I have a few questions regarding my tank. I have a 125g (60"w X 24"h X
18"d) with 2 light hoods each with 2x24" 20W power-glo lights and a 24" 20W
aqua-glo light. That makes a total of 120W, I put white cardboard backing
behind the lights to reflect more light into the tank and my substrate is
whitish gravel with a sprinkling of dark gravel. I have been noticing a
rough green algae forming on my anubias leaves (and glass) that my SAEs,
CAEs, and pleco do not appear to want to eat. I also have a minor snail
problem with little ones that came in as eggs on my plants. My older leaves
on my big anubias (with almost palm sized leaves) appear to be deformed,
before they used to be parallel to the ground but now some of the oldest
leaves are twisting and look dessicated almost. I have 15lbs of flurorite
under my gravel for the plants to eat and I fertalize monthly with tetra
florapride. I previously had my tank on a 12-13 hour photoperiod when it
was merely 80W and the plants seemed to do OK (this was the first 2 months I
had it), but now my photoperiod is 10 hours (for the past few weeks as I
have attempted to control the algae) and I'm wondering what is causing the
wilting look as well as holes in the leaves of my anubias and other plants.
Are the snails eating holes in them? Would I benefit with getting a CO2
system for my malawi cichlid pH 8.6 tank? I heard it lowers pH. I am going
to get a puffer in a few days to control the snails (my old one died) but
I'm wondering:

1) what can I do to control the algae?
2) do I have too much/too little light?
3) should I get C02 injection?
4) should I adjust my photoperiod more? (the tank gets additional light when
my roomates leave the lights on at all hours of the night, but those are
compact florescent bulbs for our living room so it shouldn't be providing
the right spectrum for plant growth)
5) what can I do to control the holes (some look like burns) and wilting?

I have anubias (one huge one and one little one), java fern, crypts (2), and
an amazon sword

could I be giving too much light for the anubias?

are there any other fish that might do a good job of eating the rough green
algae that my pleco, 4SAEs, and 3 CAEs don't touch?
I'm going to try to run the tank for a few weeks at 10 hours light a day and
see if that cuts the algae down, as it is only a problem on the glass and
the anubias leaves

I do water changes when I vacuum which is every 45 days or so

I just got a topaz puffer/congo puffer/spotted green puffer (Tetraodon
Schoutedeni) to control the snails so they should be going away soon...but
otherwise they looked healthy...some getting to be pea sized

from what I read CO2 injection keeps the tank at a pH of low 7, which would
be 1.5 units lower than it is now, probably not very good for my fish

The holes in the leaves of my anubias are on the old and new leaves, but
more specifically I just got the amazon sword 2 weeks ago and it seemed like
a few days after I put it in the tank, little short 1/2" "tears" appeared
the leaves like maybe average of one or two on each big leaf. My jungle
vals seem to be always missing parts out of the sides of their grass like
blades...sometimes a long ~25" blade will be missing 75% of the width of the
blade half way up, so its like someone took a bite out of the side of it and
the whole thing stayed attached.

What are the consequences of over liquid fertalizing the tank? I've just
been following the florapride instructions on the back...once a month. What
should I up it to? I have a pH buffer in the tank and cichlid salt in the
tank...what would make you suspect calcium as the lacking element? what
should I do to replace it? What fertalizer would you recommend as a more
complete one than florapride (remember I do have a laterite layer under the
gravel).

"LeighMo" wrote in message
...
1) what can I do to control the algae?

Shade the anubias, or reduce your lighting.

2) do I have too much/too little light?

Depends on what kind of plants you have. Anubias don't need much light at
all.


3) should I get C02 injection?

Not if all you have is anubias. They grow so slowly CO2 injection doesn't
help
them much. And CO2 injection will lower your pH, which might not be
desirable
in a Malawi tank.

4) should I adjust my photoperiod more? (the tank gets additional light
when
my roomates leave the lights on at all hours of the night, but those are
compact florescent bulbs for our living room so it shouldn't be providing
the right spectrum for plant growth)

Room lights shouldn't cause algae in your tank. Don't go less than ten
hours a
day with the tank lights.

5) what can I do to control the holes (some look like burns) and wilting?

It sounds like some kind of deficiency. I would say calcium, but that
seems
unlikely in a Malawi tank. At any rate, adding Tetra Florapride once a
month
probably isn't enough. I added it weekly when I kept a low-light Anubias
tank.
And if you have other kinds of plants in the tank, you may need to add it
more
often than that.

You also might have to use a more complete fertilizer. IME, Tetra
Florapride
and frequent water changes will keep Anubias happy, but other plants may
be
more demanding.

How often do you do water changes? And what other plants are in the tank?
Are
the snails healthy?

And what kind of snails are they? They might be eating your plants, but
they
won't make them twisted or "desicated." Are the holes in the old or new
leaves?


Leigh

http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/halloween/881/

the snails do look more clear than they originally did, what should I do to
add calcium to the tank? (I'll get more plants tomorrow for it too...)

I have a python and my apartment water is free...its just a pain to do the
water change...but I'll step it up to more frequently...


"LeighMo" wrote in message
...
I have anubias (one huge one and one little one), java fern, crypts (2),
and
an amazon sword

You've got a very large tank with very few plants in it. Algae will
always be
a problem in a tank like this. When you add the extra light and nutrients
for
plants, you also need to add *enough* plants to use them all up and not
leave
anything for the algae. Generally, 80% of the tank should be planted,
with at
least some of those plants fast-growing stem plants.

If you don't want to do this (and it's not easy, with an African tank),
then go
back to 80 watts. The plants you have do not need bright light.

could I be giving too much light for the anubias?

Yes, but I don't think that's causing the holes. It's causing the algae
on the
leaves. Shade the Anubias by planting it in the shadow of another plant
(such
as the sword), adding some floating plants, or reducing the number of
bulbs
over your tank.

are there any other fish that might do a good job of eating the rough
green
algae that my pleco, 4SAEs, and 3 CAEs don't touch?
I'm going to try to run the tank for a few weeks at 10 hours light a day
and
see if that cuts the algae down, as it is only a problem on the glass and
the anubias leaves

Generally, no, nothing touches that algae. Maybe snails, a little. But
that
hard "spot" algae that appears on the glass must be scraped.

I do water changes when I vacuum which is every 45 days or so

That is not nearly enough. I think most Malawi keepers do frequent water
changes, to control nitrate. I change 30% weekly in all my tanks. This
helps
control algae, and helps the plants, by keeping any one element from
building
up, and adding any trace elements that the plants may have used up. I
would at
least step up water changes to twice a month. I realize this is kind of a
pain
in a 125 gallon tank, especially in California, but it's worth buying a
Python
water changer and keeping your showers short, to do right by your fish.

The holes in the leaves of my anubias are on the old and new leaves, but
more specifically I just got the amazon sword 2 weeks ago and it seemed
like
a few days after I put it in the tank, little short 1/2" "tears" appeared
the leaves like maybe average of one or two on each big leaf. My jungle
vals seem to be always missing parts out of the sides of their grass like
blades...sometimes a long ~25" blade will be missing 75% of the width of
the
blade half way up, so its like someone took a bite out of the side of it
and
the whole thing stayed attached.

Hmm. I think it's your fish. You don't say what kind of cichlids you
have,
but many of them, like mbuna, are known to eat plants. Puffers are known
to
bite plants, though they don't eat them.

What are the consequences of over liquid fertalizing the tank? I've just
been following the florapride instructions on the back...once a month.
What
should I up it to?

Florapride has only iron and potassium in it, so there wouldn't much of a
problem if you overdose. I would up your water changes to at least twice
a
month, and add Florapride at the recommended dose after each water change.

I have a pH buffer in the tank and cichlid salt in the
tank...what would make you suspect calcium as the lacking element?

Deformed leaves and stems are a sign of calcium defiency. But if the
snails
your tank are healthy, that's not the problem. They would show a lack of
calcium in weak or bleached-looking shells. It's probably something else.
Potassium, maybe. (Generally, when you add more light to a tank, you also
have
to add more fertilizer. Because the plants will grow faster, and use up
nutrients faster. Anubias are often the ones that to suffer if nutrients
are
tight, because they are so slow they can't compete with the other plants.)

What fertalizer would you recommend as a more
complete one than florapride (remember I do have a laterite layer under
the
gravel).

Tropica Mastergrow or Seachem Flourish. However, given the plants you
have,
Tetra Florapride and more frequent water changes are probably all you
need.


Leigh

http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/halloween/881/

Are the snails eating holes in them?


Snails eat dying plants.

Would I benefit with getting a CO2
system for my malawi cichlid pH 8.6 tank? I heard it lowers pH.

You heard right. But is pH the issue?
Most of Malawai ain't that high, it varies location to location and
the fish from there are easy to bred and unless you are getting
sensitive wild caught fish. The salts are still the same, everything
else in the water is the same, only the amount of CO2 is changed and
it affects the pH.
The hard water etc is still hard.
That's the main thing the fish concern themselves with.
pH variations due to CO2 addition have no effects I've seen on rift
fishes.

You will likely need to drop the pH to about 7.4 or so if you have a
KH of 15-20 etc. Parts of Malawai are close to this pH.

I am going
to get a puffer in a few days to control the snails (my old one died) but
I'm wondering:

Puffers, SAE's CAE's, plecos ? You sure this is cichlid tank?:-)

1) what can I do to control the algae?
2) do I have too much/too little light?

Too little.
Algae control is more/too complicated to explain here. Basically, if
you have good dense plant growth, you don't have algae growth. When
the plants are not growing well, the algae will.

3) should I get C02 injection?

If you want plants under water, it's a good idea.
Floating plants will do very well though.

4) should I adjust my photoperiod more? (the tank gets additional light when
my roomates leave the lights on at all hours of the night, but those are
compact florescent bulbs for our living room so it shouldn't be providing
the right spectrum for plant growth)
5) what can I do to control the holes (some look like burns) and wilting?

Give the plants what they need to grow.
Light , CO2 and nutrients.
Floating plants will have enough light and plenty of CO2 from the air.

Regards,
Tom Barr