Hi,
This is my first post in any online forums and let me start off by apologizing for writing such a lengthy message. I have a planted tank which I’m having trouble keeping in good shape. I’ve been doing a lot of reading online but the information I get is always very confusing and contradictory. I’ve been going through different topics on different forums and this one seems to have a better input from a lot of successful people compared to other forums. I have a 50 gallon tank with ADA Aquasoil Malaya substrate which turned into mud after I tore down my tank about 3 months back so I’m topping it with around 3cm of gravel. The plants I have are as follows:
Heteranthera Zosterifolia
Glossostigma Elatinoides
Cryptocoryne Undulatus Kasselman
Nymphaea Lotus
Marsilea Crenata
Hygrophila 'Araguaia'
Vallisneria Spiralis 'Tiger'
Microsorum Pteropus
Hydrocotyle Leucocephala
Alternanthera Reineckii 'Rosaefolia'
Cuphea Anagalloidea (Not sure about this plant, but it looks similar to the one I have)
and an unknown plant (sword plant of some sort I think)
Fishes & Invertebrates:
Rainbow Shark: 1
Angelfish: 1
Platies: 2
Zebra Danio: 1
Penguin Tetra: 1
Black Neon Tetra: 5
Neon Tetra: 10
Silvertip Tetra: 7
Chinese Algae Eater: 2
Siamese Algae Eater: 4
Amano Shrimp: 6
Red Cherry Shrimp: 5
I’m dosing 2 grams of Macro Micro Nutrient Mix from aquariumfertilizer.com daily and not dosing any phosphate as of now and doing 40%-50% weekly water changes. I have pressurized CO2 pumping at around 5-6 bubbles per second and the drop checker is yellow after 3-4 hours of turning on. CO2 come on 2 hours before the lights. For the lights I have LED lighting from buildmyled.com running at 65% intensity. The lights start at the lowest intensity and reach 65% intensity in 1 hour and same is the case at the end of photoperiod, they start at 65% and dim to the lowest in 1 hour. The total photoperiod is 9 hours.
I’m having multiple issue with the tank and don’t seem to get the right balance till now. I have some plants growing normally while other very easy plants not doing well like stargrass. My glosso seem to be growing ok but not at a very fast rate maybe because I had to remove a lot of it before around 3 weeks and replant to get rid of the BBA that had covered most of it. I was having BBA algae covering quickly many of my plants and it has covered most of the driftwood in my tank. Also my plants were getting some thread / hair algae which I would clean manually during every water change. For the plants the algae seems to be in control now from last 2-3 weeks as I’m not seeing any new growth and also after adding algae eaters, I’m not seeing any thread / hair algae. My driftwood is still covered with BBA and even the Siamese algae eater doesn’t seem to be removing any from the driftwood. I also noticed some cyanobacteria on one side of the tank a few days back and remove it manually as soon as I saw it. But it seems it was only in one corner of the tank but I’m not sure if it will come back. I just want to have a healthy good looking balanced tank like most of you guys out there but I’m not getting anything near to that and am getting frustrated about it as I’m not getting the results that I’m looking for. Please help!
This is my first post in any online forums and let me start off by apologizing for writing such a lengthy message. I have a planted tank which I’m having trouble keeping in good shape. I’ve been doing a lot of reading online but the information I get is always very confusing and contradictory. I’ve been going through different topics on different forums and this one seems to have a better input from a lot of successful people compared to other forums. I have a 50 gallon tank with ADA Aquasoil Malaya substrate which turned into mud after I tore down my tank about 3 months back so I’m topping it with around 3cm of gravel. The plants I have are as follows:
Heteranthera Zosterifolia
Glossostigma Elatinoides
Cryptocoryne Undulatus Kasselman
Nymphaea Lotus
Marsilea Crenata
Hygrophila 'Araguaia'
Vallisneria Spiralis 'Tiger'
Microsorum Pteropus
Hydrocotyle Leucocephala
Alternanthera Reineckii 'Rosaefolia'
Cuphea Anagalloidea (Not sure about this plant, but it looks similar to the one I have)
and an unknown plant (sword plant of some sort I think)
Fishes & Invertebrates:
Rainbow Shark: 1
Angelfish: 1
Platies: 2
Zebra Danio: 1
Penguin Tetra: 1
Black Neon Tetra: 5
Neon Tetra: 10
Silvertip Tetra: 7
Chinese Algae Eater: 2
Siamese Algae Eater: 4
Amano Shrimp: 6
Red Cherry Shrimp: 5
I’m dosing 2 grams of Macro Micro Nutrient Mix from aquariumfertilizer.com daily and not dosing any phosphate as of now and doing 40%-50% weekly water changes. I have pressurized CO2 pumping at around 5-6 bubbles per second and the drop checker is yellow after 3-4 hours of turning on. CO2 come on 2 hours before the lights. For the lights I have LED lighting from buildmyled.com running at 65% intensity. The lights start at the lowest intensity and reach 65% intensity in 1 hour and same is the case at the end of photoperiod, they start at 65% and dim to the lowest in 1 hour. The total photoperiod is 9 hours.
I’m having multiple issue with the tank and don’t seem to get the right balance till now. I have some plants growing normally while other very easy plants not doing well like stargrass. My glosso seem to be growing ok but not at a very fast rate maybe because I had to remove a lot of it before around 3 weeks and replant to get rid of the BBA that had covered most of it. I was having BBA algae covering quickly many of my plants and it has covered most of the driftwood in my tank. Also my plants were getting some thread / hair algae which I would clean manually during every water change. For the plants the algae seems to be in control now from last 2-3 weeks as I’m not seeing any new growth and also after adding algae eaters, I’m not seeing any thread / hair algae. My driftwood is still covered with BBA and even the Siamese algae eater doesn’t seem to be removing any from the driftwood. I also noticed some cyanobacteria on one side of the tank a few days back and remove it manually as soon as I saw it. But it seems it was only in one corner of the tank but I’m not sure if it will come back. I just want to have a healthy good looking balanced tank like most of you guys out there but I’m not getting anything near to that and am getting frustrated about it as I’m not getting the results that I’m looking for. Please help!