46 gallon tank
-Heavily planted
-96 watts (CF) for 9 hours
-Excel daily, 7.5ml (1.5x recommended dose)
-50% water change every other week
-Dosing consistently on M & F
-KNO3, 1/4 teaspoon, 2x a week
-KH2PO4, 1/8 teaspoon, 2x a week
-Traces, 1/16 teaspoon, 2x a week
-Tank running for about 6 weeks
-130ppm of "general hardness" (I don't know what that means exactly, but I tested it using my Taylor drop test.)
-No algae except for a little on the glass, no aglae eaters yet
-light fish load (10, 1" fish, tetras and rasbora's)
-PH 6.8
-Nitrates 10ppm on uncalibrated API test (but my tap water tests 0)
My melon sword has grown a lot, but the leaves are turning brown (new and old) and the old brown leaves are then becoming almost clear. I'd say 50% of this plant looks that way. Also my large (18"+) amazon sword has 2-3 leaves that are turning brown.
I have a wide variety of plants (dwarf sag, hornwort, water sprite, pennywort, kleiner bar sword, wisteria) and they all seem to be doing very well with the following excetion. My madagascar lace plant stays very small, which I image is due to not getting enough light (plants crowding it out.) The Egeria Densa is growing quickly, but there is a lot of space in between the stems from not enough light I guess.
I really need to trim the tank today. I'm waiting for my new tank to be delivered so I'll have some place to put my cuttings.
*What am I lacking in regards for the swords? They were healthy when I planted them. (CO2 is not an option, but removing the affected plants is.)
*Now that my tank is around 6 weeks old, can I remove the fast growing stems all at once and replace them with something slower growing without getting into much of an algae problem? (I don't care much for the swords, water sprite or hornwort which makes up 75% of the tank.)
Sorry for the long post. The UPS dude is pulling in with my new tank right now!
-Heavily planted
-96 watts (CF) for 9 hours
-Excel daily, 7.5ml (1.5x recommended dose)
-50% water change every other week
-Dosing consistently on M & F
-KNO3, 1/4 teaspoon, 2x a week
-KH2PO4, 1/8 teaspoon, 2x a week
-Traces, 1/16 teaspoon, 2x a week
-Tank running for about 6 weeks
-130ppm of "general hardness" (I don't know what that means exactly, but I tested it using my Taylor drop test.)
-No algae except for a little on the glass, no aglae eaters yet
-light fish load (10, 1" fish, tetras and rasbora's)
-PH 6.8
-Nitrates 10ppm on uncalibrated API test (but my tap water tests 0)
My melon sword has grown a lot, but the leaves are turning brown (new and old) and the old brown leaves are then becoming almost clear. I'd say 50% of this plant looks that way. Also my large (18"+) amazon sword has 2-3 leaves that are turning brown.
I have a wide variety of plants (dwarf sag, hornwort, water sprite, pennywort, kleiner bar sword, wisteria) and they all seem to be doing very well with the following excetion. My madagascar lace plant stays very small, which I image is due to not getting enough light (plants crowding it out.) The Egeria Densa is growing quickly, but there is a lot of space in between the stems from not enough light I guess.
I really need to trim the tank today. I'm waiting for my new tank to be delivered so I'll have some place to put my cuttings.
*What am I lacking in regards for the swords? They were healthy when I planted them. (CO2 is not an option, but removing the affected plants is.)
*Now that my tank is around 6 weeks old, can I remove the fast growing stems all at once and replace them with something slower growing without getting into much of an algae problem? (I don't care much for the swords, water sprite or hornwort which makes up 75% of the tank.)
Sorry for the long post. The UPS dude is pulling in with my new tank right now!