I think the hardest part of keeping an aquarium is keeping the plants! =(

I have a 20Gal tank (30"x12"x18"). it has eloda, vallis, bacopa, borneo
sword, some miniature sword plants (not tenullus), and what I think is giant
hygrophilia. It also has two large plastic plants in the back corners.

I have a 15w and an 18w bulb on for about 13hrs a day. No CO2
Nitrite and ammonia 0 nitrate gets up to about 50ppm by Sunday, do a 25%
water change Mondays (nitrate out of the tap is 10ppm).
Eheim 2211 filter, temp about 26C.

I planted about 5/6 months ago, I used sera florena every week adding 20ml
(it says to add 5ml for every 5gal) and then every two weeks using sera
plant tablets (can't remember the name, but it is suppose to be for the
roots) but that was four tablets (a tablet for every 5gal). at first
everything was great, the vallis was growing wonderfully as was the eloda, I
was having to trim it every week or two. I started with about six little
vallis plants and they soon grew and shooted loads of new vallis. the bacopa
was a bit of a slow grower, but a couple of weeks ago I moved it to a more
open area and it seems to be doing better. the hygrophilia is doing great as
well as are the swords. The borneo swords are not really doing anything (but
I don't expect them to anyway). however in the past maybe month maybe six
weeks I have started getting more and more algae. at first it was like tiny
black fuzz on a few of the stalks of eloda but now it has appeared on the
plastic plants as well. It looks like this

http://www.aquaticscape.com/informat...mages/bba3.jpg

Some of the plants, particularly the plastic ones have stuff like this, but
not nearly as bad as this (just little tufts really)

http://www.aquaticscape.com/informat...mages/bba2.jpg

The vallis, only a couple of leaves of the vallis, has either this

http://www.aquaticscape.com/informat...mages/fuzz.jpg or the
previous one, I can't decide which.

At the moment its not too bad, but it is slowly getting worse. the only
thing that springs to mind that I have done differently in the past month or
so is to stop using the tablets (I couldn't afford to buy them this month).
I have also cut down on the lighting by about an hour (but I don't think
that is the problem).

I have an oto (did have two but one died)
a pl*co (gonna be moved when he gets too big)
and three glass shrimp (never see them, they are brilliant at hiding)

I have cut down on my feeding of the fish (just in case I was over feeding),
and will start to do more water changes, but I don't know what else to do to
get rid of this algae. I have no room for an SAE!

Anybody with any ideas please let me know!!! (and sorry for the long post)

Stu

Stuart Mueller wrote:

I think the hardest part of keeping an aquarium is keeping the plants! =(

It can certainly feel that way!


Nitrite and ammonia 0 nitrate gets up to about 50ppm by Sunday, do a 25%
water change Mondays (nitrate out of the tap is 10ppm).

Your nitrate level and your comment later that "I have no room for an SAE" imply
that you are overstocked and that you aware of it. This is always a problem.
Unfortunately, the nitrate level in your tap water doesn't help.

Three suggestions:

1. More plants will absorb more nitrate. You have a lot of different plants, so
you already know what grows in your tank with your lighting. Add more,
particularly fast growers that will absorb a lot of nitrate. Just think,
replacing your two plastic plants with live ones would absorb that much more
nitrate from the water!

2. Since you know your pl*co is getting too large, trade him for a bushy nose
catfish. Smaller than your pleco, good algae eater that will help you miss your
pl*co less. A couple SAEs wouldn't hurt...

3. Start reading here about nutrients and algae:

http://faq.thekrib.com/plant.html
http://www.thekrib.com/Plants

Good luck!

Stuart Mueller wrote:

I think the hardest part of keeping an aquarium is keeping the plants! =(

It can certainly feel that way!


Nitrite and ammonia 0 nitrate gets up to about 50ppm by Sunday, do a 25%
water change Mondays (nitrate out of the tap is 10ppm).

Your nitrate level and your comment later that "I have no room for an SAE" imply
that you are overstocked and that you aware of it. This is always a problem.
Unfortunately, the nitrate level in your tap water doesn't help.

Three suggestions:

1. More plants will absorb more nitrate. You have a lot of different plants, so
you already know what grows in your tank with your lighting. Add more,
particularly fast growers that will absorb a lot of nitrate. Just think,
replacing your two plastic plants with live ones would absorb that much more
nitrate from the water!

2. Since you know your pl*co is getting too large, trade him for a bushy nose
catfish. Smaller than your pleco, good algae eater that will help you miss your
pl*co less. A couple SAEs wouldn't hurt...

3. Start reading here about nutrients and algae:

http://faq.thekrib.com/plant.html
http://www.thekrib.com/Plants

Good luck!

Xref: 127.0.0.1 rec.aquaria.freshwater.plants:62407

Pleco Pleco Pleco, I have 3 so lets see =D
(Oh god, that rhymed like some weird spell)


"LeighMo" wrote in message
...
why does everyone type plecostamus as pl*co instead of pleco?

It's kind of a Internet joke among fishkeepers. I don't know how it got
started, but there's a sort of superstition that if you actually type out
"pleco," your pleco will die.

I don't think people actually believe it, any more than they believe that
they'll break their mother's back if they step on a crack in the sidewalk.
They're just being playful.




Leigh

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

Xref: 127.0.0.1 rec.aquaria.freshwater.plants:62407

Pleco Pleco Pleco, I have 3 so lets see =D
(Oh god, that rhymed like some weird spell)


"LeighMo" wrote in message
...
why does everyone type plecostamus as pl*co instead of pleco?

It's kind of a Internet joke among fishkeepers. I don't know how it got
started, but there's a sort of superstition that if you actually type out
"pleco," your pleco will die.

I don't think people actually believe it, any more than they believe that
they'll break their mother's back if they step on a crack in the sidewalk.
They're just being playful.




Leigh

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