two hours of light they all
perl
like crazy. There is a shower of small air bubbles floating up to the
surface.

I have been cutting back on the light and am now down to about 10
hours.
Will it count toward a light reduction target if I start turning off
the
light in the middle of the day? Will it inhibit growth or damage the
plants?

I am hoping that by slowly cutting back on light I can eventually get
the
algae under control. On the other hand, I want to see the tank while I
am
at
home. Any advice?

chet